China DOS Union

I am deeply passionate about batch processing, but I'm not very proficient in it..... I also want to contribute a little to this site. This article is a bit superficial, please forgive me, experts~~~~




DOS Command Encyclopedia Tutorial

Section 1. Most Commonly Used Commands
-------------------------------
　　cd　　　　　Change current directory　　　　　　　sys 　　Make DOS system disk
　　copy　　　　Copy file　　　　　　　　　del 　　Delete file
　　deltree　 　Delete directory tree　　　　　　　dir 　　List file names
　　diskcopy　　Copy disk　　　　　　　　　　edit　　Text edit
　　format 　　 　Format disk　　　　　　　　md　　　Create subdirectory
　　mem 　　　　View memory status　　　　　　　type　　Display file content
　　rd　　　　　Delete directory　　　　　　　　ren 　　Change file name
　　How much do you remember? If you forget, go to class and have a look. The following four commands are new. Give the command format, and you can try it yourself. Learning computers is important, which is to explore.
　　cls 　　　　Clear screen
［Applicable Occasions］　　The screen is too messy, or there is garbled code on the screen. Clear the content displayed on the screen without affecting any internal information of the computer
［Usage］　　cls 　　Press Enter

　　move 　　　 Move file, change directory name　
［Applicable Occasions］　　Move file to another directory
［Usage］　　move [file name] [directory]　　　　　　　 Move file to new directory
　　　　　　　　move [directory name] [directory name] 　　　　　　Change directory name
［Example］　　c:\>move c:\autoexec.bat c:\old
　　　　　　　　Move the autoexec.bat file to the old directory
　　　　　　　　c:\>move c:\config.sys c:\temp
　　　　　　　　Move the config.sys file to the old directory

　　more　　　　Display in pages
［Applicable Occasions］　　When the output is too much to be displayed in one screen, it is applicable. It is almost applicable to all commands, especially when using commands like type. When using more, the disk should not be write-protected, and it is not suitable for CD-ROM drives.
［Usage］　　type [file name] | more 　　　　　　　Display file content in pages
　　　　　　　　more < [file name]　　　　　　　　　　Display file content in pages
［Example］　　C:\>type msdos.w40 | more

　　xcopy 　　　Copy directory and file
［Applicable Occasions］　　It is very useful when copying together with subdirectories. It is much faster than the COPY command when copying a large number of files
［Usage］　　xcopy [file name] [directory] 　　　　　　Copy the specified file to the specified directory
　　　　　　　　xcopy [source directory] [destination directory]　Copy the source directory and its subdirectories to the destination directory
　　　　　　　　xcopy *.* [directory] /s　　Copy files and non-empty subdirectories to the specified directory
　　　　　　　　Other commonly used parameters also include: v Copy and verify later, which will affect the speed
　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　 　e Similar to s, but even if the subdirectory is empty, it will be copied.

Section 2. Relatively Commonly Used Commands
-------------------------------------
　　attrib　　　Set file attributes
［Applicable Occasions］　　When you want to make special processing on files
［Usage］　　attrib Display attributes of all files
　　　　　　　　attrib +r or -r [file name] Set whether the file attribute is read-only
　　　　　　　　attrib +h or -h [file name] Set whether the file attribute is hidden
　　　　　　　　attrib +s or -s [file name] Set whether the file attribute is a system file
　　　　　　　　attrib +a or -a [file name] Set whether the file attribute is an archive file
　　　　　　　　attrib /s Set file attributes including files in subdirectories
［Example］　　C:\TEST>attrib +r wina20.386
　　　　　　　　C:\>attrib +h *.* /s Hide all files

　　date 　　　 Display and modify date
［Applicable Occasions］　　Want to know or modify time and date
［Usage］　　date Display and change current date
［Example］　　C:\>date 09-20-1996 Change the date to September 20, 1996
　　　　　　　　C:\>date
　　　　　　　　　　Current date is Tue 08-20-1996
　　　　　　　　　　Enter new date (mm-dd-yy):09-20-1996
　　　　　　　　　　Modify the current date in the order of month-day-year. Press Enter directly to ignore modifying the date

