COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND

PLATFORM TECHNOLOGIES
IT0047
 MODULE 3
DOS & DEBUG Commands
 MODULE 3.1
DOS Commands

At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to :

• Define MSDOS
• Identify the types of DOS Commands
• Identify the most used DOS Commands
This tutorial gives you an opportunity to try basic MS-DOS commands. By
following the procedures in this section, you will learn to:
• View the contents of a directory
• Change from one directory to another
• Create and delete directories
• Change from one drive to another
• Copy files o Rename files
• Delete files o Format a floppy disk
When you first turn on your computer, you will see some cryptic
information flash by. MS-DOS displays this information to let you know
how it is configuring your computer. You can ignore it for now. When the
information stops scrolling past, you'll see the following:
C:\>
This is called the command prompt or DOS prompt. The flashing
underscore next to the command prompt is called the cursor. The cursor
shows where the command you type will appear.
This section explains how to type a command at the command prompt
and demonstrates the "Bad command or file name" message.
1. To type a command at the command prompt
Type the following at the command prompt (you can type the command in
either uppercase or lowercase letters):
nul
If you make a typing mistake, press the BACKSPACE key to erase the
mistake, and then try again.
2. Press ENTER
You must press ENTER after every command you type.
The following message appears:
Bad command or file name
The "Bad command or file name" message appears when you type
something that MSDOS does not recognize. Because nul is not a valid MS-
DOS command, MS-DOS displays the "Bad command or file name"
message.
3. Now, type the following command at the command prompt:
ver
The following message appears on your screen:
MS-DOS version 6.22
In this section, you will view the contents of a directory by using the dir
command. The dir command stands for "directory.“
• To view the contents of a directory
1. Type the following at the command prompt:
dir
A list similar to the following appears:
This is called a directory list. A directory list is a list of all the files and
subdirectories that a directory contains. In this case, you see all the files
and directories in the main or root directory of your drive. All the files and
directories on your drive are stored in the root directory.
Look at the list on your screen. All the names that have
beside them are directories. You can see a list of the files in another
directory by changing to that directory, and then using the dir command
again. In this case, you will change to the DOS directory
Before you begin this section, make sure you have a directory named DOS
by carrying out the following procedure
• To make sure you have a directory named Windows
If you do not see a line in the directory list indicating that you have a
directory named Windows, type the following at the command prompt:
dir /s Windows
• You will see a message that includes a line such as the following:
Directory of C:\DIRNAME
To change from the root directory to the WINDOWS directory
• To change directories, you will use the cd command. The cd command
stands for "change directory.“
• Type the following at the command prompt:
cd windows
• The command prompt changes. It should now look like the following:
C:\WINDO
Next, you will use the dir command to view a list of the files in the DOS
directoryWS>
To view a list of the files in the WINDOWS directory
1. Type the following at the command prompt:
Dir
A list of the files in the WINDOWS directory appears, but scrolls by too
quickly to read. You can modify the dir command so that it displays only
one screen of information at a time.
To view the contents of a directory one screen at a time
• Type the following at the command prompt:
dir /p
One screen of information appears. At the bottom of the screen, you will
see the following message:
Press any key to continue
• To view the next screen of information, press any key on your keyboard.
Repeat this step until the command prompt appears at the bottom of
your screen
When you typed the dir command this time, you included the /p switch
after the command. A switch modifies the way MS-DOS carries out a
command. Generally, a switch consists of a forward slash (/) that is
followed by one or more letters or numbers. When you used the /p switch
with the dir command, you specified that MS-DOS should pause after it
displays each screen of directory list information. The p actually stands for
"page
Another helpful switch you can use with the dir command is the /w switch.
The /w switch indicates that MS-DOS should show a wide version of the
directory list.
o To view the contents of a directory in wide format
1. Type the following at the command prompt:
Dir
The directory list appears, with the filenames listed in wide format. Note
that only filenames are listed. No information about the files' size or date
and time of creation appears.
/w
If the directory contains more files than will fit on one screen, you can
combine the /p and /w switches as follow
dir /w /p
Next, you will change from the DOS directory to the root directory. The
root directory is the directory you were in before you changed to the DOS
directory. Before you begin this section, make sure your command prompt
looks like the following:
C:\DOS>
o To change to the root directory

