List of DOS commands

From Virender Kaushik

Guide to Windows Commands

Contents

[hide]

• 1 Command line arguments

• 2 Windows command prompt
o 2.1 Command line help
• 3 Commands
o 3.1 append
o 3.2 assign
o 3.3 attrib
o 3.4 backup and restore
o 3.5 BASIC and BASICA
o 3.6 Call
o 3.7 cd or chdir
o 3.8 chcp
o 3.9 chkdsk
o 3.10 choice
o 3.11 cls
o 3.12 copy
o 3.13 ctty
o 3.14 defrag
o 3.15 del or erase
o 3.16 deltree
o 3.17 dir
o 3.18 echo
o 3.19 edit
o 3.20 edlin
o 3.21 exe2bin
o 3.22 exit
o 3.23 fastopen
o 3.24 fc or comp
o 3.25 fdisk
o 3.26 find
o 3.27 format
o 3.28 help
o 3.29 intersvr & interlnk
o 3.30 join
o 3.31 label
o 3.32 loadfix
o 3.33 loadhigh, lh
o 3.34 md or mkdir
o 3.35 mem
o 3.36 memmaker
o 3.37 mode
o 3.38 more
o 3.39 move
o 3.40 msd
o 3.41 pause
o 3.42 pcpark
o 3.43 print
o 3.44 rd or rmdir
o 3.45 rem
o 3.46 ren
o 3.47 scandisk
o 3.48 set
o 3.49 setver
o 3.50 share
o 3.51 smartdrive
o 3.52 sort
o 3.53 subst
o 3.54 sys
o 3.55 time and date
o 3.56 tree
o 3.57 truename
o 3.58 type
o 3.59 undelete
o 3.60 Ver
o 3.61 verify
o 3.62 xcopy
 • 4 See also
• 5 References
• 6 External links

In the personal computer operating systems MS-DOS and PC-DOS, a

number of standard system commands were provided for common tasks
such as listing files on a disk or moving files. Some commands were built-in
to the command interpreter, others existed as transient commands loaded
into memory when required. Over the several generations of MS DOS,
commands were added for the additional functions of the operating system.
In the current Microsoft Windows operating system a text-mode command
prompt window can still be used. Some DOS commands carry out functions
equivalent to those in a UNIX system but always with differences in details
of the function.

[edit] Command line arguments

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.

For some commands, a UNIX command with similar functions is given.

Unix commands typically offer functionality and flexibility that are not
approached by the equivalent DOS command, so all comparisons are
approximate. While many commands are the same across many DOS
systems (MS-DOS, PC-DOS, DR-DOS, FreeDOS, 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 built into the command interpreter may follow the
same conventions.
[edit] Windows command prompt

Microsoft Windows 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 (").

Two command-line interfaces can be used in current versions of Microsoft

Windows, providing access to the functions of the MS-DOS commands. The
old DOS command.com interpreter is similar to that used by the original
DOS systems. Since this 16-bit executable is based on the DOS
command.com, it does not support all the extended file name syntax of
Windows. Windows applications and other Windows executables can be
started. The Windows Console Command Interpreter, cmd.exe, is a native
Windows Process that provides the functionality built in the old DOS
command.com and a much extended syntax to run, invoke commands and
other tasks.

[edit] Command line help

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.

[edit] Commands

A partial list of the most common commands for DOS follows.

[edit] append
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.

append;
append [d:]path[;][d:]path[...]
append [/X:on|off][/E]

[edit] 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.
The command is available in MS-DOS 5.00.

[edit] attrib

Change or view the attributes of one or more files. It defaults to

displaying the attributes of all files in the current directory.

ATTRIB [+R|-R] [+A|-A] [+S|-S] [+H|-

H][drive:][path][filename] [/S [/D]]

Options:

• To add an attribute attach a '+' in front of it.

• To remove an attribute attach a '-' in front of it
• Attributes include
 o R - Read-only
o A - Archive
o S - System
o H - Hidden
o /D - Process folders as well.
o /S - Process matching files in the current folder and all
subfolders.

Note: Everything inside a brace [option] is an optional item. Roughly

equivalent to the Unix commands chattr and lsattr.