　　lable 　　　Set volume label
［Applicable Occasions］　　Used to make a mark for the disk
［Usage］　　label Display disk volume label
　　　　　　　　label [drive letter] [volume label name] Set the volume label of the specified disk
［Example］　　C:\>label
　　　　　　　　Volume in drive C is WANG
　　　　　　　　Volume Serial Number is 2116-1DD0
　　　　　　　　volume label (11 characters,Enter for none)?
　　　　　　　　You can enter the volume label. After pressing Enter directly
　　　　　　　　Delete current volume label (Y/N)?
　　　　　　　　Press y to delete the old volume label, press n to not change

　　defrag　　　Disk defragmentation
［Applicable Occasions］　　The disk has been read and written many times, or the disk has been used for a long time. You may need to use this command to defragment the disk. Disk fragments do not mean that the disk is broken, but just because after many copies and deletions of files, the disk usage will be very incohesive, resulting in slow speed. ［Usage］　　1. C:\>defrag
　　　　　　　　2. Select the disk to be defragmented

　　doskey　　　Call and create DOS macro commands
［Applicable Occasions］　　When you often need to enter repeated commands, it is very useful
［Usage］　　doskey　
　　　　　　　　Resident DOSKEY in memory, open the buffer, and the commands entered later will be saved in the buffer and can be called at any time
　　　　　　　　doskey [macro command name]=[command name] 　
　　　　　　　　Define the macro command as a command. Later, when you enter the macro command, the computer will execute the corresponding command
　　　　　　　　doskey /reinstall　　　　　　Reinstall doskey
　　　　　　　　doskey /bufsize= 　　　　　　Set the size of the buffer
　　　　　　　　doskey /macros 　　　　　　　Display all doskey macros
　　　　　　　　doskey /history 　　　 　　　Display all commands in memory
　　　　　　　　doskey /insert|overstrike Set whether the newly typed characters overwrite the old characters
［Example］　　C:\>DOSKEY
　　　　　　　　C:\>dir
　　　　　　　　C:\>copy C:\temp\*.* a:
　　　　　　　　C:\>del c:\temp\*.*
　　　　　　　　C:\>copy b:\*.* c:\temp
　　　　　　　　The above four commands have all been saved. You can select and use or modify them one by one by using the up and down keys of the cursor control keys. You can also use the F7 key to list all saved commands
　　　　　　　　C:\>doskey di=dir/w/p Define di as a macro command, which means to execute dir/w/p

　　fdisk 　　　Hard disk partitioning
［Suggestion］　　Only when the hard disk is infected by a very powerful virus, or a new hard disk needs to be partitioned. It is best to ask someone who knows about it to guide. The hard disk needs to go through three steps: low-level formatting, partitioning, and formatting before it can be used. The hard disks in ready-made computers have already been processed.
［Usage］　　Enter fdisk and press Enter to enter the prompt interface

　　emm386　　　Extended memory management
［Suggestion］　　This command is more complicated and will be introduced in detail in the system configuration in Chapter 5
lh/loadhigh　　 Load program into upper memory
［Applicable Occasions］　　This command is generally used in autoexec.bat. When some software requires a large amount of basic memory, it will be useful
［Usage］　　lh [program] 　
　　　　　　　　Load the program into the upper memory. When using this command, the following two statements need to be in the config.sys file. device=emm386.exe dos=umb
　　　　　　　　lh [program] /l:area number 　　Load the program into the specified umb area
　　　　　　　　lh /s 　　　　　　　　　Generally used by memmaker specially
［Example］　　C:\MOUSE\>lh mouse Load the mouse driver program into the upper memory

　memmaker　　　Memory optimization management
［Applicable Occasions］　　This command is rarely used now. When DOS was popular in those days, if you wanted to play games, you couldn't do without it. It can free up a lot of basic memory for games to use. You only need to install it once
［Usage］　　1. C:\>memmaker
　　　　　　　　2. Press Enter to continue, F3 to exit
　　　　　　　　3. Select manual installation and automatic installation. Press Enter directly to indicate automatic installation (just press Enter)
　　　　　　　　4. Select whether there is a program that needs to expand memory. You can select with the space bar. Yes means yes, No means no, press Enter.
　　　　　　　　5. The program automatically detects whether WINDOWS is installed in the hard disk
　　　　　　　　6. If there is a floppy disk in the floppy drive, take it out, then press Enter, the computer will restart twice, do not interrupt, just press Enter.
　　　　　　　　(In fact, it's very simple, just keep pressing Enter, hehe)