1. Type the following at the command prompt:

cd \
Note that the slash you type in this command is a backslash (\), not a
forward slash (/)
No matter which directory you are in, this command always returns you to
the root directory of a drive. The root directory does not have a name. It is
simply referred to by a backslash (\).
The command prompt should now look like the following:
C:\>
When your command prompt appears similar to this---that is, when it
does not contain the name of a directory---you are in the root directory.
In this section, you will create two directories. Creating a directory is
helpful if you want to organize related files into groups to make them easy
to find. Before you begin this section, make sure the command prompt
looks like the following
C:\>
To create a directory, you will use the md command. The md command
stands for "make directory."
To create and change to a directory named FRUIT
Type the following at the command prompt:
md fruit
You have now creat ed a directory named FRUIT. You won't see the new
FRUIT directory until you carry out the dir command in the next step.
2. To confirm that you successfully created the FRUIT directory, type the
following at the command prompt:
Dir
Or
dir /p
To create and work with a directory named GRAPES
Type the following at the command prompt:
md grapes
r
You will not see the new GRAPES directory until you carry out the dir
command in the next step.
To confirm that you successfully created the GRAPES directory, type the
following at the command prompt:
 r

Note that there are three entries in the FRUIT directory. One is the
GRAPES directory that you just created. There are two other
entries---one looks like a single period (.) and the other looks like a
double period (..). These directory entries are important to
MSDOS, but you can ignore them. They appear in every directory
and cont ain information
The GRAPES directory is a subdirectory of the FRUIT directory. A
subdirectory is a directory within another directory. Subdirectories
are useful if you want to further subdivide information.
To change to the GRAPES directory, r
type the following at the
command prompt:
cd grapes
The command prompt should now look like the following:
C:\FRUIT\GRAPES>
. To switch back to the FRUIT directory, type the following:
cd ..
The command prompt should now look like the following
C:\FRUIT> r
When the cd command is followed by two periods (..), MS-DOS
moves up one level in the directory structure. In this case, you
moved up one level from the GRAPES directory to the FRUIT
directory
If you no longer use a particular directory, you may want to delete
it to simplify your directory structure. Deleting a directory is also
useful if you type the wrong name when you are creating a
directory and you want to delete ther incorrect directory before
creating a new one.
In this section, you will delete the GRAPES directory. Before you
begin this section, make sure the command prompt looks like the
following:
C:\FRUIT>
To delete a directory, use the rd command. The rd command
stands for "remove directory.“
To delete the GRAPES directory
To delete the GRAPES directory
Type the following at the command prompt:
rd grapes
To confirm that you successfully deleted
r
the GRAPES directory,
type the following at the command prompt:
dir
The GRAPES directory should no longer appear in the directory
list.
Note You cannot delete a directory if you are in it. Before you can
delete a directory, you must make the directory that is one level
higher the current directory. To do this, type cd.. at the command
prompt.
This section describes how to change drives. Changing drives is
useful if you want to work with files that are on a different drive.
So far, you have been working with driveC. You have other drives
you can use to store information. For r
example, drive A is your first
floppy disk drive. The files and directories on drive A are located
on the floppy disk in the drive. (You might also have a drive B,
which contains the files and directories stored on the floppy disk in
that drive.)
Before you begin this section, make sure your command prompt
looks like the following:
C:\FRUIT>
To change to and view files on a different drive
1. Insert a 3.5" floppy disk in drive A label- side up. Make sure the
disk clicks into the drive.
Type the following at the command rprompt:
a:
Note that the command prompt changed to the following:
A:\>
This message may appear:
Not ready reading drive
A Abort, Retry, Fail?
If you see this message, the disk may not be inserted properly.
Place the disk label-side up in the disk drive, and make sure the
disk clicks into the disk drive. Then, type r for Retry. If this
message appears again, press F forr Fail, and then type b: at the
command prompt. If you no longer see this message, type b:
instead of a: throughout the rest of the tutorial.

There must be a floppy disk in the drive that you want to change
to.
Change back to drive C by typing the following at the command
prompt:
c:
Your command prompt should return r
to the following:
C:\FRUIT>
When you type a drive letter followed by a colon, you change to
that drive. The drive letter that appears in the command prompt
shows which drive is the current drive. Unless you specify
otherwise, any commands you type are carried out on the current
drive and in the current directory
This section describes how to copy a single file and a group of files.
Copying files creates a duplicate of the original file and does not
remove the original file. This is useful for many reasons. For example,
if you want to work on a document at r
home, you can copy it from your
computer at work to a floppy disk and then take the floppy disk home.
To copy a file, you will use the copy command. When you use the copy
command, you must include two parameters. The first is the location
and name of the file you want to copy, or the source. The second is the
location to which you want to copy the file, or the destination. You
separate the source and destination with a space. The copy command
follows this pattern:
copy source destination
Copying a Single File
In this section, you will copy the notepad.exe files from the WINDOWS
directory to the FRUIT directory. You will specify the source and
destination of these files in two different
r ways. The difference between
the two methods is explained at the end of this section.
Before you begin this section, make sure the command prompt looks
like the following:
C:\FRUIT>
To copy the NOTEPAD.EXE files from the WINDOWS directory to the
FRUIT directory
Return to the root directory by typing the following at the command
prompt:
cd\
The command prompt should now look like the following:
C:\> r