[edit] backup and restore

Programs to back up and restore files from an external disk. These

appeared in version 2, and continued to PC-DOS 5 and MS-DOS 6
(PC-DOS 7 had a deversioned check).
In DOS 6, these were replaced by commercial programs
(CPBACKUP, MSBACKUP), which allowed files to be restored to
different locations.

[edit] BASIC and BASICA

An implementation of the BASIC programming language for PCs.

IBM computers had BASIC 1.1 in ROM, and IBM's versions of
BASIC used code in this ROM-BASIC, which allowed for extra
memory in the code area. BASICA last appeared in IBMDOS 5.02,
and in OS/2 (2.0 and later), the version had ROMBASIC moved into
the program code.
Microsoft released GW-BASIC for machines with no ROM-BASIC.
Some OEM releases had basic.com and basica.com as loaders for
GW-BASIC.EXE.

[edit] 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
• parameters: switches

[edit] cd or chdir

Change current working directory. 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.

Equivalent to the Unix command cd (with a path parameter), or pwd

(without a parameter). cd .. changes to the parent directory.

[edit] chcp

Changes the code page used to display character glyphs in a console

window.
chcp [codepage]
With a numeric parameter, this command changes the codepage setting to
codepage. Without a parameter, the command displays the currently active
codepage.

[edit] chkdsk

Verifies a storage volume (hard disk, partition, floppy disk, flash

drive, etc) for file system integrity.

Options:

• /F : Fixes errors on the volume (without /F , chkdsk only detects

errors)
• /P : Forces a full verification
• /R : Searches for defective sectors and recovers legible information
(applies /F)
• /X : Unmounts the volume before processing if needed. (Note:
Unmounting temporarily invalidates all pointers/handlers to the
volume until process is completed)

chkdsk volume letter: [[path]filename] [/F] [/P]

[/R] [/X]
Equivalent to the Unix command fsck

[edit] 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;[1] DR-DOS 7.03.[2] Earlier versions of DR-
DOS supported this function with the switch command (for numeric
choices) or by beginning a command with a question mark.[2]

[edit] cls

Clears the screen.

cls
Equivalent to the Unix clear.

[edit] 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.
Syntax:
copy from [source\filename] to [destination\folder]
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 file.
Devices themselves may be copied: copy con file takes the text
typed into the console and puts it into file, stopping when EOF
(Ctrl+Z) is typed.
Files may be concatenated using +. For example, copy
file1+file2 file_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 EOF character; in binary
mode, the files will be concatenated in their entirety, ignoring EOF
characters.
Examples of usage:
copy /a alpha.txt + beta.txt gamma.txt
copy /b alpha.mpg + beta.mpg gamma.mpg
Equivalent Unix commands are cp (for copying) and 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.

[edit] ctty

Defines the device to use for input and output.

Syntax:
ctty device

• device: The terminal device to be used.

Example of usage:
ctty COM1

[edit] defrag
(in MS/PC-DOS; diskopt in DR-DOS)

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.

[edit] del or erase

Deletes one or more files.

This command is used to delete a particular or more files.

Syntax:

del filename
erase filename

Options

*.* All files in current folder

*.* /s all files in current folder and sub folders,
Equivalent to the Unix command rm.
Equivalent in RT-11/RSX-11/OpenVMS operating systems line is
delete command which can be contracted to del.

[edit] 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 command with

the parameter -r (or -rf for the /y switch).

[edit] 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) (this is not a parameter, it is output
redirection)
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.

[edit] echo

Prints its own arguments back out to the DOS equivalent of the
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 files 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.

[edit] edit

Full-screen text editor, included with MS-DOS 5 and 6, OS/2 and

Windows NT to 4.0

• Windows 95 and later, and W2k and later use Edit v 2.0
• PC-DOS 6 and later use the DOS E Editor.
• DR-DOS used editor up to version 7.

[edit] edlin

DOS line-editor. It can be used with a script file, like debug, this
makes it of some use even today. The absence of a console editor in
MS/PC-DOS 1-4 created an after-market for third-party editors.
In DOS 5, an extra command "?" was added to give the user much
needed help.
 DOS 6 was the last version to contain EDLIN, for MS-DOS 6, it's on
the supplemental disks, PC-DOS 6 had it in the base install. Windows
NT 32-bit, and OS/2 have Edlin.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 [/B]
/B When used within a batch script, exits the
script without closing the calling DOS window
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.

