Command Comparison:

DOS Command
UNIX or Bash
Command
Action
DIR ls -l (or use ls -lF)(-a all
files)
(df -k Space remaining on
filesystem)
List directory contents
DIR *.* /o-d
DIR *.* /v /os
DIR /s
DIR /aa
ls -tr
ls -ls
ls -R
ls -a
List directory contents by reverse time of
modification/creation.
List files and size
List directory/sub-directory contents
recursively.
List hidden files.
TREE ls -R List directory recursivly
CD cd Change directory
MKDIR
MD
mkdir Make a new directory
ASSIGN ln Create a file or directory link
RMDIR
RD
rmdir Remove a directory
CHDIR pwd Display directory location
DEL
ERASE
rm -iv Remove a file
RMDIR /S (NT)
DELTREE (Win
95...)
rm -R
Remove all directories and files below
given directory
COPY cp -piv Copy a file
XCOPY cp -R Copy all file of directory recursivly
RENAME or MOVE mv -iv Rename/move a file
TYPE cat Dump contents of a file to users screen
MORE more Pipe output a single page at a time
HELP or
COMMAND /?
man Online manuals
CLS
clear
ctrl-l
Clear screen
EXIT
EXIT0
exit
exit 0
Exit a shell
FIND
FINDSTR
grep
Look for a word in files given in
command line
COMP diff
Compare two files and show differences.
Also see comm, cmp, mgdiff and tkdiff.
FC diff
Compare two files and show differences.
Also see comm, cmp, mgdiff and tkdiff.
SET set and env List all environment variables
SET variable=value
echo %variable%
set
export variable=value
echo $variable
Set environment variables
Show environment variables
ECHO text echo text Echo text to screen
SET variable
setenv (for C shell) or
export VAR=val (for Korn
shell. Also VAR=val)
Set environment variables
PATH
PATH
%PATH%;C:\DIR
echo $PATH
PATH=$PATH:/dir
Display search path for executables.
Set PATH environment variable.
PROMPT $p$g export PS1='\h(\u)\W> ' Set user command prompt.
DATE or TIME date Show date. (also set date - DOS only)
DOSKEY /h history List command history
DOSKEY
NAME=command
alias NAME=command Set command alias
BREAK ON trap Trap ctrl-break / Trap signals.
SORT sort Sort data alphabetically/numerically
EDLIN ed Line mode editor
EDIT filename.txt
pico, gnp, vi, xedit,
xemacs,dtpad
Edit a file. The Linux editor which looks
most like DOS edit is probably Pico.
(Not a recomendation!)
BACKUP files A:\ tar -cvf /dev/fd0 files
mdir, mcopy
doswrite -a file (AIX
only)
Save files to floppy.
See Using DOS floppies
RESTORE A:\ files
tar -xvf /dev/fd0 files
mdir, mcopy
dosread -a file (AIX only)
Read files from floppy.
See Using DOS floppies
ATTRIB [+r|-r] [+a|-
a] [+s|-s] [path\file] /s
chmod
Change file permissions. DOS: +:set to -
:remove r:Read only a:Archive s:System
/s:recursively
ATTRIB +h or -h mv file .file
Change file to a hidden file - rename file
with prefix "."
PRINT lpr Print a file
CALL
COMMAND /C
(DOS), CMD (NT)
source script (cshrc)
. script (bash)
sh script
Execute script from within batch shell.
MEM free
top
Show free memory on system
TASKLIST (WIN2K,
XP)
ps -aux
top
List executable name, process ID number
and memory usage of active processes
MSD lsdev
Show system info (Command borrowed
from AIX)
SCANDISK fsck Check and repair hard drive file system
DEFRAG C: debugfs
CHDISK du -s Disk usage.
FDISK fdisk Tool to partition a hard drive.
SUBST V:
C:\directory\path
mount
Mount a drive letter to a folder/directory
on your hard drive.
FORMAT mke2fs
See: fdformat and
mformat for floppies
Format drive file system.
For floppy drive use see YoLinux
Tutorial Using DOS Floppies with Linux
VER
uname -a
echo $SHELL
cat /etc/issue
Operating system/shell version
pkzip
tar and zip
Compress and uncompress
files/directories. Use tar to create
compilation of a directory before
compressing. Linux also has compress,
gzip
HOSTNAME hostname Print host name of computer
PING ping Send packets to a network host
TRACERT traceroute
Show routes and router hops to given
network destination.
IPCONFIG (NT)
WINIPCFG (Win
95...)
ifconfig Display/configure network interface
NBTSTAT (Netbios
info: -n, -c)
NBTSTAT -A IP-
address
nslookup host-name
host host-name
Print DNS info for host.