Change to the DOS directory by typing the following at the command

prompt:
cd windows
Make sure the file you are going to copy, NOTEPAD.EXE, is located in
the WINDOWS directory by using the dir command followed by a
filename.
dir notepad.exe
To copy the NOTEPAD.EXE file from the WINDOWS directory to the
FRUIT directory, type the following at the command prompt:
copy c:\windows\notepad.exe c:\fruit
The following message appears:
1 file(s) copied r

To confirm that you copied the files successfully, view the contents of
the FRUIT directory by typing the following at the command prompt:
dir \fruit
You should see the file listed in the FRUIT directory
This section explains how to rename files. You may want to rename a
file if the information in it changes or if you decide you prefer another
name.
To rename a file, you will use the ren command. The ren command
stands for "rename." When you user the ren command, you must
include two parameters.
The first is the file you want to rename, and the second is the new
name for the file. You separate the two names with a space. The ren
command follows this pattern:
ren oldname newname
• Renaming a File
In this section, you will rename the README.TXT file
Before you begin this section, make sure your command prompt looks
like the following:
C:\FRUIT>
1. To rename the NOTEPAD.EXE file to PADNOTE.TXT, type the
following at the command prompt:
r

ren notpad.exe padnote.txt

2. To confirm that you renamed the file successfully, type the following
at the command prompt:
dir
This section explains how to delete, or remove, a file that you no
longer want on your disk. If you don’t have very much disk space,
deleting files you no longer use is essential.
To delete a file, you will use the del command. The del command
stands for "delete." r

• Deleting a File
In this section, you will delete two files using the del command.
Before you begin, make sure your command prompt looks like the
following:
C:\FRUIT>
To delete the PEARCOM and PEAR.HLP files
1. Delete the PADNOTE.TXT file by typing the following at the
command prompt:
del PADNOTE.TXT
2. To confirm that you deleted the r files successfully, type the

following at the command prompt:

dir
• Deleting a Group of Files
In this section, you will use wildcards to delete a group of files.
Before you begin this section, make sure your command prompt
looks like the following:
C:\FRUIT>
To delete files in the current directory that end with the extension
OLD by using wildcards
1. View all files that end with the extension OLD by typing the
following at the command prompt:
dir *.old r

A list of all the files that end with the extension OLD appears. Make
sure that these are the files you want to delete. When you are
deleting files by using wildcards, this step is very important. It will
prevent you from deleting files accidentally.
2. Delete all files ending with OLD by typing the following at the
command prompt: del *.old 3. To confirm that all the files with the
extension OLD have been deleted, type the following at the
2. Delete all files ending with OLD by typing the following at the
command prompt:
del *.old
3. To confirm that all the files with the extension OLD have been
deleted, type the following at ther command prompt:
dir
The FRUIT directory should contain no files.
Now that the FRUIT directory is empty, you can delete it by using
the rd (remove directory) command that you learned to use in
"Deleting a Directory" earlier in this chapter.
2. Delete all files ending with OLD by typing the following at the
command prompt:
del *.old
3. To confirm that all the files with the extension OLD have been
deleted, type the following at ther command prompt:
dir
The FRUIT directory should contain no files.
Now that the FRUIT directory is empty, you can delete it by using
the rd (remove directory) command that you learned to use in
"Deleting a Directory" earlier in this chapter.
To delete the FRUIT directory
1. Return to the root directory by typing the following at the
command prompt:
cd \ r
2. You can see the FRUIT directory in the directory list by typing
the following at the command prompt:
dir or dir /p
3. Remove the FRUIT directory by typing the following at the
command prompt:
rd fruit
To verify that the FRUIT directory has been removed, type the
following at the command prompt:
dir or dir /p
The FRUIT directory should not appear
r
in the directory list.
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