　　msd　　　　 System detection
［Applicable Occasions］　　Used to check system information
［Usage］　　1. C:\>msd　After pressing Enter, you can see that there are annotations next to each option, indicating the function of the button
　　　　　　　2. Select the project to be queried. For example, select the first Computer, a dialog box will pop up showing some basic information of the computer. You can try other options to see what they are for.
　　　　　　　3. After activating the drop-down menu by pressing Alt+F key, select the "Exit" item to exit.

　undelete　　　Recover deleted files
［Applicable Occasions］　　When you accidentally delete the wrong file, it can be used.
　　　　　　　　When DOS deletes a file, it just removes the file from the allocation table, deletes the first letter of the file name in the disk storage area, and the file content is not immediately deleted from the disk, so it can be recovered.
［Usage］　　undelete　　　　　　　Recover deleted files
　　　　　　　　undelete /all　　　Recover files and no longer ask whether to recover,　　　　　　
　　　　　　　　The first letter is in the order of "#%&-0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
　　　　　　　　undelete /list　　List recoverable file names
　　　　　　　　undelete /s 　　　Can keep undelete in memory, but almost no one uses it like this

　prompt　　　Set prompt
［Applicable Occasions］　　When you are tired of the prompt of c:\> or you want to make your prompt different, you can give it a try. It is a very interesting DOS command that can display time and date at any time.
［Usage］　　prompt $p$g Use the current directory name and > sign as the prompt, which is the most commonly used prompt
　　　　　　　　prompt $t indicates time　　　　　　prompt $d indicates date
　　　　　　　　prompt $$ indicates $ 　　　　　　　prompt $q indicates =
　　　　　　　　prompt $v indicates current version　　　　prompt $l indicates <
　　　　　　　　prompt $b indicates | 　　　　　　　prompt $h indicates backspace character
　　　　　　　　prompt $e indicates the character represented by Esc 　prompt $_ indicates carriage return and line feed
［Example］　　C:\DOS>prompt wang$g Set wang> as the prompt
　　　　　　　　WANG>prompt $t$d$g Use time, date and > sign as the prompt
　　　　　　　　0:01:07.77Thu 08-29-1996>prompt $p$g
　　　　　　　　C:\DOS>

　restore　　　Restore backed up files
［Suggestion］　　If you have made file backups with backup before, you can use it to restore files when the original file is damaged.
　　　　　　　　Restore the files in the disk backed up with the backup command to another disk. There should be two files backup.00X and control.00X in the backup disk.
［Usage］　　restore [backup drive letter] [target drive letter]
　　　　　　　　Restore the backup files on the backup disk to the specified disk
　　　　　　　　restore /s 　　　Restore backup files including subdirectories to the specified disk
　　　　　　　　restore /p 　　　Let the user judge whether to restore the file
　　　　　　　　restore /b: date　　Restore files before the date
　　　　　　　　restore /a: date　　Restore files after the date
　　　　　　　　restore /l: time　　Restore files before the time
　　　　　　　　restore /e: time　　Restore files after the time
　　　　　　　　restore /m 　　　Only restore files modified after the last backup
　　　　　　　　restore /n 　　　Only restore files deleted after the last backup
　　　　　　　　restore /d 　　　Only display the file name to be restored
［Example］　　C:\DOS>restore a: c:
　　　　　　　　Insert backup diskette 01 in drive A:
　　　　　　　　Press any key to continue . . .
　　　　　　　　Put the first backup disk in drive A, press any key, and after restoring the first one, put the other disks in order.
　　　　　　　　When the above command cannot correctly restore the file, please use:
　　　　　　　　C:\DOS>restore a: c:\ /s

　　time　　　　Display and modify time
［Applicable Occasions］　　Used to display and modify time, the usage is the same as date
［Example］　　C:\DOS>time
　　　　　　　　Current time is 12:15:26.04a
　　　　　　　　Enter new time: 11:20:20.00p
　　　　　　　　Enter the time in the order of hour:minute, and then add afternoon (a/p). Press ENTER directly to ignore modifying the time.




