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DOS Commands

If your system has Windows 95 then you have DOS 7.0 or later.

When you first enter DOS you will see the following formulae:

prompt\command\target\switch

Prompt

The prompt refers to whichever drive you are accessing:

Drive              Association

A:\                   Floppy drive

B:\                   2nd Floppy

C:\                   Primary hard disk drive

D:\                   2nd Hard disk drive

E:\                   CD-ROM drive

Command

The command is what you are telling DOS to do:

Command	Command Name	Action
CD	Change directory	Lets you move between directories and drives.
COPY	Copy	Copies files between storage devices
DEL	Delete	Removes a file or directory from a storage device.
DELTREE	Delete Tree	Removes entire branches of data in  one action. So you don’t have to individually delete subdirectories.
DIR	Directory	Displays a listing of a directory's contents.
EDIT	Edit	Used for manipulating system files.
FIND	Find	Searches for files.
MEM	Memory	Displays allocation of memory in the computer.
MSCDEX	Microsoft CD-ROM Extension	Allows DOS to communicate with CD-ROM devices.
PRINT	Print	Print files from DOS.
REM	Remark	Used to disable files, without deleting them
TREE	Tree	Shows directory structure in a graphic tree format.
TYPE	Type	Displays a file's contents on screen.
VER	Version	Tells you what version of DOS you are using.

Target

The target is the file or directory that you wish to work with.

Switch

The switch tells the computer how to carry out the command.

 They are typically one letter preceded by a normal slash ( / ), not a backslash.

 To find out what switches you can use in a given situation:

 Enter the command.

This will list the switches that you can use with that command. With a description of what each will do.

 You can use one switch or a combination of switches as long as they don't contradict each other.

 For a complete example:

C:\DIR DOCUMENTS/P

Note the space between DIR and DOCUMENTS.

This command will display the contents of the directory DOCUMENTS, located on the C: drive. The /P switch pauses the display when the screen is filled (this is useful if you have a lot of files and subdirectories).

A  /W switch would display the information in a wide- screen format, allowing more entries to be displayed on the screen.

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