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.

dir
The SpartaDOS X DIR command
Developer(s)DEC, DR, Intel, Cromemco, MetaComCo, Microsoft, IBM, ICD, Inc.
Operating systemCP/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
TypeCommand
LicenseCP/M, MP/M: BSD-like
MS-DOS: MIT
ReactOS: GPL

Implementations
Screenshot showing the "Abort, Retry, Fail?" prompt on MS-DOS.

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
Screenshot showing a CP/M 3.0 directory listing on a Commodore 128 home computer.
Screenshot of a Microsoft Windows Command Prompt window showing a directory listing.

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]

gollark: On some APIONET-participating servers we actually have triply nested bot bridging.
gollark: postgnatus, you are like a cryoapiomechanochoanoform.
gollark: > why do you spam aye?<@549087503735324693> It's the accepted way to say AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA here.
gollark: Wait, I can keep using JS, this is fine.
gollark: Æææææ.

See also

References
  1. Rügheimer, Hannes; Spanik, Christian (October 22, 1988). "AmigaDOS quick reference". Grand Rapids, Mi : Abacus – via Internet Archive.
  2. "Operating manual" (PDF). cpm.z80.de. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
  3. 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.
  4. ISIS II Users Guide
  5. iRMX™86 INTRODUCTION AND OPERATOR'S REFERENCE MANUAL For Release 6
  6. CDOS USER'S MANUAL
  7. "Introduction to Tripos" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-10-22.
  9. "JaTomes Help - OS/2 Commands". www.jatomes.com.
  10. "MS-DOS and Windows command line dir command". www.computerhope.com.
  11. "GitHub - reactos/reactos: A free Windows-compatible Operating System". October 22, 2019 – via GitHub.
  12. "GNU Coreutils Manual". Free Software Foundation.
  13. "AROS Research Operating System". aros.sourceforge.net.
  14. 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)
  15. Wolverton, Van (2003). Running MS-DOS Version 6.22 (20th Anniversary Edition), 6th Revised edition. Microsoft Press. ISBN 0-7356-1812-7.
  16. "List folder contents - MATLAB dir". www.mathworks.com.
  17. "Function Reference: dir". octave.sourceforge.io.
  18. dir invocation (GNU coreutils) at www.gnu.org

Further reading
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