HoldIt.exe -- The program basically does the same as the DOS command
  PAUSE.  The first difference is that a timeout value can be given as
  a parameter specifying the number of seconds the program  will  wait
  for  somebody  to hit a key before continuing. (0 or no parameter at
  all makes the program wait indefinitely) But what would that be good
  for  without  the second difference: the returned errorlevels. If no
  user interaction  is  registered  during  the  specified  time,  the
  program  ends  returning the errorlevel 0. If any key is pressed the
  program exits immediately and returns an errorlevel that depends  on
  the  key  that  has  been  hit. In the current version the following
  codes will be returned:

  Key:    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9   0  ESC   any other key
  Code:   1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  200       100

  The  program  was  written  in  Turbo  Pascal 6.0 with a tiny bit of
  assembler in it, as can easily be seen in  the  accompanying  source
  code.  The  timeout delay is realized with the internal clock of the
  PC: that way 5 seconds are 5 seconds -  no  matter  how  'slow'  the
  machine  is  running.  Since the date has not been incorporated into
  this check the timed delay might be shorter than  specified  if  the
  time changes from 23:59 to 00:00 during the 'pause'.

  This  program  was uploaded by the author; I DO NOT claim any rights
  whatsoever and encourage everybody to  adapt  the  code  to  his/her
  personal  needs.  No  payments  are asked for, you may use it for as
  long as you please and do with it whatever you like. I would however
  be glad if anyone testing, using and/or modifying this program would
  send me a short notice -- just because I'd like to have an  idea  of
  how far it is getting around.

  I cannot give a guarantee that the program will perform in the above
  outlined manner on a given system, but  it  has  been  tested  under
  MSDOS 5.0 on 286/386/486 cpus. If an error should occur a recompila-
  tion of the provided source code should do the trick.

  Some points of interest:

  - Don't forget that in a batchfile you always have to check for  the
    highest errorlevel first: "If errorlevel = 1" returns true even if
    the level actually is >= 2.

  - The message 'Press any key to continue'  is  written  to  standard
    output (normally the screen). This way it can be redirected to NUL
    if you'd rather have some other message displayed instead.
    (e.g. echo Press ESC to abort
          holdit 5 > NUL
          if errorlevel = 200 goto end
    )

  - If you need other (or more) errorlevels, you can add  the  desired
    keys  and  levels  to the CASE statement at the end of the program
    and recompile it afterwards. Or you  can  get  in  touch  with  me
    (preferrably via e-mail).

  - I'm  open  to suggestions. Feel free to contact me if you have any
    questions or ideas for improvements.


  Peter Strickler
  HWS, University of Zuerich
  Zuerich / Switzerland
  K267514@CZHRZU1A.BITNET