List of MS-DOS commands
List of MS-DOS commands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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List of MS-DOS commands
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 into the
command interpreter, others existed as external commands on disk. Over the several generations of 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.
Contents
ACALC ¡¤ APPEND ¡¤ ASSIGN ¡¤ ATTRIB ¡¤ BACKUP ¡¤ BASIC, BASICA and GW-BASIC ¡¤ BREAK ¡¤ CALL ¡¤
CHCP ¡¤ CHDIR or CD ¡¤ CHKDSK ¡¤ CHOICE ¡¤ CLS ¡¤ COMMAND ¡¤ COMP ¡¤ COPY ¡¤ CTTY ¡¤ DATE ¡¤
DEBUG ¡¤ DEFRAG ¡¤ DEL or ERASE ¡¤ DELTREE ¡¤ DIR ¡¤ DISKCOMP ¡¤ DISKCOPY ¡¤ DOSKEY ¡¤ DRVLOCK ¡¤
DYNALOAD ¡¤ E ¡¤ ECHO ¡¤ EDIT ¡¤ EDLIN ¡¤ EJECT ¡¤ EMM386 ¡¤ EXE2BIN ¡¤ EXIT ¡¤ FASTOPEN ¡¤ FC ¡¤ FDISK ¡¤
FIND ¡¤ FOR ¡¤ FORMAT ¡¤ GOTO ¡¤ GRAFTABL ¡¤ GRAPHICS ¡¤ HELP ¡¤ IF ¡¤ INTERLNK ¡¤ INTERSVR ¡¤ JOIN ¡¤
KEYB ¡¤ LABEL ¡¤ LOADFIX ¡¤ LOADHIGH or LH ¡¤ MEM ¡¤ MIRROR ¡¤ MKDIR or MD ¡¤ MODE ¡¤ MORE ¡¤
MOVE ¡¤ MSCDEX ¡¤ MSD ¡¤ NLSFUNC ¡¤ PATH ¡¤ PAUSE ¡¤ POWER ¡¤ PRINT ¡¤ PROMPT ¡¤ QBASIC ¡¤
QCONFIG ¡¤ RECOVER ¡¤ REM ¡¤ RENAME or REN ¡¤ REPLACE ¡¤ RESTORE ¡¤ REXX ¡¤ REXXDUMP ¡¤
RMDIR or RD ¡¤ SCANDISK ¡¤ SET ¡¤ SETVER ¡¤ SHARE ¡¤ SHIFT ¡¤ SMARTDRV ¡¤ SORT ¡¤ SUBST ¡¤ SYS ¡¤
TIME ¡¤ TREE ¡¤ TRUENAME ¡¤ TYPE ¡¤ UNDELETE ¡¤ UNFORMAT ¡¤ VER ¡¤ VERIFY ¡¤ VOL ¡¤ XCOPY ¡¤
See also ¡¤ External links
Command processing
The command interpreter for DOS runs when no application programs are running. When an application exits, if the
transient portion of the command interpreter in memory was overwritten, DOS will reload it from disk. Some
commands are internal and built into , others are external commands stored on disk. When the
user types a line of text at the operating system command prompt, will parse the line and attempt
to match a command name to a built-in command or to the name of an executable program file or batch file on disk.
If no match is found, an error message is printed and the command prompt is refreshed.
External commands were too large to keep in the command processor or were less frequently used. Such utility
programs would be stored on disk and loaded just like regular application programs but were distributed with the
operating system. Copies of these utility command programs had to be on an accessible disk, either on the current
drive or on the command path set in the command interpreter.
In the list below, commands that can accept more than one filename, or a filename including wildcards (* and ?), are
said to accept a filespec parameter. Commands that can accept only a single filename are said to accept a filename
parameter. Additionally, command line switches, or other parameter strings, can be supplied on the command line.
Spaces and symbols such as a "/" or a "-" may be used to allow the command processor to parse the command line
into file names, file specifications, and other options.
The command interpreter preserves the case of whatever parameters are passed to commands but the command names
themselves and filenames are case-insensitive.
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.
List of DOS Commands
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ACALC
External - PC DOS 7
Calculates the value of a mathematical expression.
ACALC [/T[:]format] expression
/T
format
expression
Specifies the output format type
D=Decimal (default)
B=Binary
O=Octal
X=heXadecimal
A=All (decimal, binary, octal, and hexadecimal)
Specifies a valid numeric expression.
Numbers prefixed with 'b', 'o', and 'x' are assumed to be binary, octal,
and hexadecimal respectively. Decimal numbers are not prefixed.
APPEND
External - DOS 3.3 and above
Allows programs to open data files in specified directories as if they were in the current directory.
APPEND [[drive:]path[;...]] [/X[:ON | :OFF]] [/PATH:ON | /PATH:OFF] [/E]
APPEND ;
[drive:]path Specifies a drive and directory to append.
/X:ON
Applies appended directories to file searches and
application execution.
/X:OFF
Applies appended directories only to requests to open files.
/X:OFF is the default setting.
/PATH:ON
Applies appended directories to file requests that already
specify a path. /PATH:ON is the default setting.
/PATH:OFF
Turns off the effect of /PATH:ON.
/E
Stores a copy of the appended directory list in an environment
variable named APPEND. /E may be used only the first time
you use APPEND after starting your system.
Type APPEND ; to clear the appended directory list.
Type APPEND without parameters to display the appended directory list.
ASSIGN
External - DOS 2.0 and above
Further information: Drive letter assignment
Redirects requests for disk operations on one drive to a different drive.
ASSIGN [x[:]=y[:][...]]
ASSIGN /STATUS
x
y
/STATUS
Specifies the drive letter to reassign.
