Friday 5 April 2013

DOS commands


help
List commands (only in DOS versions 5 or later).
help command
See help for the DOS command.
command /?
List switches for the DOS command.
path=c:\windows ; c:\dos
Specify in which directories DOS searches for commands or programs.
prompt $p$g
Make the DOS prompt display the current directory.
dir
List files in the current directory in one column.
dir /w
List files in five columns.
dir /p
List files one page at a time.
dir *.ext
List all files with an .ext extension.
dir z???.ext
List files with .ext extensions that have four letters and start with  z  (where  z  is a character of your choice).
dir file.ext /s
Search for the file.ext in the current directory and all subdirectories under the current directory; most useful if the current directory is the root (i.e.,  C:\ ).
type file.ext
View the contents of the text file file.ext.
edit file.ext
Use the DOS editor to edit the file file.ext.
a:
Change to the a: drive.
md c:\diry
Make a new subdirectory named diry in the c:\ directory.
cd c:\diry
Change to subdirectory diry.
rd c:\diry
Remove the existing subdirectory named diry.
del file.ext
Delete a file named file.ext.
ren file1 file2
Rename file file1 to file2.
copy file1 file2
Copy file file1 to file2.
verify on
Turn on verification of copy commands.
verify off
Turn off verification of copy commands.
xcopy diry1 diry2 /s
Copy all files and subdirectories in directory diry1 to diry2.
xcopy diry1 diry2 /p
Ask for confirmation of each file before copying it from diry1 to diry2.
diskcopy a: b:
Duplicate a disk using two floppy drives.
diskcopy a: a:
Duplicate a disk using the same floppy drive.
format a:
Format a disk in drive a: .
format a: /s
Format a bootable disk (include system files).
backup c:\diry\*.ext a:
Back up all files with the extension .ext in c:\diry\ to drive a: .
backup c:\ a: /s
Back up the entire c: drive to drive a: .
restore a:\ c:\diry\*.ext
Restore backed-up files with the extension .ext in drive a: to the c:\diry\ directory.
restore a: c:\ /s
Restore backed-up files and subdirectories from drive a: to c:\ .
ver
Check the version of DOS.
time
Check or correct the system time.
date
Check or correct the system date.
cls
Clear the screen.
scandisk
Scan and check drive c: for errors. ScanDisk replaces chkdsk (see below) on DOS version 6.0 and above (including Windows 95).
chkdsk
Check disk and memory usage of the current disk.
chkdsk /f
Fix errors reported by chkdsk.
chkdsk file.ext
Check a particular file.
chkdsk a:
Check a particular drive (in this case, a floppy in the a: drive).
mem
Check memory usage.