Center for Technical Education
Computer Technology
Internal DOS Commands


ABOUT DIR
The dir command allows you to see the available files in the current and or parent directories.
DIR SYNTAX
Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory.

DIR [drive:][path][filename] [/P] [/W] [/A[[:]attributes]] [/O[[:]sortorder]] [/S] [/B] [/L] [/V]

[drive:][path][filename]
Specifies drive, directory, and/or files to list. (Could be enhanced file specification or multiple filespecs.)
/P   Pauses after each screenful of information.
/W   Uses wide list format. Five column format (may be used with /p to display one screenful at a time.)
/A    attributes:

     R   Read-only files
     A   Files ready for archiving
     S   System files
     H   Hidden files
     - Prefix meaning not
     D   Directories
/O   List by files in sorted order, sortorder:
     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 Date (earliest first)
/S   Displays files in specified directory and all subdirectories.
/B   Uses bare format (no heading information or summary).
/L   Uses lowercase.
/V   Verbose mode.

Switches may be preset in the DIRCMD environment variable. Override preset switches by prefixing any switch with - (hyphen)--for example, /-W.
EXAMPLES
dir = Lists all files and directories in the directory that you are currently in, with the exception of hidden and system files.
dir /s = Lists the files in the directory that you are in and all sub directories after that directory, if you are at root "C:\>" and type this command this will list to you every file and directory that is on the computer.
dir /p = If the directory has a lot of files and you cannot read all the files you can use this command and it will display all files one page at a time.
dir /w = If you don't need the info on the date / time and other information on the files you can use this command to list just the files and directories going horizontal taking as little as space needed.
dir /a /w /o:n/p = This would list all files and directories in the current directory, in wide format, in order by name and one page at a time.