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This page is a reference to commonly used DOS commands.

Email questions to: computing@Fusion13.com

Technical terms which are underlined, link to a definition of that term

DOS – Notes on Commonly Used Commands

The following is a list of commonly used DOS commands. There are many other commands, and ways that I have not exactly listed to use the commands, but this should be enough to get you started. One of the most important things to know about using commands is that at (almost) any time, you can type the name of the command with the symbols ‘/?’ after it, and DOS will tell you the use for the command and switches. The /? part is easy to remember, at it is the same key, just with Shift held down. I will sometimes elaborate on the syntax of importantly used commands. The following commands (and many more) can be easily discovered by going to a command prompt, and typing ‘help’ (much of what I have learned about DOS has come from doing this!). The following commands are in alphabetical order, and not by order of most commonly used, or most important.

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attrib – Displays or changes file attributes, such as Hidden, or Read Only (do use some caution with this command, as making a file Read Only for instance, can mess up your system).

cd – Displays the name of the current directory, or is used to change directories such as in the syntax ‘cd windows’ to change to the Windows directory while currently on the system (C:\) drive.

cls – clears the screen… used when you get to much garbage from all that typing, and want a shiny new DOS screen.

color – Changes the color of the DOS screen, both foreground and text (remember /? to see what colors you can easily use!).

copy – Copies one (or more) files to a different location. For and example, you can copy files from the directory that you are in, to a folder named C:\copies with the following syntax (no quotes): ‘copy file1 file2 C:\copies’ This command would copy file1, and file2, to the C:\copies directory .

cmd -- (Windows NT or 2000 ®) -- Used to start a DOS session from Start > Run. This will also start a new session within your previous DOS session (this may take a try or two to understand this concept...).

command - (Windows 9x [95/98/ME] ®) -- Used to start a DOS session from Start > Run. This will also start a new session within your previous DOS session.

date – Displays or sets the date.

del – Deletes one (or more) specified files (do I really have to warn you to be careful with this command!!??). The ‘erase’ command can be used in much the same way.

dir – One of the most important commands. This command will display the contents of the current directory that you are in (kind of like what Windows does automatically). One of most important switches you can use is /p with the dir command. ; This switch will ‘pause’ the screen if there are too many files to fit on one screen (move to a directory with a lot of files, and use the dir and dir/p commands, and you will see what I mean). PLEASE READ -- The same result can be achieved by using the ‘| more’ ( the | is pronounced ‘pipe’ and is made by holding Shift and pressing the same key as ‘\’) command after dir. The ‘| more’ command can be used with many commands that do not include the /p switch.

diskcopy – copies the contents of one disk to another. Most used when copying floppy diskettes with the syntax ‘diskcopy A: A:’.

exit – Closes the DOS window (when you are done using DOS).

Format – Formats a disk, usually a floppy disk (once again, do I really have to tell you to be careful when formatting a disk, especially a hard drive?? OK…. I will, YOU CAN WRECK YOUR SYSTEM WITH THIS COMMAND!)

help – Outlined earlier… possibly the most important of all DOS commands.

mkdir – Creates a directory (folder) in the directory that you are currently in (or with a little more typing, a different directory).

move – Moves one (or more) files from one directory to another. Used just the same as the ‘copy’ command, but does not leave the original file behind. This can be quite destructive, depending on the files that you are working with.

rasdial - Used to start a dial-up networking connection from the command line. Very useful for automating internet connectivity.

ren – Renames the specified file (can be also used as ‘rename’ in the same fashion

start – Starts a new window to run a specified program or command. Helpful many times if you want to start a graphical interface from a command prompt. Ex. If you run ‘cd C:\Windows, you will go to the Windows folder, and remain in DOS mode, if you run ‘start C:\Windows, the Windows folder will open in graphical mode.

time – Displays and/or sets the time (much like the ‘date’ command).

tree – One of the cooler looking DOS commands, displays the directory structure of a drive or path in a somewhat ‘graphical’ mode.

type – Displays the contents of a text file. The syntax of this command is as follows: ‘type ReadMe.txt’. The file will be displayed in your DOS window.

xcopy – Used like ‘copy’, but also copies directories and files, not just files alone.

If there are any other very commonly used commands that you can think of, please email me (computing@Fusion13.com), and I will post it to this site.

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