1

Windows Command Line

Interface
(AKA DOS commands)

Prof. Yitzchak Rosenthal

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What I did uptown

• help, help dir
• dir, dir /w, dir /?
• fullpath, relative path, dot dot, dot
• cd, md, rd, rd /s, rd /s/q
• type
• what is a binary number
• ASCII files, binary files
• diff bet notepad, word, excel,
• copy, del
• notepad
• TODO
– .exe files
– batch files
– dir /od, dir /o-d
 What is the Windows
3

Command Line Interface (CLI)?

• The windows command line interface (CLI) provides a
way to control your computer by typing "English-like"
commands instead of clicking on buttons, icons, menus,
etc.

• For example you can use the windows CLI to

– start a program
– create a folder
– remove a folder
– copy a file
– remove a file
– rename a file
– etc.
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What is “DOS”
• The Windows CLI commands are sometimes
referred to as "DOS" commands.
– DOS was the name of the operating system that
predated Windows (it stands for Disk Operating
System).
– The only way to control DOS was to use these
commands
– The commands in the modern Windows Command Line
interface are very similar to the original DOS
commands, but there are some differences and some
completely new commands.
 5

CLI vs. DOS

• Terminology
– Even though it's not totally accurate to call the Windows
CLI commands "DOS" commands, we will continue to
use that term since many people use that term.
– Sometimes we will simply use the term “DOS” without
the word commands.
• The following terms will be used interchangeably
– Windows CLI
– DOS commands
– DOS
 6
Why should you use the
command line interface (i.e. DOS commands)?
• Many windows users will never have a need for the
DOS commands

• DOS commands are useful or required for many

administrative or programming tasks

• For example, using DOS commands one can write

programs to automate many administrative tasks.
 7
DOS Commands that we will discuss
(there are many others)
• Basic DOS commands • File and folder paths
– help – dot (i.e. .)
– help <command name> – dot dot (i.e. ..)
– dir [/w][/s][/?][/od][/o-d][/oe][/o-e] – full path (AKA absolute path)
etc. – relative path
– cd
– md • Types of files
– rd [/s][/q] – ASCII files
– move – Binary files
– copy – "type" only works with ASCII files
– xcopy [/s][/e] – notepad vs. word
– del / erase (these are synonyms)
– ren
– type
– tree [/f][/a]
– cls
– ver
– fc
– find
 8
DOS Commands that we will discuss
(there are many others)
• Redirection • Environment variables
– > overwrite – set
– >> append – set <var name>
– | pipe – set <var name> = <value>
– path
• Filter commands (can use with | ) – %VarName%
– more – control panel | system | advanced |
environment variables
– sort

• Running programs
– Filename extensions
(eg. .txt .doc .xls)
– executable files (.exe)
– running a program
– windows explorer -
• view | details
• tools | folder options | view
 9

More DOS commands

• File attributes (hidden, read • Command line arguments
only, archive) – %1 %2 %3 ... %9
– attrib DOS Command – shift
– windows explorer - file properties

• Commands for scripting

– rem
– echo
– echo on
– echo off
– @
– exit
– start
– goto command and labels
 10

Scripting Commands
• for
• if
• pause
• echo <message>
• echo on
• echo off
• @
• shift
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Programs (AKA “external” DOS commands)

• notepad
• cmd
• regedit
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running / executing
• starting a program or DOS command is known as

“running” the program/command

OR

“executing” the program/command

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Case In-sensitive
• DOS commands are case in-sensitive.
• This means that you can type the commands in either UPPER CASE,
lower case OR a mixture of uPpEr AnD lOwEr CaSe.
• For example the following are all equivalent ways of typing the “dir”
command

dir

DIR

dIr

DIr

dIR
 14

Type ENTER
• You must press the ENTER key after typing any
DOS command for it to actually do anything.
 15

Conventions for this presentation

• This presentation will use the following conventions when describing the
commands:

– Any part of a command that must be typed exactly will be shown as regular text. (see
example below)

– Words between “angle brackets” are placeholders which you must fill in when you run
the command.

