Page|1

Microsof
tDiskOper ati
ngSyst em i
sful
lfor
m ofMSDOS.I ti
ssyst em software.MS-DOSi s
asingleuseroper at
ingsyst em.MS-DOSsuppor tCUI(CharacterUserI nter
face).Atfir
st
operat
ingsystem i
sMi crosoftDiskOperat
ingSystem fr
om fir
stintroducecomput er.Here
wear egoingtodiscusst heMS-DOScommands.MS- DOSismachi nelanguaget hatl
inks
betweenappli
cati
onsof twareandhardwareandcontrolal
lacti
viti
es.Theact i
vit
iesare-
 NSDOSc ontr
olbyt hecommands.

 MS-
DOSi
sasi
ngl
eusersi
ngl
etaskoper
ati
ngsyst
em.

 MS-
DOShavesomeut
il
it
yandnecessar
ytouse.

 Onl
yKeyboar
dusedi
nMS-
DOS.

 MS-
DOSsuppor
tCUI
.

Ty
pesofFi
l
esi
nMS-
DOSCommands:
Twot
ypesofMS-
DOSf
il
es-

1.System Fil
e:Thesefil
esar
econtrol
ledtoBootingofMS-
DOS.Normal
lythr
eetypesof
fi
lesaremai ntai
nedinDOS.Theseare-IO.SYS,MSDOS.
SYS&COMMAND. COM.The
mainf i
leofDOSi sCOMMAND.COM.
2.Start
-upFile:TheBoot
ingt
imetheStart
-upFil
ecommandsarenor
mall
yrun.
MS-
DOSCOMMANDS:

MS-DOScommandsar eusedtothef
unct
ionoff
il
eanddi
skact
ivi
ti
es.Therearetwotypes
ofMS-DOScommands.
1.Inter
nalCommand:Inter
nalCommandisworkbyCommand.Com fi
le.Thefeat
uresof
I
nter
nalCommandis-
 Thewor ki
ngspeedofthi
scommandisveryf
ast.

 Thi
scommandi
susedmucht
ime.

 Donoter
aseI
nter
nalCommand.

 Thel
engt
hofI
nter
nalCommandi
sver
yshor
t.

Theexampl
eofI
nter
nalCommandi
s:–

DATE,TIME,VOL,VER,CLS,
COPYCON, DIR,MD, DEL,
REN, TYPE,PROMPT,PAUSEet
c.
2.ExternalCommand:Somecommandsar eused in exter
nalpartt
hatisknown as
Ext
ernalCommand.Thefeat
uresofExt
ernalCommandi s-
 Thel engt
hofExter
nalCommandisverylong.

 Er
asedt
hiscommands.

 Wor
kingspeedi
sver
ysl
ow.

Theexampl
eofExt
ernalCommandi
s:–

ATTRI
B,SORT,EDI
T,TREE,MOVE,DI
SKCOPY,FI
ND,XCOPY,MORE,LABLE,FORMATE
et
c.
 Page|2

Howt
oSt
artMS-
DOS?

Howt
oChangeDr
ive?

I
nter
nalCommandsofMS-DOS
 DATE–I ti
sanI nt
ernalCommand.Byt
hisCommandwecanseeandmodi
fyt
he
cur
rentdat
eonthecomputersyst
em.
 Page|3

 TI
ME–I
tisanI
nter
nalCommand.Byt
hiswecanseeanddi
spl
ayt
hecur
rentt
imeon
t
hecomput
ersyst
em.

 VOL(
Vol
ume)–I
tisanI
nter
nalCommand.Byt
hiscommand,wecanseet
heVol
ume
numberofsyst
em sof
twar
e.

 VER(
Ver
sion)–I
tisanI
nter
nalCommand.Byt
hiscommand,wecanseet
hever
sion
numberofsyst
em sof
twar
e.

 CLS–I
tisanI
nter
nalCommand.Thi
scommandi
susedt
ocl
eart
hescr
een.
 Page|4

 COPYCON:–I
tisanI
nter
nal
Command.Byt
hiscommandwecancr
eat
eanewf
il
e.

 DI
R:–I
tisanI
nter
nalCommand.Byt
hiscommandwecandi
spl
ayt
hef
il
esand
di
rect
ori
esnamel
ist
.
 Page|5

 DI
R/P:–I
tisanI
nter
nalCommand.Byt
hiscommandwecandi
spl
aypagewi
sef
il
es
name.

 DI
R/W:–I
tisanI
nter
nalCommand.Byt
hiscommandwecandi
spl
aywi
dthwi
seal
l
f
il
esanddi
rect
ori
esnamel
istwi
thoutt
ime,
sizeet
c.

 DI
R/B:–I
tisanI
nter
nalCommand.Byt
hiscommandwecandi
spl
ayonl
ypr
imar
y
namel
istoff
il
esanddi
rect
ori
es.
 Page|6

 DI
R/L:–I
tisanI
nter
nalCommand.Byt
hiscommandwecandi
spl
ayt
hef
il
eand
di
rect
ori
esnamewi
thl
owercase.

 DI
R/S:–I
tisanI
nter
nalCommand.Byt
hiscommandwecandi
spl
aydi
rect
ori
esname
wi
thsubdi
rect
ori
esandf
il
es.

