In computing, a command is a directive to a computer program acting as an interpreter of some kind, in order to perform a specific task. Most commonly a command is a directive to some kind of command line interface, such as a shell .... s for DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is a shorthand term for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me.... follows.
In versions 5 of DOS and later, the user can get help by typing help at the shell prompt. To get help on a DOS command, the command-line switch /? can be used. For example, to get help for the xcopy command, type the following at the DOS prompt:
xcopy /?
The operating system will execute the command and the /? parameter instructs the command to display a help page about itself, in this case xcopy.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'List of DOS commands'
Start a new discussion about 'List of DOS commands'
In computing, a command is a directive to a computer program acting as an interpreter of some kind, in order to perform a specific task. Most commonly a command is a directive to some kind of command line interface, such as a shell .... s for DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is a shorthand term for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me.... follows.
In versions 5 of DOS and later, the user can get help by typing help at the shell prompt. To get help on a DOS command, the command-line switch /? can be used. For example, to get help for the xcopy command, type the following at the DOS prompt:
xcopy /?
The operating system will execute the command and the /? parameter instructs the command to display a help page about itself, in this case xcopy. To view this help page, see the xcopy entry on this page.
In the list below, when a command can accept more than one filename, or a filename including wildcards (* and ?), it is said to accept a filespec parameter. Commands that can accept only a single filename are said to accept a filename parameter.
Unix is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of American Telephone & Telegraph employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson , Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna.... equivalent is given. It should be noted that Unix commands typically provide ranges of functionality and flexibility that are not approached by the equivalent DOS command, so all comparisons are approximate. For example, the DOS commands copy and xcopy are said to be equivalent to the Unix cp command, but in reality cp has much greater power than copy, and a similar functionality to xcopy.
While many commands are the same across many DOS systems (MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system commercialized by Microsoft. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems and was the main operating system for personal computers during the 1980s.... , PC-DOS
PC-DOS
IBM PC DOS was a DOS operating system for the IBM Personal Computer, sold throughout the 1980s and 2000s.... , DR-DOS
DR-DOS
DR-DOS is a DOS-type operating system for IBM PC-PC compatible personal computers, originally developed by Gary Kildall's Digital Research and derived from CP/M-86.... , FreeDOS
FreeDOS
FreeDOS is an operating system for IBM PC compatible computers. FreeDOS is made up of many different, separate programs that act as "packages" to the overall FreeDOS Project.... , etc.) some differ in command syntax or name.
In DOS commands, unlike Unix, lower-case and capital letters are equivalent. It is usual for parameters or arguments also to be independent of case. Sometimes a hyphen ("-") may be used instead of a slash ("/").
Commands which are not part of the operating system may follow the same conventions, but this is not necessarily the case. When using a command whose syntax is not known it can be convenient to type the command with no arguments, and with "/?", "-?", "/h", "-h" and even "/help", in the expectation that one of these will display brief information.
Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces .... supports a number of commands which may be invoked by typing them in a command window; they are usually similar to their MS-DOS equivalents. Typing help followed by a carriage return at a command prompt will list the commands. File and path names used as arguments may be long, unlike MS-DOS 8.3 names, and may contain embedded spaces; names with spaces must be enclosed between a pair of double-quote characters (").
Commands
assign
The command redirects requests for disk operations on one drive to a different drive.
assign [x[:]=y[:][...]]
assign /STATUS
Options:
x The drive letter to reassign.
y The drive letter that x: will be assigned to.
/STATUS Displays the current drive assignments.
If typed without parameters then all drive letters are reset to original assignments.
In general, to append is to join or add on to the end of something. For example, an appendix is a section appended of a document....
(External)
Display or sets the search path for data files. DOS will search the specified path(s) if the file is not found in the current path. This had some creative uses, such as allowing non-CD based games to be run from the CD, with configuration/save files stored on the HD.
attrib is a command , in MS-DOS, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows. The function of attrib is to set and remove file attributes . These attributes are used by a wide variety software to protect and classify files....
Change or view the attributes of one or more files. It defaults to displaying the attributes of all files in the current directory.
Options:
To add an attribute attach a '+' in front of it.