– For example the following command is used to delete a file.

del <file name>
The description shows that you must type the word “del” (without the quotes) followed
by the name of the file you want to delete. For example to actually delete the file
named “myDocument.doc” you would type the following (and then press the ENTER
key)
del myDocument.doc
 16

More conventions
• This presentation will use the following conventions when describing the commands:

– If a part of a command is optional it will be shown in square brackets.

– For example the following command is used to get help about the DOS commands.
help [<command name>]

– The description above shows that you can type the word “help” alone or type the word “help”
followed by the name of a specific DOS command.
If you type the word “help” alone you will see a list of all the DOS commands and a short
description of what each command is used for. Example (don’t forget to press the ENTER key):
help
You can also type the word “help” followed by the name of a specific DOS command to get more
extensive help on that particular command. Example (don’t forget to press the ENTER key):

help dir
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THE
COMMAND PROMPT
WINDOW
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The "command prompt" window

DOS commands are entered in a "command prompt" window:
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Starting the command prompt window

• To start a command window from "Windows XP -Home"
choose the following menu choice from the start menu:

start | All Programs | Accessories | Command Prompt

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The prompt
• The "c:\>" in the picture is called the "prompt"
(your prompt may look slightly different, such as "d:\>", "c:\somefolder>" or something similar - we'll explain later).
• The prompt is automatically displayed by the computer.
• You type your commands after the prompt.
• In order for a command you typed to do anything, you must press the "ENTER" key.
• Commands may be entered either in UPPERCASE, lowercase.or MiXeDcAsE
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THE
HELP
COMMAND
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help command
• Type "help" follwed by the ENTER key to get a list
of the valid commands

(output of the "help" command is shown on the following slides)

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Output of help command

• The help command prints a lot of text to the command
window.
• Some of the text will scroll off the screen.
• use the scroll bar to view text that has scrolled off of the
screen.
• (see next slide for example).
Output of help command
24

Output of
"help"
command is
very long
and scrolls
of the
screen.

Use the
scrollbar to
see the rest
of the text
 25

help <command>
• To get detailed help about a specific command type the word "help" (without the
quotes) followed by the name of the command.
• For example to get detailed help about the "dir" command, type the following:

help dir

Output of

help dir

command
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| MORE
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| more
• To view a lot of output, instead of using the scroll bar, you can force
the output of most commands to be displayed one screen at a time.

• Type the command followed by "| more" (without the quotes), for
example:

This is the prompt. It is This is what you type

followed by the ENTER key
printed by the computer

c:\> help | more

`

• The vertical bar symbol (also called a pipe symbol) is located on the
keyboard above the backslash ( \ ) character. On the keyboard it
looks like a vertical line with a break in the middle`
 28

output of "help | more"

• When you use "| more", the output from the command is displayed one screenfull
at a time
• Below is the output of the command "help | more"
• Press the spacebar to see the next screenfull of output.
• Press the ENTER key to see the next line of output.
• To quit seeing the output type "q" (for quit) or Ctrl-C (I’ll explain more about Ctrl-C soon)
 29

Using “| more” with other commands

• You can add “| more” (without the quotes) to the end of
most commands to have the output of that command
displayed one page at a time.

• For example, we will learn about both the “dir” and “type”
commands later, both of which can be combined with “|
more”. The following are both legal:

dir | more

type myfile.txt | more (for this to work, there must be a file named
myfile.txt)

• We will learn more about what the “|” means later.