NBTSTAT -a
hostname
nmblookup -A hostname lookup NetBIOS names.
ROUTE PRINT route -n Print routing table.
NET HELP START chkconfig --list |grep on List services.
NET STARTservice-
name
NET STOPservice-
name
service service-name start
service service-name stop
Start/stop service/daemon.
NET SHARES df Show mounted shares/filesystems.
NET SEND <node-
name> <message>
(NT)
smbclient -M MS-
Windows-host-name
talk
Send pop-up to a MS/Windows PC
Send message to another Unix/Linux
user. See YoLinux tutorial
WIN startx Start X-Windows.
REBOOT shutdown -r now Reboot system.
Shell Descriptor/Operators:
DOS
Descriptor/Operator
UNIX or Bash
Descriptor/Operator
Description
\ / Directory path delimiter
.\ ./ Current directory
..\ ../ Parent directory
ctrl-z ctrl-d End of file/close shell
ctrl-c ctrl-c Interrupt/process break
* * file name wild card
? ? Single character wild card
%VAR% $VAR Variable prefix
%1 %2 %3 $1 $2 $3
First, second and third shell
command line arguments.
/ - Command line option flag prefix
| | Pipe
> > stdout redirection
>> >> stdout redirection overwrite
< < stdin redirection
Shell Script Operators:
DOS Operator
UNIX or Bash
Operator
Description
@
ECHO OFF
set +v
Set verbose mode off. -v: Echo each line of
shell script as it is executed.
% $
command line argument prefix. DOS: %1
Bash: $1 for firs argument.
REM # Comment. (Not processed.)
== = string "equal to" comparison
!==! != string "not equal to" comparison
NOT ! negative of test expression
CHOICE case case/switch statement
IF
IF EXIST C:\filename
IF NOT EXIST
C:\filename
if [[ test-resulting-in-
bool ]];
then
...
elif ...;
then
...
else
...
fi
if [ -e /dir/filename ];
if-test
If file exists
If file does not exist.
then
if [ ! -e /dir/filename
];
then
GOTO ABC
...
:ABC
goto ABC
...
:ABC
Branch
FOR ... IN ... DO
FOR %%fff IN
(C:\dir\*.*)
DO echo %%fff
for ffiillee in lliisstt;
do ...;
done
for (( expr1; expr2;
expr3; ))
do ...;
done
For loop
ERRORLEVEL $? exit status/return code
PAUSE sleep sleep for specified interval
Bash shell aliases for DOS users:
The following are bash shell aliases which can be added to the system profile or the user's personal
profile ($HOME/.bashrc) to correct and help DOS users on Linux.
alias dir="echo 'Use the command: ls -lF'"
alias tree="echo 'Use the command: ls -R'"
alias del="echo 'Use the command: rm -iv'"
alias move="echo 'Use the command: mv -iv'"
alias rename="echo 'Use the command: mv -iv'"
alias copy="echo 'Use the command: cp -piv'"
alias type="echo 'Use the command: cat'"
alias cls="echo 'Use the command: clear'"
alias mem="echo 'Use the command: free'"
alias ver="echo 'Use the command: uname -a'"
alias A:="echo 'Use the command: mdir a:'"
alias a:="A:"
alias C:="echo 'No C drive in Linux. Go to your home directory with the command:
cd'"
alias c:="C:"
Devices:
DOS Device Linux Device Description
NUL /dev/null Send into nothingness
CON stdin stdin from console
PRN
LPT1
/dev/lp0 First printer device
COM1 /dev/ttyS0 Firsst serial port
Equivalent Linux and MS/Windows GUI Applications:
MS/Windows Command
Linux
Command
Description
C:\WINDOWS\cmd gnome-terminal
konsole
Command Text Terminal
C:\WINDOWS\explorer nautilus --no-
desktop
File browser
c:\Program Files\Internet
Explorer\iexplore
firefox
mozilla
Web browser
C:\WINDOWS\notepad
C:\Program Files\Windows
NT\Accessories\wordpad
gedit Text editor
C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\Office10\winword
excel
powerpnt
oowriter
oocalc
ooimpress
MS/Office and Open Office
suites (ooffice)
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat
7.0\Reader\acrord32
acroread Adobe PDF viewer
mspaint tuxpaint
xfig
gimp
Graphics and painting
program
C:\Program Files\WinZip\winzip32 file-roller File compress / decompress /
pack / unpack
taskmgr ksysguard
qps
gnome-system-
monitor
xosview
Process and system load
monitor