China DOS Union

"Lian Po is old indeed, but can he still eat?", this is a kind of prejudice many people have toward DOS under the Windows operating system. In fact, DOS still plays an important role in system maintenance work. Ever since Microsoft released the Windows XP operating system, people have eagerly thrown themselves into the embrace of Win XP to pay attention to it, understand it, and use it, yet very few have noticed the DOS operating environment that comes with Win XP. Actually, Win XP has already added functions to some DOS commands. As the saying goes, "an old tree puts forth new blossoms"—below, let us experience the functional changes of DOS under Win XP together.

◆Command: DIR, list files and directories

Added parameter: /-C
Parameter explanation: When DIR lists files and directories, the displayed file size values are separated by thousands. Using this parameter, that is, "DIR/-C", will cancel the separator in the display, to suit some people's visual habits.

Added parameter: /Q
Parameter explanation: Windows is a multi-user operating system. Using this parameter, that is, "DIR /Q", when listing files and directories, will display the user attributes of the files and directories.

Added parameters: /T:C、/T:A、/T:W
Parameter explanation: Using these parameters, that is, "DIR/T:C", "DIR/T:A", and "DIR/T:W", will respectively display the creation time, last access time, and last modification time of files and directories.

Added parameter: /X
Parameter explanation: Using this parameter, that is, "DIR/X", when listing files and directories, it will also display the "8.3" format filename for long filenames.

◆Command: CD, change directory

Added parameter: /D
Parameter explanation: The function of this parameter is to quickly change the current directory. For example, if the current directory is C:\Windows, using the command "CD/D E:\Tools”" can quickly switch to the E:\Tools directory. Note: this parameter can only be used in the DOS window obtained by entering "CMD" in Win XP's "Run" text box.

◆Command: MD, create directory

Function explanation: This command has not added any parameters, but its function has been enhanced. It can create multi-level subdirectories at one time. For example, using the command "MD AA\BB\CC\DD" will create the four levels of subdirectories AA, BB, CC, and DD in one go. In older versions of DOS, if the AA subdirectory did not exist, it would be impossible to directly create deeper subdirectories such as BB under AA.

◆Command: RD, delete directory

Added parameter: /S
Parameter explanation: Using this parameter, that is, "RD/S", is used to delete a directory tree, meaning the directory and all subdirectories and files under it are deleted, equivalent to the DELTREE command in earlier versions.

Added parameter: /Q
Parameter explanation: When using the above /S parameter to delete a directory tree, the system will ask the user to confirm whether it should really be deleted. If the /Q parameter is also used, that is, "RD/S /Q", confirmation will be canceled during the deletion operation, equivalent to the /Y parameter of the DELTREE command.

◆Command: DEL, delete files or directories

Added parameter: /F
Parameter explanation: Using this parameter, that is, "DEL/F", can delete read-only files.

Added parameters: /S、/Q
Parameter explanation: Using this parameter, that is, "DEL/S", has exactly the same function as "RD/S", namely deleting the directory and all subdirectories and files under it. If the /Q parameter is used at the same time, system confirmation during deletion can be canceled.

Added parameter: /A
Parameter explanation: Delete files with specified attributes or files other than those with specified attributes. /AR, /AH, /AS, /AA respectively mean deleting read-only, hidden, system, and archive files; /A-R, /A-H, /A-S, /A-A mean deleting files other than read-only, hidden, system, and archive files. For example, "DEL/AR *.*" means deleting all read-only files in the current directory, and "DEL/A-S *.*" means deleting all files in the current directory except system files.

◆Command: ATTRIB, change file or directory attributes

Added parameter: /D
Parameter explanation: In Win XP we cannot set a file or folder to the system attribute; it can only be set as read-only, hidden, or archive. But using the ATTRIB command with the /D parameter can set all attributes of files. When setting them, it must be used together with the /S parameter. For example, "ATTRIB /S /D +S D:\Study”" sets the D:\Study folder as a system folder.

◆Command: Format, format disk

Added parameter: /FS:filessystem
Parameter explanation: Format the disk according to the specified file system type (FAT, FAT32, NTFS), for example "Format /FS:NTFS".

◆Commands: DATE, TIME, display system date and time

Added parameter: /T
Parameter explanation: Using this parameter, that is, "DATE/T" and "TIME/T", will only display the current date and time, without requiring input of a new date and time

Actually, these enhanced options were already in win2000

In XP, there is detailed help documentation about command line parameters:

Start → Help and Support → Pick a task / Use Tools to view your computer information and diagnose problems → Command-line reference A-Z

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