To remove an attribute attach a '-' in front of it
Attributes include
R - Read-only
A - Archive
S - System
H - Hidden
attrib [+|-ahrs] [filespec]
Directory Attrib Functions:
It is also possible to use ATTRIB across directories.
[drive:][path][filename]
Specifies a file or files for attrib to process.
/D - Process folders as well.
/S - Process matching files in the current folder and all subfolders.
Unix is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of American Telephone & Telegraph employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson , Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna.... commands chattr
Chattr
chattr is a Linux command that allows a user to set certain File attribute on a file. Mostly chattr is used to make files immutable so that password files and certain system files cannot be erased during software upgrades.... and lsattr
Lsattr
lsattr is a command line program for listing the attributes on a Linux second extended file system . It is also a command to display attributes of devices on an AIX operating system.... .
Call may refer to:* A type of Betting * Bird call, part of a bird song* A command in square dancing, delivered by a Caller * Call , often specifically a telephone call...
Calls one batch program from another. A new batch file context is created with the specified arguments and control is passed to the statement after the label specified.
Syntax:
call [filespec][batch file parameters]
filespec: name and if necessary path of the new batch file
cd, sometimes also available as chdir , is a command line interface command to change the current working directory in operating systems such as Unix, DOS, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows....
In computing, a directory, folder, catalog, or drawer is a virtual container within a digital file system, in which groups of files and other directories can be kept and organized.... . Displays the current working directory when used without a path parameter.
cd
displays the current working directory on the current drive.
cd f:
displays the current working directory on F:.
cd directory
changes the working directory on the current drive to directory.
chdir e:directory
changes the working directory on E: to directory.
cd ..
changes the working directory to the parent directory (up one directory level).
cd \
changes the working directory to the root (top level) directory of the current drive.
Unix is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of American Telephone & Telegraph employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson , Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna.... command cd
Chdir
cd, sometimes also available as chdir , is a command line interface command to change the current working directory in operating systems such as Unix, DOS, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows.... (with a path parameter), or pwd
Pwd
In Unix-like and some other operating systems the pwd command is used to output the path of the current working directory.The command is a shell builtin in certain Unix shells such as Bourne shell, and Bourne-Again shell.... (without a parameter). cd.. changes to the parent directory.
Windows code pages are sets of characters or code pages used in Microsoft Windows systems from the 1980s and 1990s.... used to display character glyphs
Glyph
A glyph is an element of writing. Two or more glyphs representing the same symbol, whether interchangeable or context-dependent, are called allographs; the abstract unit they are variants of is called a grapheme or character .... in a console window
Win32 console
Win32 console is a plain text window for console applications within the system of Windows API. A Win32 console has a screen buffer and an input buffer.... .
chcp [codepage]
With a numeric parameter, this command changes the codepage setting to codepage. Without a parameter, the command displays the currently active codepage.
CHKDSK is a command on computers running DOS, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows operating systems that displays the file system integrity status of hard disks and floppy disk and can fix logical file system errors....
A floppy disk is a data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangle plastic shell.... for file system integrity.
Options:
/F : Fixes errors on the disk (without /F , chkdsk only detects errors)
/P : Forces a full disk verification
/R : Searches for defective sectors and recovers legible information (applies /F)
chkdsk drive choice]]
Allows for batch files to prompt the user to select one item from a set of single-character choices.
Introduced in MS-DOS 6; DR-DOS 7.03.
[[cls (computing)|cls]]
Clears the screen.
cls
Equivalent to the Unix [[Clear (Unix)|clear]].
[[copy (command)|copy]]
Copies files from one location to another. The destination defaults to the current directory. If multiple source files are indicated, the destination must be a directory, or an error will result.
copy filespec [destination]
Files may be copied to devices. For example, copy file lpt1 sends the file to the printer on [[LPT1]]. copy file con outputs file to the screen ("console"), which can also be done using [[#type|type]] file. Devices themselves may be copied: copy con file takes the text typed into the console and puts it into file, stopping when [[end-of-file|EOF]] (Ctrl+Z) is typed.
