The EDIT program that comes with DOS looks like another external
DOS command, but in this case it is more appropriate to call it
an Applet. An applet is the name given to a small, limited
application. In this case, EDIT is an ASCII text editor. It is a
handy application, composed of EDIT.COM (the application
itself), and EDIT.HLP, which contains all of the Help files.
Also, EDIT is a BASIC program, so you need to have QBASIC.EXE
available as well if you want to run it. This is not a problem
if you are running EDIT from a hard drive where you have
installed DOS, but if you want to run it from a floppy disk,
such as an emergency utilities disk, you need to remember to
place QBASIC.EXE on the same floppy as EDIT.COM. Why use EDIT?
EDIT is a very basic text editor. You would not use it for
writing a novel, or for desktop publishing. But it is a very
handy little program for two major uses in DOS. The first is for
editing DOS configuration files. The two files most commonly
edited this way are CONFIG.SYS and AUTOE