　set 　　　　Set environment variables
［Applicable Occasions］　　Used when setting sound cards and paths, etc.
［Usage］　　set [environment variable]=[string] 　　
　　　　　　　　This command is often used in autoexec.bat
［Example］　　C:\>set blaster=a220 i5 d1　　　　　Set sound card parameters
　　　　　　　　C:\>set path=c:\dos　　　　　　　　　The meaning of path c:\dos is the same

　smartdrv　　　Set disk accelerator
［Suggestion］　　It can improve the hard disk access speed. It is best to load it in the autoexec.bat file.
［Usage］　　smartdrv /x
　　　　　　　　Execute and reside in memory, open the disk acceleration cache area, and shield all drive caches. This is a commonly used method (usually this command is enough)
　　　　　　　　smartdrv /c 　　　　　　Write all information in the cache to the hard disk
　　　　　　　　smartdrv /e: number 　　　Set the amount of information moved at one time
　　　　　　　　smartdrv /b: number 　　　Set the size of the pre-read buffer

Section 3. Uncommonly Used Commands
-----------------------
　append　　　　Set path of non-executable files
［Applicable Occasions］　　When you can't find the manuscript you entered in multiple directories, you can give this command a try. The usage is similar to path.
［Usage］　　append [path];[path]
［Example］　　C:\>append c:\test
　　　　　　　　Set the path to find non-executable files as c:\test. If there is a file 1.txt in this directory, when it is not found in other directories, it can be automatically found in the c:\test directory.
　　　　　　　　D:\UCDOS>edit 1.txt can find the C:\test\1.txt file

　debug 　　　　Program debugging command
［Suggestion］　　If you have learned assembly language, you should be able to use debug. If you haven't learned it, it's better not to use it
［Usage］　　debug [file name]

　diskcomp　　　Compare disks
［Applicable Occasions］　　Compare whether two disks are the same. I can't think of when it will be used. When comparing two disks copied with diskcopy, why not use diskcopy/v to verify?
［Usage］　　diskcomp [drive letter 1] [drive letter 2] Compare drive 1 and drive 2
　　　　　　　　diskcomp /1 Only compare the first side of the disk
　　　　　　　　diskcomp /8 Only compare the first 8 sectors of each track
［Example］　　C:\>diskcomp a: a:
　　　　　　　　Compare two disks in the same floppy drive
　　　　　　　　Insert FIRST diskette in drive A:
　　　　　　　　Put the first disk
　　　　　　　　Press any key to continue . . .
　　　　　　　　Comparing 80 tracks 18 sectors per track, 2 side(s) 　　
　　　　　　　　Insert SECOND diskette in drive A:
　　　　　　　　Put the second disk
　　　　　　　　Press any key to continue . . . Compare OK
　　　　　　　　No difference found in comparison
　　　　　　　　Compare another diskette (Y/N) ?n
　　　　　　　　Whether to compare other disks, select y to continue comparing, select n to stop

　expand　　　　Unzip tool
［Applicable Occasions］　　There are many compressed files with suffixes ending with "_" in the original installation disks of Microsoft software. You can use it to unzip and solve the trouble caused by the loss of a few files.
［Usage］　　expand [source file name] [destination file]
［Example］　　C:\>expand a:vsafe.co_ c:\dos\vsafe.com
　　　　　　　Unzip vsafe.co_ to vsafe.com file
　　　　　　　　Microsoft (R) File Expansion Utility Version 2.10 　　　
　　　　　　　　Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp 1990-1993. All rights reserved.
　　　　　　　　Expanding a:vsafe.co_ to c:\dos\vsafe.com. a:vsafe.co_:
　　　　　　　　33046 bytes expanded to 62576 bytes, 89% increase.
　　　　　　　　C:\DOS>

　fasthelp　　　Quickly display help information
［Suggestion］　　You can have a look at all commands. For a single command, it is not as convenient as adding the /? parameter after the command name
［Usage］　　fasthelp 　　　　　　List the uses of all DOS commands
　　　　　　　　fasthelp [command name]　　Display the use of the command, equivalent to [command name]/?