Files may be concatenated using +. For example, copy file1+file2file_cat will concatenate the files and output them as file_cat. There are two switches to modify the command's behaviour, /a (text mode, the default) and /b (binary mode). In text mode, copy will stop when it reaches the [[end-of-file|EOF]] character; in binary mode, the files will be concatenated in their entirety, ignoring EOF characters. Examples:
Equivalent Unix commands are [[cp (Unix)|cp]] (for copying) and [[cat (Unix)|cat]] (for concatenation). Device files may be copied in Unix as well, e.g. cp file /dev/tty will display a file on the screen (but cat file is more commonly used here).
Equivalent [[RT-11]]/[[RSX-11]]/[[OpenVMS]] command is copy.
defrag
(in MS/PC-DOS; diskopt in DR-DOS)
[[Defragmentation|Defragments]] a disk drive.
Options:
-A – Analyses the fragmentation of a disk drive
-F – Force defragmentation even if disk space is low
-V – Verbose output mode
-H – Defrag hidden files
Example of usage:
defrag driveletter: -a -v
No Unix equivalent.
[[del (command)|del or erase]]
Deletes one or more files.
del filename
erase filename
Equivalent to the Unix command [[Rm (Unix)|rm]].
Equivalent in RT-11/RSX-11/OpenVMS operating systems line is delete command which can be contracted to del.
[[deltree]]
Deletes a directory along with all of the files and subdirectories that it contains. Normally, it will ask for confirmation of such a drastic action.
deltree [/y] directory
The /y parameter, if present, tells the deltree command to carry out without first prompting for confirmation.
The deltree command is not included in recent [[Microsoft Windows]] operating systems. Deleting a non-empty directory in those versions of Windows where the command is not included, can be achieved by using the rmdir command as in the following example:
rmdir /s [/q] directory
In Unix, the functionality of deltree is provided by the [[Rm (Unix)|rm]] command with the parameter -r (or -rf for the /y switch).
[[dir (command)|dir]]
Lists the contents of a directory.
The dir command typed by itself, displays the disk's volume label and serial number; one directory or filename per line, including the filename extension, the file size in bytes, and the date and time the file was last modified; and the total number of files listed, their cumulative size, and the free space (in bytes) remaining on the disk. The command is one of the few commands that exist from the first versions of DOS.
dir [drive:][path][filename] [parameters]
Most commonly used parameters of dir include:
/W : Displays the listing in wide format, with as many as five filenames or directory names on each line.
/P : Pause at every page
/S : Also look in subdirectories
/Axx: Display files with the specified attributes only
/Oxx: Modifies sort order
/B : Uses bare format (no heading information or summary)
> [drive:][path][filename]: To Store Result in a text file;(c:\dir > c:\fileList.txt)
Possible attributes for the A parameter are D (directories), R (read-only files), H (hidden files), A (files/directories with the archive bit on), and S (system files). The prefix - negates an attribute; attributes can be combined (e.g. /A:DA means directories with the archive bit on).
Possible sort orders are N (name), S (size), E (extension), D (date and time), A (last access date), and G (group directories first). The prefix - reverses the order.
Other less commonly used parameters of dir include:
/D : Display wide format but sorted by column
/L : Display forced into lowercase
/N : Display forced into long file name format instead of 8.3
/Q : Displays the owner of each file
/X : Display shows 8.3 names next to long file names
The default parameters of dir can be set using the DIRCMD environment variable.
Equivalent to the Unix command [[ls]] (the option -l is "long" list format, it works the opposite way from /w.)
Equivalent in RT-11/RSX-11/OpenVMS operating systems line is directory command which can be contracted to dir.
[[echo (command)|echo]]
Prints its own arguments back out to the DOS equivalent of the [[Standard streams|standard output stream]]. Usually, this means directly to the screen, but the output of echo can be redirected like any other command. Often used in [[batch file]]s to print text out to the user.
echo this is text Outputs 'this is text'
echo. Outputs a blank line
Another important use of the echo command is to toggle echoing of commands on and off in batch files.
echo on turns on echoing of commands
echo off turns off echoing of commands
Traditionally batch files begin with the @echo off statement. This says to the interpreter that echoing of commands should be off during the whole execution of the batch file thus resulting in a "tidier" output. The @ symbol declares that this particular command (echo off) should also be executed without echo. For example the following 2 batch files are equivalent:
Batch1.bat:
@echo off
echo The files in your root directory:
dir /b /a-d c:\
Batch2.bat:
@echo The files in your root directory:
@dir /b /a-d c:\
Echo can be used to write to files directly from the console, by redirecting the output stream:
echo text > filename
Echo can also be used to append to files directly from the console, again by redirecting the output stream:
echo text >> filename
To type more than one line from the console into a file, use copy con (above).
