dir (command)
In computing, dir
(directory) is a command in various computer operating systems used for computer file and directory listing.[1] It is one of the basic commands to help navigate the file system. The command is usually implemented as an internal command in the command-line interpreter (shell). On some systems, a more graphical representation of the directory structure can be displayed using the tree
command.
The SpartaDOS X DIR command | |
Developer(s) | DEC, DR, Intel, Cromemco, MetaComCo, Microsoft, IBM, ICD, Inc. |
---|---|
Operating system | CP/M, MP/M, ISIS-II, iRMX 86, CDOS, TRIPOS, DOS, MSX-DOS, SISNE plus, 4690 OS, OS/2, Windows, Singularity, ReactOS, AROS, VMS, RT-11, RSX-11, OS/8 |
Type | Command |
License | CP/M, MP/M: BSD-like MS-DOS: MIT ReactOS: GPL |
Implementations
The command is available in the command-line interface (CLI) of the operating systems Digital Research CP/M,[2] MP/M,[3] Intel ISIS-II,[4] iRMX 86,[5] Cromemco CDOS,[6] MetaComCo TRIPOS,[7] DOS, IBM/Toshiba 4690 OS,[8] IBM OS/2,[9] Microsoft Windows[10], Singularity, ReactOS[11], GNU[12], AROS[13] and in the DCL command-line interface used on DEC VMS, RT-11 and RSX-11. It is also supplied with OS/8 as a CUSP (Commonly-Used System Program).
The dir
command is supported by Tim Paterson's SCP 86-DOS.[14] On MS-DOS, the command is available in versions 1 and later.[15] It is also available in the open source MS-DOS emulator DOSBox. MS-DOS prompts "Abort, Retry, Fail?" after being commanded to list a directory with no diskette in the drive.
The numerical computing environments MATLAB and GNU Octave include a dir
function with similar functionality.[16][17]
Examples
DOS, Windows, ReactOS
List all files and directories in the current working directory.
dir
List any text files and batch files (filename extension ".txt" or ".bat").
dir *.txt *.bat
Recursively list all files and directories in the specified directory and any subdirectories, in wide format, pausing after each screen of output. The directory name is enclosed in double-quotes, to prevent it from being interpreted is as two separate command-line options because it contains a whitespace character.
dir /s /w /p "C:\My Documents"
Unices
dir
is not a Unix command; Unix has the analogous ls
command instead. The GNU operating system, however, has a dir
command that "is equivalent to ls -C -b
; that is, by default files are listed in columns, sorted vertically, and special characters are represented by backslash escape sequences".[18]
See also
- Directory (OpenVMS command)
- List of DOS commands
- ls (corresponding command for *nix systems)
References
- Rügheimer, Hannes; Spanik, Christian (October 22, 1988). "AmigaDOS quick reference". Grand Rapids, Mi : Abacus – via Internet Archive.
- "Operating manual" (PDF). cpm.z80.de. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
- Digital Research (1981-09-25). MP/M-86 Operating System - User's Guide (PDF) (1 ed.). Pacific Grove, CA, USA: Digital Research. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-01-04. Retrieved 2017-01-04.
- ISIS II Users Guide
- iRMX™86 INTRODUCTION AND OPERATOR'S REFERENCE MANUAL For Release 6
- CDOS USER'S MANUAL
- "Introduction to Tripos" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-10-22.
- "JaTomes Help - OS/2 Commands". www.jatomes.com.
- "MS-DOS and Windows command line dir command". www.computerhope.com.
- "GitHub - reactos/reactos: A free Windows-compatible Operating System". October 22, 2019 – via GitHub.
- "GNU Coreutils Manual". Free Software Foundation.
- "AROS Research Operating System". aros.sourceforge.net.
- 86-DOS - Disk Operating System for the 8086 - User's Manual (PDF). Version 0.3 (Preliminary ed.). Seattle, Washington, USA: Seattle Computer Products, Inc. 1980. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-07-14. Retrieved 2019-07-14. (59 pages)
- Wolverton, Van (2003). Running MS-DOS Version 6.22 (20th Anniversary Edition), 6th Revised edition. Microsoft Press. ISBN 0-7356-1812-7.
- "List folder contents - MATLAB dir". www.mathworks.com.
- "Function Reference: dir". octave.sourceforge.io.
- dir invocation (GNU coreutils) at www.gnu.org
Further reading
- Wolverton, Van (1990). MS-DOS Commands: Microsoft Quick Reference, 4th Revised edition. Microsoft Press. ISBN 978-1556152894.
- Kathy Ivens; Brian Proffit (1993). OS/2 Inside & Out. Osborne McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0078818714.
- Frisch, Æleen (2001). Windows 2000 Commands Pocket Reference. O'Reilly. ISBN 978-0-596-00148-3.
External links
Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Guide to Windows Commands |