　　　fc　　　　File comparison
［Suggestion］　　Maybe it will never be used by most people
［Usage］　　fc [file name 1] [file name 2] 　　　Compare the differences between the two files 　　　　　　
　　　　　　　　Parameters also include: a c l Lbn n t w nnnn
［Example］　　C:\TEST>fc a.bat b.bat
　　　　　　　　Comparing files A.BAT and B.BAT
　　　　　　　　***** A.BAT
　　　　　　　　choice /c:dme defrag,mem,end
　　　　　　　　if errorlevel 3 goto defrag
　　　　　　　　if errorlevel 2 goto mem
　　　　　　　　if errotlevel 1 goto end
　　　　　　　　***** B.BAT choice /c:dme defrag,mem,end
　　　　　　　　***** C:\TEST>

　interlnk　　　Start simple network client
［Applicable Occasions］　　If there are two computers, they can be connected into a simple network with it and intersrv. This is a very useful command, but it is not commonly used
［Usage］　　DOS newly supports network functions,
　　　　　　　　It can connect two computers through a parallel port cable or a serial port cable to form a simple network
　　　　　　　　To use interlnk, you must add a sentence in config.sys:
　　　　　　　　device=c:\dos\interlnk
　　　　　　　　Both ends of the parallel port cable should be 25-pin male connectors. The connection between the pins is as follows: corresponding
　　　　　　　　p2------------------------p15
　　　　　　　　p3------------------------p13
　　　　　　　　p4------------------------p12
　　　　　　　　p5------------------------p10 Male connector refers to the connector with pins
　　　　　　　　p6------------------------p11 Female connector refers to the connector with holes
　　　　　　　　p15-----------------------p2
　　　　　　　　p13-----------------------p3
　　　　　　　　p12-----------------------p4
　　　　　　　　p10-----------------------p5
　　　　　　　　p11-----------------------p6
　　　　　　　　p25-----------------------p25 Ground wire
［Example］　　C:\DOS\>interlnk Port-LPT1
　　　　　　　　this Computer 　　　Other Computer
　　　　　　　　　(Client) 　　　　　　(Server)
　　　　　　　　　 ----------------------------------------
　　　　　　　　　　　 E: 　　equals 　　A:
　　　　　　　　　 　　F: 　　equals 　　C:
　　　　　　　　In the client, drive E is the same as drive A of the server, and drive F is the same as drive C of the server

　intersvr　　　Start simple network server
［Applicable Occasions］　　Using it, the computer becomes a server (only for the simple network provided by DOS)
［Usage］　　intersvr　　　　　　　Start the server
　　　　　　　　intersvr /lpt:1　　　Start the server, use lpt1 port as the data transmission port
　　　　　　　　intersvr /com:1　　　Start the server, use com1 port as the data transmission port
　　　　　　　　Parameters also include x baud: b v rcopy (refer to interlnk)
［Example］　　C:\DOS>intersvr
　　qbasic　　　Start Basic integrated environment
［Suggestion］　　Maybe it will never be used by most people
［Usage］　　If you know qbasic language, then you can use it to write your own program. edit.com must have it to be usable.
　　　　　　　　qbasic　　　　　Start basic language environment
　　　　　　　　qbasic/editor　Edit language in full screen
　　　　　　　　Parameters also include: b g h mbf nohi run
［Example］　　C:\DOS>qbasic