Equivalent to the Unix command echo.
[[exe2bin (command)|exe2bin]]
Converts an executable (.exe) file into a binary file with the extension .com, which is a memory image of the program.
The size of the resident code and data sections combined in the input .exe file must be less than 64KB. The file must also have no stack segment.
[[exit (command)|exit]]
Exits the current command processor. If the exit is used at the primary command, it has no effect unless in a DOS window under Microsoft Windows, in which case the window is closed and the user returns to the desktop.
EXIT
Exit also exists in Unix-shells. If an exit command is used in the primary command shell under Unix, however, it will [[logoff]] the user, similar to the [[control-D]] keystroke.
fastopen
[[Microsoft File Compare|fc]] or comp
Compares two files or sets of files and displays the differences between them.
FC [/A] [/C] [/L] [/LBn] [/N] [/T] [/W] [/nnnn] [drive1:][path1]filename1 [drive2:][path2]filename2
FC /B [drive1:][path1]filename1 [drive2:][path2]filename2
/A Displays only first and last lines for each set of differences.
/B Performs a binary comparison.
/C Disregards the case of letters.
/L Compares files as ASCII text.
/LBn Sets the maximum consecutive mismatches to the specified number of lines.
/N Displays the line numbers on an ASCII comparison.
/T Does not expand tabs to spaces.
/W Compresses white space (tabs and spaces) for comparison.
/nnnn Specifies the number of consecutive lines that must match after a mismatch.
[drive1:][path1]filename1 Specifies the first file or set of files to compare.
[drive2:][path2]filename2 Specifies the second file or set of files to compare.
Equivalent to the Unix commands [[comm]], [[cmp (Unix)|cmp]] and [[diff]].
[[fdisk]]
Manipulates hard disk partition tables. The name derives from IBM's habit of calling hard drives fixed disks. When run from the command line, it displays a menu of various partitioning operations:
1. Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive
2. Set active partition
3. Delete partition or Logical DOS Drive
4. Display partition information
5. Change current fixed disk drive (only available if the computer has more than one hard drive)
FDISK /MBR installs a standard master boot record on the hard drive.
FDISK /MBR #: where # is other partition on system. Completes above command on indicated partition.
eg: "C:\FDISK /MBR D:" would install boot record on D:\ partition.
Fdisk exists under Unix with the same name, but it is an entirely different program. However they share purposes.
[[find (command)|find]]
A [[Filter (software)|filter]] to find lines in the input data stream that contain or don't contain a specified string and send these to the output data stream.
Find may also be used as a [[Pipeline (software)|pipe]].
/VDisplays all lines NOT containing the specified string.
/CDisplays only the count of lines containing the string.
/NDisplays line numbers with the displayed lines.
/IIgnores the case of characters when searching for the string.
"string" Specifies the text string to find.
[drive:][path]filename Specifies a file or files to search.
If a pathname is not specified, FIND searches the text typed at the prompt
or piped from another command.
Equivalent to the Unix command [[grep]]. The Unix command [[find]] performs an entirely different function.
format
Delete all the files on the disk and reformat it for MS-DOS
In most cases, this should only be used on floppy drives or other removable media. This command can potentially erase everything on a computer's hard disk.
/autotest and /backup are [[undocumented feature]]s. Both will format the drive without a confirmation prompt.
format [options] drive
FORMAT drive: [/V[:label [/Q] [/F:size] [/B | /S] [/C]
FORMAT drive: [/V[:label]] [/Q] [/T:tracks /N:sectors] [/B | /S] [/C]
FORMAT drive: [/V[:label]] [/Q] [/1] [/4] [/B | /S] [/C]
FORMAT drive: [/Q] [/1] [/4] [/8] [/B | /S] [/C]
/V[:label] Specifies the volume label.