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"CTRL-C"
(i.e. CONTROL-C)
 Stopping programs with Control-C
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(i.e. Ctrl-c)
• Sometimes DOS commands may "get stuck" and never
complete or take a loooonnnng time to complete.
• This is sometimes refered to as a program that is "hanging"
• To terminate any DOS program or command you can press
the "Cntrl" key and the "c" key at the same time while the
program is running. (try to remember "c" is for "cancel")
• This key sequence is known as "Control-C" or "Ctrl-C“
• For example you can use Ctrl-C to terminate the "more"
program instead of typing "q"
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INCREASE THE SIZE

OF THE
COMMAND WINDOW
 Changing the properties
33

of the command window

• Another way to see more information at once is to increase
the height of the command window
• To do that, "left click" on the icon in the upper left hand
corner of the window and choose "Properties"
 Increasing the height
34

of the command window

• choose the "Layout" tab.

• change the value of the

"Height" field in the
"Window Size" section

• this is the number of lines

of output that is displayed
in the command window.
(the default value is 24)

• press the "OK" button

 35

Apply the changes

• finally, you will see this
dialog box

• If you choose "Apply

properties to current window
only" then the next time you
start a command window the
new window will be the
original size

• If you choose "Modify

shortcut that started this
window" then then next time
that you start a command
window it will be the larger
size.

• Make a choice (either is fine)

and press the "OK" button.
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result - larger command window

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BASIC COMMANDS
(DIR, MD, CD, RD)
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Directories (AKA Folders)

• In DOS, a "folder" is called a "directory"

• A folder and a directory are exactly the same thing - the

words are interchangeable.
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DIR command
• The DIR command shows the contents of a directory (AKA folder).
• This is the same information that you can see in Windows Explorer
• Simply type the word "dir" followed by the ENTER key
• The output of the command is shown on the next slide
 40

OUTPUT OF DIR EXPLAINED (1 of 2)

This is the directory (i.e. folder) whose contents
These are the names of files and directories (i.e. folders)
are being listed. C:\ means the top directory on
that are contained in the directory being listed (i.e. C:\)
the C: drive (AKA the “root” of the C: drive)

A line with <DIR> on it indicates a directory name. Line without <DIR> show file names.
 41

OUTPUT OF DIR EXPLAINED (2 of 2)

The date and time are the date/time that These numbers indicate the size of the files in bytes.
the file or directory was created or last (Directories don’t display a size.) A file with a size of
modified. zero (0) is an empty file (i.e. it has nothing in it).
 42

Files and Directories

• The output of the DIR command shows a list of files and
directories
• The date/time at the start of each line is the last time that
file or folder was modified.
• The names that are preceded by "<DIR>" are directory
names. The other names are names of files. For example,
in the previous slide
– "005-v01-chap2-partII.ppt" is a filename
– "AUTOEXEC.BAT" is a filename
– "Chap02" is a directory name
– "Chap11" is a directory name
– "CONFIG.SYS" is a filename
– etc.
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One directory (i.e. folder) at a time

• It is important to understand that the DIR command
shows the contents of only one directory (i.e.
folder) at a time.
• The output shown above shows the contents of the
highest level folder (also known as the “root”) of
the C: drive.
• You can see the same information in “Windows
Explorer” (we’ll show you the output of the dir command
compared with what you see with windows explorer)
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Switching Drives
• To switch the disk drive that you are working with, type
the letter for the diskdrive followed by a colon ( e.g. d: )
• Don’t leave any spaces between the letter and the colon
• The prompt will change to show the new drive.

You type this

The prompt
changes to show
the new drive
name
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Directory of D:
• The DIR command will now show the contents of the
folder at the top of the D: drive (i.e. the “root” of D: )

files and
directories in
the “root”
directory of
the D: drive
 46

Switch back to C: drive

• To switch
back to the C:
drive type
“C:” followed
by ENTER.

• To switch to
any drive by
type the drive
letter followed
by a colon
followed by
ENTER
 47

DOS vs. Windows Explorer

DOS

DOS shows
the same files
Windows

and folders as
Explorer

Windows
Explorer does
 48

dot (.) and dot dot (..)