　setver 　　 　Set version
［Applicable Occasions］　　When you want to use the commands of other versions of DOS, you can use it to deceive the computer. In high-version DOS, when some old-version programs need DOS3.3, you can use setver to set
［Usage］　　Generally, add device=setver.exe in config.sys when using
　　　　　　　　setver　　　　　　　　　　Display the version of the file
　　　　　　　　setver [file name] n.nn 　　Set the version number of the specified file
［Example］　　C:\DOS>setver
　　　　　　　　KERNEL.EXE 5.00
　　　　　　　　DOSOAD.SYS 5.00
　　　　　　　　EDLIN.EXE 5.00
　　　　　　　　BACKUP.EXE 5.00
　　　　　　　　ASSIGN.COM 5.00
　　　　　　　　EXE2BIN.EXE 5.00
　　　　　　　　JOIN.EXE 5.00
　　　　　　　　RECOVER.EXE 5.00
　　　　　　　　WINWORD.EXE 4.10
　　　　　　　　C:\>
　　　　　　　　If the program AAA.exe must be executed under MS-DOS3.3, then type
　　　　　　　　C:\DOS>setver aaa.exe 3.30
　　　　　　　　For example, net5.exe only runs under MS-DOS5.0, then after adding device=setver.exe in config.sys, it can also run under Ms-DOS6.22.

　　share　　　　File sharing
［Suggestion］　　Only use it when the software declares that it must run it
［Usage］　　You can add install=share.exe in config.sys or run it directly. Parameters include f l

　　subst　　　　Path substitution
［Suggestion］　　A very interesting command. If you often use CD-ROM software, it may be useful.
［Usage］　　subst 　　　　　　　　　　Display the current alternative path
　　　　　　　　subst [drive letter] [path]　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
　　　　　　　　Substitute the specified path for the drive letter, and this path will be used as a drive
　　　　　　　　subst /b　　　　　　　　　Remove the substitution
［Example］　　C:\DOS>subst a: c:\temp Substitute the temp directory of drive C for drive A
　　　　　　　　C:\>subst a: /d　　　　　Remove the substitution

　　tree 　　 　Display command tree structure
［Applicable Occasions］　　View all subdirectories
［Usage］　　tree [drive letter]　　　　Display all subdirectory trees
　　　　　　　　tree /f　　　　　　Display file names while displaying directories
　　　　　　　　tree /a　　　　　　Display directory tree in ASCII code
［Example］　　C:\WINDOWS>tree /a

　unformat　　　Recover formatted disk

［Suggestion］　　You formatted the floppy disk with important information? Quickly use unformat... What? You used format /u, then it's dead
［Usage］　　unformat [drive letter] 　　　Recover the specified formatted disk
　　　　　　　　unformat /l 　　　　　Display the file names found by unformat
［Example］　　C:\WINDOWS>unformat a:

　　vsafe　　　　Virus protection program
［Suggestion］　　Loading it into memory can detect many viruses at any time, which is relatively useful.
［Usage］　　vsafe　　　　　　　　Load vsafe in memory
　　　　　　　　vsafe /u 　　　　　　Remove vsafe from memory
　　　　　　　　vsafe/ne 　　　　　　Load vsafe into extended memory
　　　　　　　　vsafe/nx 　　　　　　Load vsafe into expanded memory
　　　　　　　　Parameters also include Ax Cx n d
［Example］　　C:\>vsafe

　ver　　　 　Display DOS version
［Example］　　C:\>ver
　　　　　　　MS-DOS Version 6.22
　　　　　　　　C:\>

　　vol　　　　 Display the specified disk volume label
［Example］　　C:\>vol
　　　　　　　　Volume in drive C is Wang
　　　　　　　　Volume Serial Number is 2116-1DD0
　　　　　　　　C:\>

　　ctty　　　　Change control device
［Suggestion］　　Used to change the input and output devices of the control. You can try this command. But I'm afraid it won't have any effect. It is one of the most useless commands in DOS
［Usage］　　ctty [device name]　　　　Set the console
［Example］　　C:\>ctty aux 　　　Set aux as the input and output device

Thanks a lot. It would be great to have more such kind people on the forum.

Brother, please post more posts like this in the future! Hehe!

Are there any unpublicized DOS commands to share?

Very detailed tutorial. Thanks for providing!

These commands can also be found in the CMD under Windows. Are there any other commands? If anyone knows, please complete them. Thanks in advance.

Learned. Hehe, support the owner's technical post

Learning

I don't even understand how to install DOS at all!! How can I learn commands then!