/Q Performs a quick format.
/F:size Specifies the size of the floppy disk to format (such
as 160, 180, 320, 360, 720, 1.2, 1.44, 2.88).
/B Allocates space on the formatted disk for system files.
/S Copies system files to the formatted disk.
/T:tracks Specifies the number of tracks per disk side.
/N:sectors Specifies the number of sectors per track.
/1 Formats a single side of a floppy disk.
/4 Formats a 5.25-inch 360K floppy disk in a high-density drive.
/8 Formats eight sectors per track.
/C Tests clusters that are currently marked "bad."
Known as a joke among UNIX users of that time since every user on the machine could easily cause damage with just one command. Therefore, it was known in the UNIX community as "The big DOS timesaver".
There is also an undocumented /u parameter for "unconditional" that will write strings of zeros on every sector.
mkfs is the standard Unix command for formatting a disk partition with a specific filesystem. The basic syntax is: mkfs -t type device... .
Equivalent in RT-11/RSX-11/OpenVMS operating systems line is format command which can not create filesystem. After formatting one should use initialize (contracted to init) command to create filesystem (Equivalent to MS-DOS command format /q or "quick format").
In computing, help is a command in various command line interface Shell such as COMMAND.COM, cmd.exe, 4DOS/4NT, Windows PowerShell, Singularity , Python and GNU Octave....
Gives help about DOS.
;MS-DOS
help 'command' would give help on a specific command. By itself, it lists the contents of DOSHELP.HLP. Help for a specific command invokes the command with the /? option. In MS-DOS 6.x this command exists as FASTHELP.
QBasic is an integrated development environment and Interpreted language for a variant of the BASIC programming language which is based on QuickBasic.... to view a quickhelp HELP.HLP file, which contains more extensive information on the commands, with some hyperlinking etc. The MS-DOS 6.22 help system is included on Windows 9x cdrom versions as well.
;PC-DOS
PC-DOS 7.xx help uses view.exe to open OS/2 style .INF files (cmdref.inf, dosrexx.inf and doserror.inf), opening these to the appropriate pages.
;DR-DOS
In DR-DOS, help is a batch file that launches DR-DOS' online reference, dosbook.
;Microsoft Windows
Windows NT, all versions, uses DOS 5 style help, but versions before VISTA have also a Windows help file (NTCMDS.HLP or NTCMDS.INF) in a similar style to MS-DOS 6.
;FreeDOS
FreeDOS uses an HTML help system, which views HTML help files on a specified path. The path is stored in HELPPATH environment variable, if not specified, default path is \HELP on the drive which HELP is placed.
Almost all substantial Unix and Unix-like operating systems have extensive documentation known as man pages . The Unix command used to display them is man.... .
intersvr & interlnk
(in MS-DOS; filelink in DR-DOS)
Network PCs using a null modem cable or LapLink cable
LapLink cable
A LapLink cable is a cable that allows one to connect two computers together to establish a direct cable connection. The connection is achieved via the parallel ports on the two computers.... . The server-side version of InterLnk, it also immobilizes the machine it's running on as it is an active app (As opposed to a TSR
Terminate and Stay Resident
Terminate and Stay Resident is a computer system call in DOS computer operating systems that returns control to the system as if the program has quit, but keeps the program in memory.... ) which must be running for any transfer to take place. DR-DOS' filelink is executed on both the client and server.
New in MS-DOS 6.
No direct Unix equivalent, though some Unices offer the ability to network computers with TCP/IP through null modem or Laplink cables using PLIP or SLIP
Slip
Slip may refer to* Packing slip, a shipping document that accompanies delivery packages* Slipway, a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water... .
join
Attaches a drive letter to a specified directory on another drive.
In computing, label is a command included with some operating systems . It is used to create, change, or delete a volume label on a logical drive, such as a Hard disk drive partition or a floppy disk....
Changes the label on a logical drive, such as a hard disk partition or a floppy disk.
In Unix and Unix-like systems, this differs from filesystem to filesystem. e2label can be used for ext2 partitions.
lh
loadfix
Loads a program above the first 64K of memory, and runs the program.
loadfix [drive:][path]filename
Included only in MS/PC-DOS. DR-DOS used memmax, which opened or closed lower, upper, and video memory access, to block the lower 64K of memory.
