List of DOS commands

Helping orphans the way you would do it

A list of DOS commands for Microsoft's DOS operating system. follows. You can also get help by typing HELP in the shell prompt. Square brackets indicate optional, quotation marks mean instead of typing the exact words wanted when used.

Table of contents

1 dir
2 copy
3 ren
4 cd or chdir
5 label
6 md or mkdir
7 rd or rmdir
8 type
9 del
10 attrib
11 deltree
12 ver
13 tree
14 move
15 xcopy
16 format
17 time and date
18 more
19 pcpark
20 restart

dir

Main article: Dir (DOS Command)

Displays contents of a directory.

Syntax - dir "[filelist]" "[options]"

Options

/w : Wide list format
/p : Pause at every page
/s : Also look in subdirectories
/a[xx] : Display files with the specified attributes only
/o[xx] : Modifies sort order

copy

Copies a file from one location to another.

Syntax - copy "source" "destination"

ren

Syntax - ren "oldname" "newname"

cd or chdir

Change current directory

Syntax - cd "directoryname"

label

labels the C:\\ drive

Syntax - label master drive

md or mkdir

Create a directory

Syntax - md "directory name"

rd or rmdir

Remove a directory

Syntax - rd "directory name"

type

Display an ASCII file

Syntax - type "filename"

del

Deletes a file. This commands accepts wildcards

Syntax - del "filename|wildcards"

attrib

Changes attributes of a file

Syntax - attrib "attribute string" "filename|wildcards"

To add an attribute attach a '+' in front of it.
To remove an attribute attach a '-' in front of it
Attributes include
- A - Archived (used mainly by file archiving software)
- H - Hidden
- S - System
- R - Read-only

deltree

Deletes a complete directory tree along with the files in the directories and subdirectories.

Syntax - deltree "directory"

ver

Shows the version of MS-DOS you are using

Some versions of MS-DOS support an undocumented /r switch, which will show the revision as well as the version.

tree

Shows the directory tree of the current directory

Syntax - tree

move

Syntax - move "source" "target"

xcopy

Copy files and directorys

Syntax - xcopy "source" /s

format

Delete all the files on the disk and reformat it for MS-DOS

Syntax - format "drive"

WARNING! Only use on floppy drives or other removable media. This command can pottentially erase everything on a the computer's hard disk.

time and date

Set/display the date and time

Syntax - date

Syntax - time

more

Pages through the output so that you can more than one screen of text

Syntax - "command" | more

pcpark

Parks the hard disk(s) (stops their turning) in order to enable safe shutdown; only used on early versions

Syntax - pcpark

restart

Restarts the computer, on many motherboards

Syntax - restart