MS-DOS OVERVIEW Below is a listing of each of the MS-DOS commands currently listed on Computer Hope and a brief explanation

of what each of the commands do. The following commands are all MS-DOS commands, which means not all the below commands will work in your version of MS-DOS / Windows. Clicking on the command will open the help page for that command. COMMAND ANSI.SIS APPEND ARP ASSIGN ASSOC AT ATMADM ATTRIB BATCH BOOTCFG BREAK CACLS CALL CD CHCP CHDIR CHKDSK CHKNTFS CHOICE CLS CMD COLOR COMMAND COMP COMPACT CONTROL CONVERT COPY CTTY DATE DEBUG DEFRAG rDEL DELETE DELTREE DIR DISABLE DISKCOMP DISKCOPY DOSKEY DOSSHELL DRIVPARM DESCRIPTION Defines functions that change display graphics, control cursor movement, and reassign keys. Causes MS-DOS to look in other directories when editing a file or running a command. Displays, adds, and removes arp information from network devices. Assign a drive letter to an alternate letter. View the file associations. Schedule a time to execute commands or programs. Lists connections and addresses seen by Windows ATM call manager. Display and change file attributes. Recovery console command that executes a series of commands in a file. Recovery console command that allows a user to view, modify, and rebuild the boot.ini Enable / disable CTRL + C feature. View and modify file ACL's. Calls a batch file from another batch file. Changes directories. Supplement the International keyboard and character set information. Changes directories. Check the hard disk drive running FAT for errors. Check the hard disk drive running NTFS for errors. Specify a listing of multiple options within a batch file. Clears the screen. Opens the command interpreter. Easily change the foreground and background color of the MS-DOS window. Opens the command interpreter. Compares files. Compresses and uncompress files. Open control panel icons from the MS-DOS prompt. Convert FAT to NTFS. Copy one or more files to an alternate location. Change the computers input/output devices. View or change the systems date. Debug utility to create assembly programs to modify hardware settings. Re-arrange the hard disk drive to help with loading programs. Deletes one or more files. Recovery console command that deletes a file. Deletes one or more files and/or directories. List the contents of one or more directory. Recovery console command that disables Windows system services or drivers. Compare a disk with another disk. Copy the contents of one disk and place them on another disk. Command to view and execute commands that have been run in the past. A GUI to help with early MS-DOS users. Enables overwrite of original device drivers.

ECHO EDIT EDLIN EMM386 ENABLE ENDLOCAL ERASE EXIT EXPAND EXTRACT FASTHELP FC FDISK FIND FINDSTR FIXBOOT FIXMBR FOR FORMAT FTP FTYPE GOTO GRAFTABL HELP IF IFSHLP.SYS IPCONFIG KEYB LABEL LH LISTSVC LOADFIX LOADHIGH LOCK LOGON MAP MD MEM MKDIR MODE MORE MOVE MSAV MSD MSCDEX NBTSTAT NET NETSH

Displays messages and enables and disables echo. View and edit files. View and edit files. Load extended Memory Manager. Recovery console command to enable a disable service or driver. Stops the localization of the environment changes enabled by the setlocal command. Erase files from computer. Exit from the command interpreter. Expand a Microsoft Windows file back to it's original format. Extract files from the Microsoft Windows cabinets. Displays a listing of MS-DOS commands and information about them. Compare files. Utility used to create partitions on the hard disk drive. Search for text within a file. Searches for a string of text within a file. Writes a new boot sector. Writes a new boot record to a disk drive. Boolean used in batch files. Command to erase and prepare a disk drive. Command to connect and operate on a FTP server. Displays or modifies file types used in file extension associations. Moves a batch file to a specific label or location. Show extended characters in graphics mode. Display a listing of commands and brief explanation. Allows for batch files to perform conditional processing. 32-bit file manager. Network command to view network adapter settings and assigned values. Change layout of keyboard. Change the label of a disk drive. Load a device driver in to high memory. Recovery console command that displays the services and drivers. Load a program above the first 64k. Load a device driver in to high memory. Lock the hard disk drive. Recovery console command to list installations and enable administrator login. Displays the device name of a drive. Command to create a new directory. Display memory on system. Command to create a new directory. Modify the port or display settings. Display one page at a time. Move one or more files from one directory to another directory. Early Microsoft Virus scanner. Diagnostics utility. Utility used to load and provide access to the CD-ROM. Displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP connections using NBT Update, fix, or view the network or network settings Configure dynamic and static network information from MS-DOS.