The mkdir command in the Unix, DOS, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows operating systems is used to make a new directory . In DOS, OS/2 and Windows the command is often abbreviated to md....
In computing, a directory, folder, catalog, or drawer is a virtual container within a digital file system, in which groups of files and other directories can be kept and organized.... . The parent of the directory specified will be created if it does not already exist.
md directory
Equivalent to the Unix command mkdir.
mem
Displays memory usage.
mem
/CLASSIFY or /C - Lists the size of programs, provides a summary of memory in use and lists largest memory block available.
/DEBUG or /D - Displays status of programs, internal drivers, and other information.
/PROGRAM or /P Displays status of programs currently loaded in memory.
Equivalent to the Unix command free.
memmaker
Starting from version 6, MS-DOS included the external program MemMaker which was used to free system memory (especially Conventional memory
Conventional memory
In computing, conventional memory is the first 640 kilobytes of the memory on IBM PC compatible systems.... ) by automatically reconfiguring the AUTOEXEC.BAT
AUTOEXEC.BAT
AUTOEXEC.BAT is a system file found originally on the MS-DOS operating system. It is a plain-text DOS batch file that is located in the root directory of the boot device.... and CONFIG.SYS
CONFIG.SYS
CONFIG.SYS is the primary configuration file for the DOS and OS/2 operating systems. It is a special file that contains setup or configuration instructions for the computer system.... files. This was usually done by moving TSR Programs to the Upper memory
Upper Memory Area
The Upper Memory Area is a design feature of IBM IBM PC compatible x86 computers that was responsible for the Conventional memory#640 KB barrier.... . The whole process required three system restarts. Before the first restart the user was asked whether he wanted to enable EMS Memory
Expanded memory
In computing, expanded memory is a system of bank switching introduced around 1984 that provided additional memory to MS-DOS programs that required more than what was available in conventional memory.... or not.
The use of MemMaker was popular among gamers who wanted to enable or disable Expanded memory
Expanded memory
In computing, expanded memory is a system of bank switching introduced around 1984 that provided additional memory to MS-DOS programs that required more than what was available in conventional memory.... in order to run a game which required EMS or not. Better results could be achieved by an experienced user manually configuring the startup files to achieve greater free memory yield.
Options:
/BATCH Runs MemMaker in batch (unattended) mode. In batch mode, MemMaker takes the default action at all prompts.
/UNDO Instructs MemMaker to undo its most recent changes.
PC-DOS uses another program RamBoost to optimize memory, either the HIMEM
HIMEM
HIMEM is a DOS device driver which allows DOS programs to store data in extended memory via the Extended Memory Specification . This device driver is of particular importance because various versions of Microsoft Windows that ran on top of the DOS operating system required HIMEM.SYS to be loaded to be able to run.... /EMM386
EMM386
The name EMM386 was used for the expanded memory managers of both Microsoft's MS-DOS and Digital Research's DR-DOS, which created expanded memory using extended memory on Intel 80386 CPUs.... or a third-party memory manager.
Code page is the traditional International Business Machines term used to map a specific set of characters to numerical code point values . This is slightly different in meaning than the related terms character encoding and character set.... s, and sets up port redirection.
more
Pages through the output so that you can view more than one screen of text.
less is a terminal pager Computer program on Unix, Microsoft Windows and Unix-like systems used to view the contents of a text file one screen at a time.... .
A filter is a computer program to process a data stream. Some operating systems such as Filter are rich with filter programs. Even Microsoft Windows has some simple filters built in to its command shell, most of which have significant enhancements relative to the similar filter commands that were available in MS-DOS.... .
In computing, move is a command in various DOS, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows command line interpreters such as COMMAND.COM, cmd.exe, 4DOS/4NT and Windows PowerShell....
In computing, print is a command in the command line interpreters of DOS, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows. It is used to add a file to the Print job....
Adds a file in the print queue.