• DOS uses two special directories, dot (.) and dot dot (..), that don’t
appear in Windows Explorer.
• We’ll describe these more later ...
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TREE command
• The TREE
command
shows the
DOS

hierarchy
of
directories

• You can
see the
same info
from
Windows
Windows

Explorer
Explorer
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NAMING
DISK DRIVES, DIRECTORIES
(AKA folders), AND FILES
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DIR <path>
• To display the contents of a different folder with
DIR, you must specify the name of the directory.
• EXAMPLE: The following shows the contents of
the “accounting” directory that is in the
“schoolWork” directory that is in the root of the D:
drive:

DIR d:\schoolWork\accounting

• See next slide ...

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Example
• To see the contents of the accounting directory type
dir d:\schoolWork\accounting
Contents of
accounting
directory
 53

Command Line Arguments

• The information that is specified after the name of
the command are called command line arguments

• Example: In the following command:

dir d:\schoolWork\accounting

"dir" is the name of the command and

"d:\schoolWork\accounting" is a command line
argument
 54

Accessing the hierarchy from DOS

• The hierarchy of disk drives, folders and files that
is accessible from Windows Explorer is also
accessible from DOS
• However you must how to name the following
from DOS
– disk drives
– directories
– files
 55

Disk drive names

• DOS uses a single letter followed by a colon to
name each disk drive.
• These are the same names that Windows Explorer
shows in parentheses (see next slide).
– A: is usually reserved for the floppy drive
– C: is usually reserved for a local hard drive
– Other drive letters are either for
• other local hard drives
• drives that are on another computer but which are accessible
over the network
• Other types of drives such as CD-ROM or DVD drives.
 56

Lets see Windows Explorer again

(continued on next slide)

DOS
drive
letters
 57

Path to a file or folder

• The location of a particular file or directory is
specified in DOS using a "path"
• A “full path” (or "absolute" path) is comprised of
– the name of a disk drive that the file or folder is on,
backslash ( \ ) characters, folder names and an optional
file name.
• Example
D:\otherStuff\NTFSDOS3\readme.txt

drive letter folder names file name

 58

Example explained
• The example on the previous page is repeated here

D:\otherStuff\NTFSDOS3\readme.txt

• This path represents the "readme.txt" file that is

stored in the "NTFSDOS3" folder which is in turn
stored in the "otherStuff" folder on the D: drive
 59

Backslash (\) vs. Forward slash (/)

• Don't confuse the
backslash (\) with the
forward slash (/) !

• On standard keyboards:
– the backslash (\) is
forward slash located directly above
backslash the ENTER key.
– the forward slash (/) is
located next to the shift
key on the right hand
side of the keyboard
 backslash in filenames
60

forward slash for command options

• backslash is used for naming files and directories
• forward slash is used to provide options to DOS
commands (we'll cover this later)
 61

spaces in filenames
• If any folder or filename in a path contains spaces,
you must surround the entire path with quotes
when using it in a DOS command.
• Example

dir "c:\my folder\my file.txt"

 62

The root
• The top level of any disk drive is called the "root"
of the disk drive.
• The root is indicated by a single backslash ("\")
character. For example:
– the root of the C: drive is C:\
– the root of the A: drive is A:\
– the root of the D: drive is D:\
– etc.
 63

Trees, root, parent, child

 64
The "current directory“ or
“working directory”
• Windows
– As noted above, the right hand pane of Windows Explorer shows
the files that are in the folder which is currently selected in the
left hand pane.
– You can think of the currently selected folder as the "current
folder" or "current directory".
– From the snapshot on the previous slide, "NTFSDOS3" is the
"current folder"
• DOS
– In a similar way DOS uses the concept of a currently selected
directory otherwise known as "the current directory" (sometimes the
"current directory" is called the "working directory").
 Which directory
65

is the working directory?

• By default, the DOS prompt indicates which directory is
the current directory, also known as the “working”
directory.

• The prompt in the slides looked like: C:\>

– "C:" indicates that the current directory is on the C: drive.