[edit] fastopen

Main article: FASTOPEN

[edit] 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.[citation needed]
Equivalent to the Unix commands comm, cmp and diff.

[edit] 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.

[edit] find

A 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 pipe.
find "keyword" < ''inputfilename'' >
''outputfilename''

Searches for a text string in a file or files.

FIND [/V] [/C] [/N] [/I] "string"

[[drive:][path]filename[ ...]]

/V Displays all lines NOT containing the

specified string.
/C Displays only the count of lines
containing the string.
/N Displays line numbers with the
displayed lines.
/I Ignores 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.

[edit] 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 features. 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.
Equivalent to the Unix command mkfs.
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").

[edit] help
 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.
MS-DOS 6.xx help command uses QBASIC 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.
Partially equivalent to the Unix command man.

[edit] intersvr & interlnk

(in MS-DOS; filelink in DR-DOS)

Network PCs using a null modem cable or LapLink cable. 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) which must be running
for any transfer to take place. DR-DOS' filelink is executed on
both the client and server.
New in PC-DOS 5.02, MS-DOS 6.0[3]
 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.

[edit] join

Attaches a drive letter to a specified directory on another drive.[3]

JOIN d: [d:\path]
JOIN [/D] (removes drive assignment)
If JOIN a: c:\floppy were executed, c:\floppy would display
the contents of the a: drive. The opposite can be achieved via the subst
command.

[edit] label

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.

[edit] 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.[4]

[edit] loadhigh, lh

Main article: loadhigh

hiload in DR-DOS.

[edit] md or mkdir

Makes a new directory. The parent of the directory specified will be

created if it does not already exist.
md directory
Equivalent to the Unix command mkdir.
[edit] mem

Displays memory usage.

mem

Options:

• /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.

[edit] memmaker

Starting from version 6, MS-DOS included the external program

MemMaker which was used to free system memory (especially
Conventional memory) by automatically reconfiguring the
AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files. This was usually done by
moving TSR Programs to the Upper memory. The whole process
required three system restarts. Before the first restart the user was
asked whether he/she wanted to enable EMS Memory or not.
The use of MemMaker was popular among gamers who wanted to
enable or disable Expanded 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/EMM386 or a third-party memory manager.

[edit] mode
 Configures system devices. Changes graphics modes, adjusts
keyboard settings, prepares code pages, and sets up port redirection.[5]

[edit] more

Pages through the output so that you can view more than one screen
of text.
command | more
Equivalent to the Unix commands more and less.
More may also be used as a filter.
more < inputfilename

[edit] move

Moves files or renames directories.

move filename newname
move driveletter:\olddir driveletter:\newdir
Example of usage:
move c:\old c:\new
Equivalent to the Unix command mv. DR-DOS used a separate
command for renaming directories, rendir.

[edit] msd

Main article: Microsoft Diagnostics

Provides detailed technical information about the computer's hardware
and software.
msd
New in MS-DOS 6;[6] the PC-DOS version of this command is
QCONFIG.[citation needed]
No Unix equivalent, however in GNU/Linux similar type of
information may be obtained from various text files in /proc
directory.

[edit] pause

Suspends processing of a batch program and displays the message

'Press any key to continue. . .'.

[edit] pcpark
 Parks the hard disk heads in order to enable safe shutdown; only used
on early versions.
pcpark
No Unix equivalent.
MS-DOS 3.2 (and possibly others) used the command HHSET

[edit] print

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.

Equivalent to the Unix commands lp and lpr.

[edit] rd or rmdir

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.

[edit] rem

Remark statement, normally used within a batch file. An alternative

way not to run a specific statement in a batch file is creating a label
that will never be used, ::.
rem > newfilename
In Unix, the # sign can be used to start a comment.

[edit] ren
 Renames a file. Unlike the move command, this command cannot be
used to rename subdirectories, or rename files across drives.
ren filename newname
You can rename files in another directory by using the PATH
parameter:
ren [path]|[filename] [newfilename]
An example could be:
ren c:\Windows filex.txt filey.txt
On DOS with long filename 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
command, while batch renames can be done using the rename
command.

[edit] scandisk

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.
Equivalent to the Unix command fsck.

[edit] set

Sets environmental variables. See Environment variable.