Options:
/D device : Specifies the name of the print devices. Default value is LPT1
/P filename : Add files in the print queue
/T : Removes all files from the print queue
/C filename : Removes a file from the print queue
This command was introduced in MS-DOS version 2. Before that there was no built-in support for background printing files. The user would usually use the copy command to copy files to LPT1.
LPR may refer to:* Logistics Packaging Return - Europe's 2nd largest pallet pooler* Lawful Permanent Resident* LAN Party Regulars* Laryngopharyngeal Reflux, a form of Acid Reflux...
rmdir is a command which will remove an empty directory on a Unix, DOS, OS/2 or Microsoft Windows operating system. In Unix, it cannot be capitalized, whereas this doesn't apply for DOS, OS/2 and Windows....
Remove a directory, which by default must be empty of files for the command to succeed (the /s flag removes this restriction).
rd directory
Equivalent to the Unix command rmdir.
rem
Remark statement, normally used within a batch file
Batch file
In DOS, OS/2, and Microsoft Windows, a batch file is a text file containing a series of Command intended to be executed by the Command line interpreter.... . An alternative way not to run a specific statement in a batch file is creating a label that will never be used, '.
On the command line, rem can also be used to create a zero length file by redirecting an empty remark statement to a filename.
rem > newfilename
In Unix, the # sign can be used to start a comment; the zero-length file can be achieved using various methods, such as the touch
Touch (Unix)
touch is a standard Unix computer program used to change a computer file's access and modification system time. It is also used to create a new empty file.... command or dd
Dd (Unix)
dd is a common UNIX program whose primary purpose is the low-level copying and conversion of raw data. dd is an abbreviation for "data definition" in IBM Job Control Language, and the command's syntax is meant to be reminiscent of this.... .
In computing, ren is a command in various DOS, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows command line interpreters such as COMMAND.COM, cmd.exe, 4DOS/4NT and Windows PowerShell....
Renames a file. Unlike the move command, this command cannot be used to rename subdirectories, or rename files across drives.
ren filenamenewname
You can rename files in another directory by using the PATH parameter:
Long filenames , spelled "long file names" by Microsoft Corporation, are Microsoft's way of implementing filenames longer than the 8.3 filename, or short-filename, naming scheme used in Microsoft DOS in their modern File Allocation Table and NTFS filesystems.... support, care must be taken when directories have spaces in their names like "Documents and Settings". In these cases double-quotes are used to enclose them:
ren c:\"Documents and Settings"\"All Users"\Desktop filex.txt filey.txt
Mass renames can be accomplished by the use of wildcards. For example, the following command will change the extension of all files in the current directory which currently have the extension htm to html:
ren *.htm *.html
In Unix, this functionality of a simple move is provided by the mv
MV
MV can stand for:... command, while batch renames can be done using the rename command.
SCANDISK or ScanDisk is a utility in MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows systems which checks and repairs file systems and bad Cluster s on the hard drive....
Disk diagnostic utility. Scandisk was a replacement for the chkdsk utility, starting with later versions of MS-DOS. Its primary advantages over chkdsk is that it is more reliable and has the ability to run a surface scan which finds and marks bad clusters on the disk. chkdsk had surface scan and bad cluster detection functionality included, and was used again on Windows NT based operating systems.
The system utility fsck is a tool for checking the consistency of a file system in Unix and Unix-like such as Linux.Generally, fsck is run automatically at boot time when the system detects that a file system is in an inconsistent state, indicating a non-graceful shutdown, such as a Crash or power loss.... .
A filter is a computer program to process a data stream. Some operating systems such as Filter are rich with filter programs. Even Microsoft Windows has some simple filters built in to its command shell, most of which have significant enhancements relative to the similar filter commands that were available in MS-DOS.... to sort lines in the input data stream and send them to the output data stream.
Sort is a standard Unix command line program that prints the lines of its input or concatenation of all files listed in its argument list in sorted order.... .
subst is a command on the DOS, IBM OS/2 and Microsoft Windows operating systems used for substituting path on physical and logical drives as virtual drives....
A utility to map a subdirectory to a drive letter.
subst <d:> <path>
subst <d:> /D (Deletes the substitute drive)
If SUBST e: c:\edrive were executed, a new drive letter e: would be created, showing the contents of c:\edrive. The opposite can be achieved via the join command.