– "\" after the colon indicates that the current directory is the top
level directory (on the C: drive).
– ">" is not part of the name of the current directory. It is simply
indicates the end of the prompt.
 66

DOS command options and switches

• Most DOS commands can be run in different ways
by specifying “options” (also known as
“switches”).
• You specify an option by typing a forward slash (/)
after the command name followed by one or more
letters or characters that specify which option you
want to use.
• See example on next slide
 67

DIR /w
• The /w output of
option for “DIR”
the DIR command
command
shows the
output in a
“wide”
format.

• Execute
the
command
by typing
“dir /w”
 68

DIR /?
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DIR /on
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DIR /o-n
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DIR /od
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DIR /o-d
 73

MD (make directory) command

• Use the MD command to make a new directory that will be
stored under the current directory.
• The syntax is

MD <directory name>

• For example the following will create a directory named

"entertainment" that is stored under the current directory

md entertainment
 74

MD command has no output

• If the MD command is successful it does not display any output
 75

See the new directory

• To see the new directory run the DIR command
(output of DIR command)
 CD command
76

(change the current directory)

• Use the CD command to change the current
directory.

• The syntax is

CD <directory name>

• For example the following will change the current

directory to the new "entertainment" directory.

cd entertainment
 77

CD command - changes the prompt

• If the CD command is successful it does not display any output
• However the prompt changes to reflect the new "current directory"
 78

CD to a full path
 79

CD to a longer full path

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CD to a folder “below” the current folder

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CD to the parent directory

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CD to the parent of the parent directory

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The contents of an “empty” directory

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CD to a sibling directory by way of parent

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“Full path” vs. “relative path”

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drive letter
 <drive letter>:
87

(change drive command)

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CD to a folder on a different drive

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Each drive remembers its working directory

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Making a directory (MD) using a full path
or a relative path
 91

OTHER COMMANDS
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CLS Command
• Type the CLS command followed by ENTER to
clear the screen.
 93

Type
 94

ASCII files vs. Binary Files

 95

Difference between Notepad and Word

 96

TODO
• tree hierarchy – parent, child, root, leaf
• help dir
– options / switches
– optional parts of command
 97

• wildcards * and ?
• dir with wildcards
• Files, extensions
• copy
• del vs, rd
• .exe files
• path
• rd
• ren
• set
• cmd /k
 98

APPENDICES
 99

MORE ABOUT DISK DRIVES

 100

Fixed drives vs Removable Media drives

• There are two types of drives
– Fixed Drives
• for example a hard drive
– Removable media drives
• for example a floppy disk drive, CDROM drive or DVD drive
 101

Removable media drives

 102

Disk Drives and Media

• Examples of Disk Drives
– Hard Disk drive
– Floppy disk drive
– CDROM drive
– DVD drive
• Examples of Disk Drive Media
– floppy disk
– CDROM disc
– DVD disc
 103

COMPARING FILES

date/time stamps and files sizes

FC command
 104

Date/time stamps and file sizes

• If two files have the same date/time and the same exact file
size, then they probably contain the same exact
information. However, it is possible that they contain
different information
• The FC (file compare) command compares two files to see
if they are exactly the same. This will tell you if two files
are the same even if they have different date/time stamps.
• Example:
FC file1.txt file2.txt

For complete information on the FC command run FC /? or

HELP FC
 105

CONTROL CHARACTERS
 106

Control characters
• Control-C is an example of a “control character”
• There are 26 control characters, one for each letter.
• There is no distinction between capital and lowercase
letters: Ctrl-C (capital “C”) is the same as Ctrl-c
(lowercase “c”)
• Some control characters have special meaning. For
example:
– Ctrl-H is another way of typing a backspace character (try it out
in a command window)
– Ctrl-M is another way of typing the ENTER key
(try typing “dir” followed by ctrl-M)
• Sometimes control characters are shown with a ^ character
followed by the letter. For example control-A can be
shown as ^A
 107

Control characters and ASCII

• The 26 control characters correspond to the first 26
numbers in the ASCII table.
• TODO: talk about ASCII