Specifies the drive that x: will be assigned to.
Displays current drive assignments.
Type ASSIGN without parameters to reset all drive letters to original
assignments.
ATTRIB
External - DOS 3.0 and above
Displays or changes file attributes.
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ATTRIB [+R | -R] [+A | -A] [+S | -S] [+H | -H] [[drive:][path]filename] [/S]
+
R
A
S
H
/S
Sets an attribute.
Clears an attribute.
Read-only file attribute.
Archive file attribute.
System file attribute.
Hidden file attribute.
Processes files in all directories in the specified path.
+S, -S, +H, and -H are available in DOS 5.0 and above.
BACKUP
External - DOS 2.0 and above
Backs up one or more files from one disk to another.
BACKUP source destination-drive: [/S] [/M] [/A] [/F[:size]]
[/D:date[/T:time]] [/L[:[drive:][path]logfile]]
source
destination-drive:
/S
/M
Specifies the file(s), drive, or directory to back up.
Specifies the drive to save backup copies onto.
Backs up contents of subdirectories.
Backs up only files that have changed since the last
backup.
/A
Adds backup files to an existing backup disk.
/F:[size]
Specifies the size of the disk to be formatted.
/D:date
Backs up only files changed on or after the specified
date.
/T:time
Backs up only files changed at or after the specified
time.
/L[:[drive:][path]logfile]
Creates a log file and entry to record the backup
operation.
BASIC, BASICA and GW-BASIC
External - DOS 1.0 to DOS 4.0
An implementation of the BASIC programming language for PCs.
IBM computers had Cassette BASIC in ROM; BASIC (Disk BASIC) and BASICA (Advanced BASIC) were
extensions to the ROM-based Cassette BASIC.
Microsoft released GW-BASIC for IBM compatible PCs which did not have ROM BASIC. GW-BASIC was a
complete BASIC interpreter which was compatible with BASICA. Some OEM releases had and
as loaders for GW-BASIC.EXE. MS-DOS 5.0 and higher included QBasic instead of GWBASIC.
BREAK
Internal - DOS 2.0 and above
Sets or clears extended CTRL+C checking.
BREAK [ON | OFF]
Type BREAK without a parameter to display the current BREAK setting.
CALL
Internal - DOS 3.3 and above
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Calls one batch program from another.
CALL [drive:][path]filename [batch-parameters]
batch-parameters
Specifies any command-line information required by the
batch program.
CHCP
Internal - DOS 3.3 and above
Displays or sets the active code page number.
CHCP [nnn]
nnn
Specifies a code page number.
Type CHCP without a parameter to display the active code page number.
CHDIR or CD
Internal - DOS 2.0 and above
Displays the name of or changes the current directory.
CHDIR [drive:][path]
CHDIR[..]
CD [drive:][path]
CD[..]
..
Specifies that you want to change to the parent directory.
Type CD drive: to display the current directory in the specified drive.
Type CD without parameters to display the current drive and directory.
CHKDSK
External - DOS 1.0 and above
Checks a disk and displays a status report.
CHKDSK [drive:][[path]filename] [/F] [/V]
[drive:][path]
filename
/F
/V
Specifies the drive and directory to check.
Specifies the file(s) to check for fragmentation.
Fixes errors on the disk.
Displays the full path and name of every file on the disk.
Type CHKDSK without parameters to check the current disk.
CHKDSK originated as an external command in 86-DOS.
CHOICE
External - DOS 6.0 and above
Waits for you to choose one of a set of choices.
CHOICE [/C[:]choices] [/N] [/S] [/T[:]c,nn] [text]
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/C[:]choices
/N
/S
/T[:]c,nn
text
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Specifies allowable keys. Default is YN.
Does not display choices and ? at end of prompt string.
Treats choice keys as case sensitive.
Defaults choice to c after seconds.
Prompts string to display.
ERRORLEVEL is set to offset of key you press in choices.
CLS
Internal - DOS 2.0 and above
Clears the screen.
CLS
COMMAND
External - DOS 1.0 and above
Starts a new copy of the DOS Command Interpreter.
COMMAND [[drive:]path] [device] [/E:nnnnn] [/P [/MSG]]
[/H] [/O] [/Y [/C command | /K command]]
[drive:]path
device
/E:nnnnn
/P
/MSG
/H
/O
/Y
/C command
/K command
Specifies the directory containing file.
Specifies the device to use for command input and output.
Sets the initial environment size to nnnnn bytes.
Makes the new Command Interpreter permanent (can't exit).
Stores all error messages in memory (requires /P).
Loads the Command Interpreter into a UMB if available.
Disables overwrite prompt on COPY,XCOPY,and MOVE commands.
Steps through the batch program specified by /C or /K.
Executes the specified command and returns.
Executes the specified command and continues running.
The /P and /MSG switches may be used only when COMMAND is started by using
the SHELL command in the CONFIG.SYS file.
/O and /Y are only available in DOS 6 and above. /H is only available in PC DOS 7.
originated in 86-DOS.
COMP
External - DOS 1.0 and above
Compares the contents of two files or sets of files.
COMP [data1] [data2] [/D] [/A] [/L] [/N=number] [/C]
data1
data2
/D
Specifies location and name(s) of first file(s) to compare.
Specifies location and name(s) of second files to compare.
Displays differences in decimal format. This is the default
setting.
/A
Displays differences in ASCII characters.
/L
Displays line numbers for differences.
/N=number Compares only the first specified number of lines in each file.
/C
Disregards case of ASCII letters when comparing files.
To compare sets of files, use wildcards in data1 and data2 parameters.
COPY
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