DIR

Detailed Command Description

DIR

Displays a list of the files and subdirectories that are in the directory

you specify.

When you use DIR without parameters or switches, it displays the disk's

volume label and serial number; one directory or filename per line,

including the filename extension, the file size in bytes, and the date and

time the file was last modified; and the total number of files listed, their

cumulative size, and the free space (in bytes) remaining on the disk.

Syntax

DIR [drive:][path][filename] [/P] [/W]

[/A[[:]attributes]][/O[[:]sortorder]] [/S] [/B] [/L] [/C]

Parameters

[drive:][path]

Specifies the drive and directory for which you want to see a listing.

[filename]

Specifies a particular file or group of files for which you want to see

a listing.

Switches

/P

Displays one screen of the listing at a time. To see the next screen,

press any key.

/W

Displays the listing in wide format, with as many as five filenames or

directory names on each line.

/A[[:] attributes]

Displays only the names of those directories and files with the

attributes you specify. If you omit this switch, DIR displays the names

of all files except hidden and system files. If you use this switch

without specifying attributes, DIR displays the names of all files,

including hidden and system files. The following list describes each of

the values you can use for attributes. The colon (:) is optional. Use

any combination of these values, and do not separate the values with

spaces.

H

Hidden files

-H

Files that are not hidden

S

System files

-S

Files other than system files

D

Directories

-D

Files only (not directories)

A

Files ready for archiving (backup)

-A

Files that have not changed since the last backup

R

Read-only files

-R

Files that are not read-only

/O[[:] sortorder]

Controls the order in which DIR sorts and displays directory names and

filenames. If you omit this switch, DIR displays the names in the order

in which they occur in the directory. If you use this switch without

specifying sortorder, DIR displays the names of the directories, sorted

in alphabetic order, and then displays the names of files, sorted in

alphabetic order. The colon (:) is optional. The following list

describes each of the values you can use for sortorder. Use any

combination of the values, and do not separate these values with

spaces.

N

In alphabetic order by name

-N

In reverse alphabetic order by name (Z through A)

E

In alphabetic order by extension

-E

In reverse alphabetic order by extension (Z through A)

D

By date and time, earliest first

-D

By date and time, latest first

S

By size, smallest first

-S

By size, largest first

G

With directories grouped before files

-G

With directories grouped after files

C

By compression ratio, lowest first.

-C

By compression ratio, highest first.

/S

Lists every occurrence, in the specified directory and all

subdirectories, of the specified filename.

/B

Lists each directory name or filename, one per line (including the

filename extension). This switch displays no heading information and no

summary. The /B switch overrides the /W switch.

/L

Displays unsorted directory names and filenames in lowercase. This

switch does not convert extended characters to lowercase.

/C[H]

Displays the compression ratio of files compressed using Doublespace,

based on an 8K cluster size. The optional H switch displays the

compression ratio of files compressed using Doublespace, based on the

cluster size of the host drive. The /C[H] switch is ignored when used

with the /W or /B switch.

Related Commands

For information about displaying the directory structure of a path or disk,

see the TREE command.

For information about compressing disks, see the DBLSPACE command.

DIR--Notes

Using wildcards with DIR

You can use wildcards (* and ?) to display a listing of a subset of files

and subdirectories. For an example illustrating the use of a wildcard, see

the "Examples" screen.

Specifying file display attributes

If you specify the /A switch with more than one value in attributes, DIR

displays the names of only those files with all the specified attributes.

For example, if you specify the /A switch with the R and -H values for

attributes by using either /A:R-H or /AR-H, DIR displays only the names of

read-only files that are not hidden.

Specifying filename sorting

If you specify more than one sortorder value, DIR sorts the filenames by the

first criterion first, then by the second criterion, and so on. For example,

if you specify the /O switch with the E and -S values for sortorder by using

either /O:E-S or /OE-S, DIR sorts the names of directories and files by

extension, with the largest first, and displays the final result. The

alphabetic sorting by extension causes filenames with no extensions to

appear first, then directory names, then filenames with extensions.

Setting date and time formats

The date and time formats used by DIR depend on the country setting you use

in your CONFIG.SYS file. If you don't use the COUNTRY command, the formats

are those for the United States.

Using redirection symbols and pipes

When you use a redirection symbol ( ) to send DIR output to a file or a pipe

(|) to send DIR output to another command, use the /A:-D and /B switches to

list only the filenames. You can use the filename parameter with the /B and

/S switches to specify that DIR is to search the current directory and its

subdirectories for all filenames that match filename. DIR lists only the

drive letter, directory name, filename, and filename extension, one path per

line, for each filename it finds.

Before using a pipe for redirection, you should set the TEMP environment

variable in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Otherwise, the temporary file will

appear in the directory listing.

Presetting DIR parameters and switches

You can preset DIR parameters and switches by including the SET command with

the DIRCMD environment variable in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. You can use any

valid combination of DIR parameters and switches with the SET DIRCMD

command, including the location and name of a file.

For example, to use the DIRCMD environment variable to set the wide display

format (/W) as the default format, include the following command in your

AUTOEXEC.BAT file:

set dircmd=/w

For a single use of the DIR command, you can override a switch set by using

the DIRCMD environment variable. To do so, you use the same switch on the

DIR command line, but you must also precede the switch letter with a minus

sign, as the following example shows:

dir /-w

You can change the DIRCMD default settings by typing the SET command at the

command prompt with a new parameter or switch after the equal sign (=). The

new default settings are effective for all subsequent DIR commands until you

use SET DIRCMD again on the command line or until you restart MS-DOS.

To clear all default settings, type the following command:

set dircmd=

You can view the current settings of the DIRCMD environment variable by

typing the following command:

set

MS-DOS displays a list of environment variables and their settings. For more

information about setting environment variables, see the SET command.

DIR--Examples

Suppose you want to display all files and directories in a directory,

including hidden or system files. To specify this display, type the

following command:

dir /a

Suppose you want DIR to display one directory listing after another, until

it has displayed the listing for every directory on the disk in the current

drive. Suppose also that you want DIR to alphabetize each directory listing,

display it in wide format, and pause after each screen. To specify such a

display, be sure the root directory is the current directory and then type

the following command:

dir /s/w/o/p

DIR lists the name of the root directory, the names of the subdirectories of

the root directory, and the names of the files in the root directory

(including extensions). Then DIR lists the subdirectory names and filenames

in each subdirectory in the directory tree.

To alter the preceding example so that DIR displays the filenames and

extensions but omits the directory names, type the following command:

dir /s/w/o/p/a:-d

To print a directory listing, type the redirection symbol and PRN after any

form of the DIR command, as the following example shows:

dir prn

When you specify PRN on the DIR command line, the directory listing is sent

to the printer attached to the LPT1 port. If your printer is attached to a

different port, you must replace PRN with the name of the correct port.

You can also redirect output of the DIR command to a file by replacing PRN

with a filename. A path is also accepted on the command line. For example,

to direct DIR output to the file DIR.DOC in the RECORDS directory, type the

following command:

dir \records\dir.doc

If DIR.DOC does not exist, MS-DOS creates it, unless the directory RECORDS

also does not exist. In that case, MS-DOS displays the following message:

File creation error

To display a list of all the filenames with the .TXT extension in all

directories on drive C, type the following command:

dir c:\*.txt /w/o/s/p

DIR displays, in wide format, an alphabetized list of the matching filenames

in each directory and pauses each time the screen fills, until you press a

key to continue.

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