Since Windows 2000 it can be even used for command line inputs by
using Parameter /P
set /p choice=Type your text.
echo You typed: "%choice%"
[edit] setver

TSR designed to return a different value to the version of DOS that is

running. This allows programs that look for a specific version of DOS
to run under a different DOS.
Setver appeared in version 4, and has been in every version of DOS,
OS/2 and Windows NT since.

[edit] share

Installs support for file sharing and locking capabilities.

share [/F:space] [/L:locks]

/F:space Allocates file space (in bytes) for file-

sharing information.
/L:locks Sets the number of files that can be
locked at one time.

[edit] smartdrive

Main article: SmartDrive

[edit] sort

A filter to sort lines in the input data stream and send them to the
output data stream.
sort < inputfilename > outputfilename
Similar to the Unix command sort. Handles files up to 64k. This
sort is always case insensitive. [7]

[edit] subst

A utility to map a subdirectory to a drive letter.[3]

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.

[edit] sys
 A utility to make a volume bootable. Sys rewrites the Volume Boot
Code (the first sector of the partition that Sys is acting on) so that the
code, when executed, will look for Io.sys. Sys also copies the core
DOS system files, Io.sys, Msdos.sys, and Command.com, to the
volume. Sys does NOT rewrite the Master Boot Record, contrary to
widely-held belief.

[edit] time and date

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 command date displays both the time and date, but does
not allow the normal users to change either. Users with superuser
privileges may use date -s <new-date-time> to change the
time and date.
The Unix command time performs a different function.

[edit] tree

Shows the directory tree of the current directory

Syntax:
tree [options] [directory]
Options:

• /F (Displays the names of the files in each folder.)

• /A (Use ASCII instead of the extended characters.)
• /? (Shows the help)

[edit] 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,
TRUENAME MYPROG
would display
C:\PROGRAMS\MYPROG.EXE
and for a substituted drive set up by
subst d: c:\util\test
the command
truename d:\test.exe
will display
c:\util\test\test.exe
This command also displays the UNC 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.

[edit] type

Display a file. The more command is frequently used in conjunction

with this command, e.g. type long-text-file | more.
type filename
Equivalent to the Unix command cat.
[edit] undelete

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.
Syntax:
undelete [filespec] [/list|/all][/dos|/dt]

Options:

• /list : lists the files that can be undeleted.

• /all : Recovers all deleted files without prompting. Uses a number sign
for missing first character.
• /dos : Recover only MS-DOS aware files, ignore deletion tracking
file.
• /dt : Recover only deletion tracking file aware files.

In Unix and Unix-like systems this differs from filesystem to

filesystem. People who use the ext2 filesystem can try the command
e2undel.

[edit] Ver

An internal DOS command, that reports the DOS version presently

running, and since MS-DOS 5, whether DOS is loaded high. The
corresponding command to report the Windows version is winver.

Options: DOS 5 and later

• /r : revision level, also shows whether DOS is loaded high

• /? : shows command line help.

Value returned:

• MS-DOS up to 6.22, typically derive the DOS version from the DOS
kernel. This may be different from the string it prints when it starts.
• PC-DOS typically derive the version from an internal string in
command.com (so PC-DOS 6.1 command.com reports the version as
6.10, although the kernel version is 6.00.)
 • DR-DOS reports whatever value the environment variable OSVER
reports.
• OS/2 command.com reports an internal string, with the OS/2 version.
The underlying kernel here is 5.00, but modified to report x0.xx
(where x.xx is the OS/2 version).
• Windows 9x command.com report a string from inside
command.com. The build version (eg 2222), is also derived from
there.
• Windows NT command.com reports either the 32-bit processor string
(4nt, cmd), or under some loads, MS-DOS 5.00.500, (for all builds).
The underlying kernel reports 5.00 or 5.50 depending on the interrupt.
MS-DOS 5.00 commands run unmodified on NT.
• The Winver command usually displays a Windows dialog showing
the version, with some information derived from the shell. In windows
before Windows for workgroups 3.11, running winver from DOS
reported an embedded string in winver.exe.

[edit] 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.[8]
verify [on|off]

[edit] xcopy

Copy entire directory trees.

Xcopy is a powerful version of the copy command with additional features;

has the capability of moving files, directories, and even whole drives from
one location to another.

xcopy directory [destination-directory]

Equivalent to the Unix command cp when used with -r parameter.