Command: dir
DIR displays the contens of the directory
Syntax:
1. DIR [{ options | pattern }]
2. DIR [drive][path][filename][/P] [/W] [/A[[:]attributes]]
[/O[[:]sortorder]] [/S] [/B] [/L] [/Y] [/?]
drive The drive letter, e.g. C:
path The directory, e.g. \example\
filename The file to display, e.g. test.txt
[drive][path][filename]
Specify drive, directory, and/or files to list. (Could
be enhanced file specification or multiple filespecs.)
Options:
/A: (All) Wildcards are matched against System and Hidden files, too.
/A**: (Attribute) Wildcards are matched against files with selected
attributes set or clear. The argument of the /A option is a
sequence of:
? meaning: attribute ? must be set, or
-? meaning: attribute ? must not be set.
The following attributes, the ? above, are supported:
r | -r Read-only files -r Files that are not
read-only
h | -h Hidden files -h Files that are not hidden
s | -s System files -s Files that are not system
files
d | -d Directories -d Directories
a | -a Files with the archive -a Files without the archive
bit bit
/B (Bare) Displays the lines with the information of files and
directories only. The ones displaying the volume label, the
serial number, totals etc. are suppressed. In combination with
/S the absolute path of the files is displayed.
/L (Lower-case) Filenames are displayed in lower-case letters
rather than capitol ones.
/O: (Order default) is a synonym of /ONG.
/O**: (Order) Sort the entries displayed in a specific order. The
following sort orders are supported:
d | -d By date and time -d Date/time reverse order.
e | -e By file extension A-Z -e File extension (Z-A)
g | -g Group directories first -g Group directories last.
n | -n By file name A-Z -n By file name (Z-A)
s | -s By size (smallest-biggest) -s By size (biggest-smallest)
u (unsorted)
Each sort order, except U, may be prefixed by a hyphen to reverse the
sort order. U effectively cancels any previous setting or specified
sort order, e.g. to override an /O option from the DIRCMD ENVIRONMENT
VARIABLE.
If the same sort order is specified twice within the same /O option,
the last one superceeds previous ones; if more than one /O option is
specified, the last one superceeds all previous ones.
Warning: The entries are cached within memory before displaying them;
if FreeCOM runs short on memory, to sort is disabled completely or
the entries are sorted in chunks only.
/P (Page) Page the output -- pause the display after issuing one
screen-full.
/S (Subdirectories) Recursively display directories.
/W (Wide) Displays five filenames per line and suppress the
information about the file size, date etc.
/Y (Year) Displays a 4-digit year, rather than just two digits.
/4 (4digit Year) is a synonym of /Y.
/? Shows the help.
Comments:
DIR displays the contents of direcories and/or the attributes of
files, whatever the pattern specifies. If no pattern is specified on
command line, the current working directory is displayed. The actual
information displayed depends on the specified options and is
explained below.
A pattern may contain wildcards, which are expanded against both files
and directories. To specify a directory is essentially equal to write:
directory\*.*.
Unlike options patterns are performed in sequence, that means that if
two patterns are specified, first all entries matching the first one,
then all entries matching the second one are displayed; instead of to
display the matching entries intermixed.
Before parsing its command line DIR parses any option specified by the
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE DIRCMD.
DIR is a command internal to command.com and needs no other file
in order to work.
Examples:
Example 1:
DIR
Displays the contents of the current directory, but ignores System and
Hidden files.
Example 2:
DIR a* bb* *.txt
First displays all files, that begin with the letter A; then all
files, that begin with two letters B, are displayed and at last all
files with the extension TXT.
Example 3:
DIR /w a* b*
DIR a* /w b*
DIR a* b* /w
Because the position of options is not significant, all these
examples behave the same way and display the matching files in wide
or also called short form.
See also:
cd/chdir
command.com/freecom
environment variable
md/mkdir
rd/rmdir
set
Copyright © 2004 Robert Platt, updated 2011 and 2022 by W. Spiegl.
This file is derived from the FreeDOS Spec Command HOWTO.
See the file H2Cpying for copying conditions.