MS-DOS Quick Reference

Common commands

The following commands are commonly used in MS-DOS and technicians should become familiar with them.

ATTRIB sets/resets file protection archiving
CD change the current directory
COPY copy one or more files
DEL delete one or more files from a disk
DIR list files on the current drive
EDIT use DOS editor, to create and edit ASCII text files
FIND searches for a text-string in an ASCII file or files
FORMAT formats a disk to receive DOS files
HELP online "help" information for all DOS commands
MKDIR creates a new subdirectory
MORE paginates screen displays from DOS commands
PRINT prints out ASCII text files
REN renames a file or files
RMDIR deletes an empty subdirectory
TREE displays directory paths and optionally files
TYPE displays the contents of an ASCII text file
?, * wildcard substitution characters
>, >> output redirection operators