NETSTAT NLSFUNC NSLOOKUP PATH PATHPING PAUSE PING POPD POWER PRINT PROMPT PUSHD QBASIC RD REN RENAME RMDIR ROUTE RUNAS SCANDISK SCANREG SET SETLOCAL SETVER SHARE SHIFT SHUTDOWN SMARTDRV SORT START SUBST SWITCHES SYS TELNET TIME TITLE TRACERT TREE TYPE UNDELETE UNFORMAT UNLOCK VER VERIFY VOL XCOPY DIR DIR/P

Display the TCP/IP network protocol statistics and information. Load country specific information. Look up an IP address of a domain or host on a network. View and modify the computers path location. View and locate locations of network latency. Command used in batch files to stop the processing of a command. Test / send information to another network computer or network device. Changes to the directory or network path stored by the pushd command. Conserve power with computer portables. Prints data to a printer port. View and change the MS-DOS prompt. Stores a directory or network path in memory so it can be returned to at any time. Open the QBasic. Removes an empty directory. Renames a file or directory. Renames a file or directory. Removes an empty directory. View and configure windows network route tables. Enables a user to execute a program on another computer. Run the scandisk utility. Scan registry and recover registry from errors. Change one variable or string to another. Enables local environments to be changed without affecting anything else. Change MS-DOS version to trick older MS-DOS programs. Installs support for file sharing and locking capabilities. Changes the position of replaceable parameters in a batch program. Shutdown the computer from the MS-DOS prompt. Create a disk cache in conventional memory or extended memory. Sorts the input and displays the output to the screen. Start a separate window in Windows from the MS-DOS prompt. Substitute a folder on your computer for another drive letter. Remove add functions from MS-DOS. Transfer system files to disk drive. Telnet to another computer / device from the prompt. View or modify the system time. Change the title of their MS-DOS window. Visually view a network packets route across a network. View a visual tree of the hard disk drive. Display the contents of a file. Undelete a file that has been deleted. Unformat a hard disk drive. Unlock a disk drive. Display the version information. Enables or disables the feature to determine if files have been written properly. Displays the volume information about the designated drive. Copy multiple files, directories, and/or drives from one location to another. Display a List of All Files and Subdirectories in a Directory. Pauses after each screen full of information

DIR/W DIR/A DIR/O

DIR/S DIR/B DIR/L DIR/V DIR/4 DOSKEY

CD

MD FORMAT

Uses wide list Format Displays files with specified attributes. Attributes D directories, R Read-Only File, H Hidden Files A Files ready for Archiving, S System Files, - Prefix Meaning Not. List by all Files in Sort Order. N By Name (Alphabetic), S By Size (Smallest First), E By Extension Alphabetic, D By Date & Time (Earliest First), G Group Directories First, - Prefix to Reverse Order, A By Last Access Data (Earliest First) Display files in specified directory and all subdirectories. Uses bare format ( No heading information or summary ) Uses Lowercase Verbose Mode Display Year with 4 Digits ( ignored if /v also given ) Edit Command Lines, Recalls Command lines and Creates Macros /BUFSIZE:size sets size of Macro and command buffer (default:512) /ECHO:on|off - Enables/Disables echo of macro expansions (default:on) /FILE:file - Specifies file containing a list of Macros /HISTORY Diplay all commands stored in memory /INSERT Insert new Charactors into line when Typing /KEYSIZE:size Sets size of Keyboard Type-ahead Buffer /LINE:size Sets maximum size of line edit buffer /MACROS Displays all DOSKey macros /OVERSTRIKE Ovewrites new characters onto line when Typing /REINSTALL Installs a new copy of DOSKey macroname Specifies a name for a macro you create text Specifies Commands you want to assign to the macro UP, DOWN - arrows recall commands Esc - Clear current command F7 displays command history Alt + F7 Clear Command History [chars] F8 searchs for command beginning with [chars] F9 Selects a Command by Number Alt + F10 Clears macro definitions The following are Special codes you can use in DOSKey macro definition: $T Command separator: allows multiple commands in a macro $1-&9 Batch Parameters: Equivalent to %1-%9 in batch programs $* - Symbol replaced by everything following macro name on the command line Displays the name of or Changes the current directory Type CD drive: To Display the current directory in the specified drive Type CD without parameters to display the current drive and directory Creates a New Directory Format a disk for use with MS DOS.