 DI
R/AH:–I
tisanI
nter
nalCommand.Byt
hiscommandwecandi
spl
ayt
hehi
ddenf
il
e
f
rom t
hedr
ive.
 Page|7

 DI
RA*
.*:
-Iti
sanI
nter
nalCommand.Byt
hiscommandwecandi
spl
ayal
lfi
lenames
beggi
ngt
he‘
A’l
ett
er.

 DI
R*.
TXT:–I
tisanI
nter
nalCommand.Byt
hiscommand,wecandi
spl
ayf
il
esname
wi
th‘
.
txt
’ext
ensi
onname.

 DI
R?A*
.*:
-Iti
sanI
nter
nalCommand.Byt
hiscommandwecandi
spl
ayt
hef
il
ename
i
nthesecondl
ett
eri
s‘A’
.
 Page|8

 DI
R*.
SYS:
-Iti
sanI
nter
nalCommand.Byt
hiscommandwecanseet
hef
il
esname
wi
th.
sysext
ensi
onname.

Not
e:-‘
*’(
Aster
isks)and‘
?’
,t
hesesymbol
sareknownasWil
dcar
dChar
act
er.‘
.
’Thesymbol
i
sdif
fer
enttwonames.LikeasPri
maryandExt
ensi
onname.

 TYPE:–I
tis an I
nter
nalCommand.By t
his command we can see t
he f
il
e
cont
ent
.(Whi
chf
il
edoyouwantt
oseej
ustI
nputt
hef
il
ename)

 REN(
Rename)
:–I
tisanI
nter
nalCommand.Thi
scommandi
susedt
ochanget
hef
il
e
name.
 Page|9

 DEL(
Del
ete)
:–I
tisanI
nter
nal
Command.Thi
scommandi
susedt
odel
eteanyol
dfi
le.

 MD(
MakeDi
rect
ory)
:–I
tisanI
nter
nalCommand.Byt
hiscommandwecancr
eat
ea
newdi
rect
ory.

 CD:–I
tisanI
nter
nalCommand.Thi
scommandi
susedt
oent
eranyol
ddi
rect
oryt
o
mai
npat
h.

 CD.
.:-I
tisanI
nter
nalCommand.Thi
scommandi
susedt
oexi
tlastdi
rect
oryf
rom mai
n
pat
h.

 CD\:
-Iti
sanI
nter
nalCommand.Thi
scommandi
susedt
oexi
tal
ldi
rect
ori
esf
rom
mai
npat
handcomebackt
omai
ndr
iveaspr
ompt
.
 Page|10

 RD(
RemoveDi
rect
ory):
-Iti
sanI
nter
nalCommand.Thi
scommandi
susedt
odel
ete
anyol
ddi
rect
ory.

Not
e:-Al
ltheaboveDOScommandsar
eusedi
nanydr
ive.Li
keas-C:
,E:
,D:et
c.
MSDOSEx
ter
nal
Commands
 EDI
T:– I
tisanExt
ernalCommand.Byt
hiscommandwecanedi
t/modi
fyt
hef
il
e
cont
ent
.

 ATTRI
B:–I
tisanExt
ernalCommand.Thi
scommandi
susedt
ohi
deandunhi
deany
hi
ddenf
il
e.
1.Howtohideanyf
il
e?
 Page|11

2.How t
o
Unhi
deanyf
il
e?
 Page|12

 TREE:–I
tisanExt
ernalCommand.Byt
hiscommandwecandi
spl
ayt
hedi
rect
ori
es
namewi
thst
ruct
ure.
 Page|13

 COPY:–I
tisanExt
ernalCommand.Thi
scommandi
susedt
ocopyf
il
efr
om any
di
rect
orytoanot
herdir
ect
oryordr
ive.
E.
g.Howt ocopyWashingt
on.
txtf
il
etoAfri
cadi
rect
ory?
 Page|14

 XCOPY:
-Iti
sanExt
ernalCommand.Byt
hiscommandwecancopyanyf
il
efr
om any
di
rect
oryt
oanot
herdi
rect
orydr
iveordi
rect
orymuchf
ast
ert
hancopycommand.

 MORE:
-Iti
sanExt
ernalCommand.Byt
hiscommandwecandi
spl
ayt
hef
il
econt
entup
t
o25l
inesatat
imet
hencont
inue.(
pauseaf
ter25l
ines)
 Page|15

 FC(
Fil
eCompar
e):–I
tisanExt
ernalCommand.Byt
hiscommandwecandi
spl
ayt
he
di
ff
erentbet
weent
wof
il
e.

 CHKDSK:–I
tisanExt
ernalCommand.Byt
hiscommandwecancheckt
hest
atusof
di
sk.

 LABEL:–I
tisanExt
ernalCommand.Byt
hiscommandwecandi
spl
ayanddel
etet
he
cur
rentl
abel
.

 MOVE:–I
tisanExt
ernalCommand.Thi
scommandi
susedt
omoveanyf
il
etoany
dr
ive.
 Page|16

 SORT:–I
tisanExt
ernalCommand.Thi
scommandi
susedt
osor
tthef
il
e.

 BATCH FI
LE:–I
tis an Ext
ernalCommand.Thi
s command i
s used t
o di
spl
ay
aut
omat
iont
heDOScommand.Theext
ensi
onnameofBat
chf
il
eis‘
.
bat
’.
Page|17