SYS.COM is a component of DOS, Microsoft Windows 9x and Windows NT operating systems that will copy the command line interface shell , the boot loader , the kernel , and the boot sector to the corresponding drive, allowing the target drive to be bootable....
In computing, time and date are command that are used to display and set the current time and Calendar date of the operating system....
Display and set the time and date
time
date
When these commands are called from the command line or a batch file, they will display the time or date and wait for the user to type a new time or date and press RETURN. The command 'time /t' will bypass asking the user to reset the time.
The Unix date command displays the time and date. The super-user can use it to set the system clock.... displays both the time and date, but does not allow the normal users to change either. Users with superuser privileges may use date -s to change the time and date.
time is a command in the Unix operating systems. It is used to determine the duration of execution of a particular command .... performs a different function.
tree
Shows the directory tree of the current directory
Options:
/F (Displays the names of the files in each folder.)
/A (Use ASCII instead of the extended characters.)
/? (Shows the help)
tree [options] [directory]
truename
truename
or
truename drivename
or
truename filename
or
truename directory
If typed without a parameter then the current active drive pathname is displayed.
MS-DOS can find files and directories given their names, without full path information, if the search object is on a path specified by the environment variable PATH. For example, if PATH includes C:\PROGRAMS, and file MYPROG.EXE is on this directory, then if MYPROG is typed at the command prompt, the command processor will execute C:\PROGRAMS\MYPROG.EXE
the TRUENAME command will expand a name in an abbreviated form which the command processor can recognise into its full form, and display the result. It can see through SUBST and JOIN to find the actual directory. In the above example,
A path is the general form of a computer file or directory name, specifying a unique location in a file system. A path points to a file system location by following the directory tree hierarchy expressed in a string of character in which path components, separated by a delimiting character, represent each directory.... pathnames of mapped network or local CD drives.
This command is an undocumented DOS command. The help switch "/?" defines it as a "Reserved command name". It is available in MS-DOS 5.00.
This command is similar to the Unix which command, which, given an executable found in $PATH, would give a full path and name. The C library function realpath performs this function.
The Microsoft Windows command processors do not support this command.
In computing, type is a command in various OpenVMS, CP/M, DOS, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows command line interpreters such as COMMAND.COM, cmd.exe, 4DOS/4NT and Windows PowerShell....
Display a file. The more command is frequently used in conjunction with this command, e.g. type long-text-file | more.
Undeletion is a feature for restoring computer files which have been removed from a file system by file deletion. Deleted data can be recovered on many file systems, but not all file systems provide an undeletion feature....
Restores file previously deleted with del. By default all recoverable files in the working directory are restored. The options are used to change this behavior. If the MS-DOS mirror TSR program is used, then deletion tracking files are created and can be used by undelete.
Options:
/list : lists the files that can be undeleted.
/all : Recovers all deleted files without prompting. Uses a number sign for missing first character.
/dt : Recover only deletion tracking file aware files.
undelete [filespec] [/list|/all][/dos|/dt]
In Unix and Unix-like systems this differs from filesystem to filesystem. People who use the ext2
Ext2
The ext2 or second extended filesystem is a file system for the Linux kernel . It was initially designed by R?my Card as a replacement for the extended file system .... filesystem can try the command e2undel.
uname is a software program in Unix and Unix-like computer operating systems that prints the name, version and other details about the current machine and the operating system running on it.... .
verify
Enables or disables the feature to determine if files have been correctly written to disk.
If no parameter is provided, the command will display the current setting.
In computing, Xcopy is command used on IBM OS/2 and Microsoft Windows for copying multiple computer file or entire directory trees from one directory to another and for copying files across a computer network....
cp is the command entered in a Unix shell to copy a computer file from one place to another, possibly on a different filesystem. The original file remains unchanged, and the new file may have the same or a different name.... when used with -r parameter.
This is a list of UNIX utilities as specified by IEEE Std 1003.1-2004, which is part of the Single UNIX Specification .These utilities can be found on UNIX Operating systems and most UNIX-like operating systems....
External links
: Microsft TechNet Database "Command Reference"
contains the official Microsoft MS-DOS 6 command reference documention.