Some Examples of Common DOS Commands

The following is a list of useful DOS commands, with explanations. They are useful on older DOS systems and in the command-line interface on modern Windows systems. To access the command-line interface:

• Windows 7 or Vista: Click Start, type cmd, and then press Enter.
  

  Certain commands may require administrative access on Windows 7 or
  Vista. To launch the command line interface in administrative mode,
  click Start, type cmd, and then
  right-click the cmd or cmd.exe search result and choose Run as Administrator.

• Windows XP: Click Start, then Run. Type cmd, and then press Enter.

help	List commands (only in DOS versions 5 or later).
help command	See help for the DOS command.
command /?	List switches for the DOS command.
path=c:\windows ; c:\dos	Specify in which directories DOS searches for commands or programs.
prompt $p$g	Make the DOS prompt display the current directory.
dir	List files in the current directory in one column.
dir /w	List files in five columns.
dir /p	List files one page at a time.
dir *.ext	List all files with an .ext extension.
dir z???.ext	List files with .ext extensions that have four letters and start with z (where z is a character of your choice).
dir file.ext /s	Search for the file.ext in the current directory and all subdirectories under the current directory; most useful if the current directory is the root (i.e., C:\ ).
type file.ext	View the contents of the text file file.ext.
edit file.ext	Use the DOS editor to edit the file file.ext.
a:	Change to the a: drive.
md c:\diry	Make a new subdirectory named diry in the c:\ directory.
cd c:\diry	Change to subdirectory diry.
rd c:\diry	Remove the existing subdirectory named diry.
del file.ext	Delete a file named file.ext.
ren file1 file2	Rename file file1 to file2.
copy file1 file2	Copy file file1 to file2.
verify on	Turn on verification of copy commands.
verify off	Turn off verification of copy commands.
xcopy diry1 diry2 /s	Copy all files and subdirectories in directory diry1 to diry2.
xcopy diry1 diry2 /p	Ask for confirmation of each file before copying it from diry1 to diry2.
diskcopy a: b:	Duplicate a disk using two floppy drives.
diskcopy a: a:	Duplicate a disk using the same floppy drive.
format a:	Format a disk in drive a:.
format a: /s	Format a bootable disk (include system files).
backup c:\diry\*.ext a:	Back up all files with the extension .ext in c:\diry\ to drive a: .
backup c:\ a: /s	Back up the entire c: drive to drive a: .
restore a:\ c:\diry\*.ext	Restore backed-up files with the extension .ext in drive a: to the c:\diry\ directory.
restore a: c:\ /s	Restore backed-up files and subdirectories from drive a: to c:\ .
ver	Check the version of DOS.
time	Check or correct the system time.
date	Check or correct the system date.
cls	Clear the screen.
scandisk	Scan and check drive c: for errors. ScanDisk replaces chkdsk (see below) on DOS version 6.0 and above (including Windows 95).
chkdsk	Check disk and memory usage of the current disk.
chkdsk /f	Fix errors reported by chkdsk.
chkdsk file.ext	Check a particular file.
chkdsk a:	Check a particular drive (in this case, a floppy in the a: drive).
mem	Check memory usage.

This list was adapted from the August 1991 issue of PC World magazine, Instant Reference Card #15, p. 237.