DosCommandPromptTutorial

Thistutorialcoversthebasiccommandsthatyoumayfindhelpfulforusingthedoscommandprompt, aswellasinstructionsoncompilingjavaprogramsinit. Toopenthecommandprompt,holdthewindowskey(seebelow)andpressR,thentypeincmdinthe Rundialogwindow,thenpressOK.

Youshouldseesomethinglikethis(withouttheyellowline):

C:\DocumentsandSettings\AlvinmeansthatwearecurrentlyinthefoldernamedAlvin,whichisinthe folderDocumentsandSettings,whichisontheCdrive/partition.Thisisalsoknownasthepathofthe Alvinfolder.Filesystemnavigation(foldernavigation)incommandpromptisthesameconceptas windowsexplorer,butinsteadofdoubleclicking,wetypeinthenameofthefolderascommands. Commontoboth,itisonlywhenweareinthatfolder,thatweareabletomanipulateit(moresoin windowsexplorerthaninDos). Thekeykeyworddirstandsfordirectory,anditshowsallthefilesanddirectoriescontainedinthe currentfolder.Thecontainedfilesanddirectoriesaredisplayedasaverticallist,withdates&timeof whichitwaslastmodified.

Thisisthesameasviewingthefilesintheeverfamiliarwindowsexplorerthatyouvegrownso accustomedto.Justthatinthecommandprompt,therearenographicaldisplay,everythingisintext form.Notethatinthewindowsexplorer,theAddressbarcontainstheidenticaladdressasthe commandprompt(C:\DocumentsandSettings\Alvin)

 Saythatinwindowsexplorer,wewishtogointothetestfolder,containedintheAlvinfolder,wewould simplydoubleclickonthetestfoldersicon.Inthecommandprompt,tochangetoacontainedfolder, weusethecdcommand,followedbythenameofthatfolder.Thecdcommandstandsforchange directory.Theoutputshouldlooklikethefollowing.Thoughtheexplorerwillshowallthecontentof thetestfolder,thecommandpromptsimplyswitchittothatfolderwithoutautomaticallydisplaying anything.Toviewthefiles,usethedircommanddescribedearlier.

Inwindowsexplorer,ifwewishtogobacktotheAlvinfolderfromthetestfolder,wesimplypressBack.

Thecommandpromptequivalentiscd..(thatscdfollowedbytwoperiods).Ourcurrentfolderwillbe backtotheAlvinfolder(C:\DocumentsandSettings\Alvin)

Imsureyouvenoticed,the\symbolisusedtoseparatedifferentleveloffoldersorsimplyfolder names.Whenusingthecdcommand,wecanlinkmanyfolderstogetherasillustratedinthefollowing. Thisisafasterwaythantypingnumerouscdsonmultiplelines.

OtherNoteworthyKeywordsthatyouMayNeedinthisCourse(givetheseatry): cls d: [tab] cd\ Clearsthecommandpromptofthetextyouveinputtedandtheoutputthatscurrentlyon there,makingiteasiertoread Changesthecurrentpathtotheddrive(ifitexistontheharddrive).Likewise,c:changesit tothecdrive.Thesemicolonhasmanyusesinthedoscommandprompt,justsohappensthat thedriveletter(eg.c,d,e)followedbythesemicolonchangestothatdrive/partition. Whenenteringnamesoffoldersorfiles,aftertypinginthefirstfewletters,pressingtabwill allowthedosprompttofinishtypingrestofthefilenameforyouifamatchexist.Sayifyou havea foldernamedMississippi,andyouwishtoenterit.YoumayonlyneedtotypecdMand thenbypressingtab,thecomputerwillfillouttherestofthewordandshowcdMississippifor you.Thenyoujusthavetopressentertoexecuteitandactuallygointothatfolder.This featurematchesthenameoffiles/directorieswiththefirstfewcharactersofwhatyouvejust startedtoenter,but,onlytothebestofitsabilities.Thismeansifyouhavemultiplefolders that startwithMiss,itllmatchtothefirstonethatshigherupbyalphabeticalorder. Pressingtabagainwillcyclethroughtothenextbestmatch.Thismaybearealtimesaver whencompilingprograms. Asopposedtotypingincd..multipletimestogettotheCpartition(C:),thecd\commandwill jumpyoustraightthere.

dir/w Avariationofthedircommand,inwhichthefiles/foldersaredisplayedhorizontally,leavingout mostoftheinformationthatthedircommandwouldoutput.Aneasierwaytoviewfilesofa folderthatcontainsALOToffiles. dir/p exit Note:Innewerversionsofcommandprompt,theslash/andbacklash\canbeusedinterchangeably. ButintheWindowsfilingsystem,thebackslashisthepropercharacterofuse.Also,the[tab]auto completionfeaturewasnewlyaddedinWindowsXP,takingtheideafromLinuxscommandprompt (terminal).WindowsfilingsystemisNONcasesensitive,socdTest=cdTEST=cdtest=cdtestwhen entering.MacsandLinuxfilingsystemsarehowever. CompilingaProgramintheCommandPrompt Thefirststepistonavigatetothefolderthatcontainsthefilethatyouwishtorun.Inthisexample,the pathisC:\exampleanditcontainsthefileHelloConsole.java. Anothervariationofthedircommand.TrythiswithafolderthatcontainsALOToffilesandsee theresultsforyourself(easierthanmeexplainingwhathappensandleavingyouclueless). Thisisprettyselfexplanatory

Oursourcecodeorprogramsalwayshasa.javaextension,exactlylikehowallpdffileshavea.pdf extension.Beforerunningallprograms,wemustcompileit.Thekeywordthatweuseisjavac,followed bythefullnameoftheprogram,HelloConsole.java.Thejavaccommandwillworkifjdkisinstalledand thepath/classpatharesetupcorrectlyasinstructedinthemanualbyJohnNakamura(inthehelp sectionofthecoursewebpage).Iftherearenoerrorsinthesourcecode,youroutputshouldlooklike thefollowingandyouwillhaveanewfileinyourfolder.Thatnewfilehasthesamenameasyour sourcefile,butwitha.classextension.Iftheprogramscompiledcorrectly,itwilljustgotothenext linewithoutanyindication.Itypedinthedircommandonlytoshowyouthatthereisanewlyaddedfile.

 Finally,toruntheprogram,typeinthekeywordjavafollowedbythenameofthesourcecode, WITHOUTtheextension.Inthiscase,IdenterjavaHelloConsole.Theprogramwillrunanditisonly afteryouquittheprogram,thatyouarewouldregaincontrolofthecommandprompt.

END WrittenBy:AlvinHsieh For:CS1MD3,McMasterUniversity Tuesday,September22,2009,1:48am