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Basic Ms Dos

MS-DOS 1.0 was released in 1981 and updated until 1994 when it was replaced by Windows 95. MS-DOS commands allow users to manage files, folders, disks, hardware, memory, and execute programs. Common commands include DIR to list files, COPY to copy files, DEL to delete files, EDIT to edit text files, and CD to change directories. Batch files allow multiple commands to be run sequentially from a text file.

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138 views

Basic Ms Dos

MS-DOS 1.0 was released in 1981 and updated until 1994 when it was replaced by Windows 95. MS-DOS commands allow users to manage files, folders, disks, hardware, memory, and execute programs. Common commands include DIR to list files, COPY to copy files, DEL to delete files, EDIT to edit text files, and CD to change directories. Batch files allow multiple commands to be run sequentially from a text file.

Uploaded by

mancangkul
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Basic MS-DOS

History
 MS-DOS 1.0 was released in August 1981,
and was updated until April 1994 when it was
replaced by Windows 95
 All versions of windows still contain some type
of DOS, in windows 95 and 98 you can go to
run and type command to get to DOS prompt,
in NT, 2000, and XP you can type CMD and
get DOS.
Introduction

The role of DOS is to interpret commands that


the user enters via the keyboard.

These commands allow the following tasks to be


executed:
 file and folder management
 disk upgrades
 hardware configuration
 memory optimization
 program execution
File Manipulation

DIR - Lists files and subdirectories


• Wildcard Characters ? *
EDIT - creates a new file or modifies an existing file
COPY - copies a file or a group of files
XCOPY - copies all files in a directory (and its subdirectories)
DEL or ERASE - deletes a file or a group of files
UNDELETE - undeletes files
COPY (or XCOPY) plus DEL - moves files
DOSKEY - recalls commands
RENAME or REN - renames files
TYPE - displays text files
PRINT - prints a text file
COPY - used to create a file
ATTRIB - sets file properties
FC - compares two files
Directory Manipulation

MD or MKDIR - creates a directory

CD or CHDIR - changes directory

PROMPT - changes the command prompt

TREE - displays the directory structure

RD or RMDIR - removes a directory

REN - Renaming directories

PATH - creates a search path


Basic Structure

 Most DOS commands use the same structure


 Command Source Destination /Switch
 The switch will give options to the command
 Example COPY A:\file.txt c:\ /v
 /v will verify if the file copied correctly
The Help Switch /?

 You can use the help switch with any


command. It will give you the command
structure, and the availible switches.
MS-DOS Prompt

 The prompt in MS-DOS displays your


current directory

 C:\dos\commands> means you are in


that directory, and any command you
use will apply to the current directory
unless you specify a different one.
DOS Naming

Characters like * + = | \ [ ] : ; “ <


> , ? / cannot be used in DOS
names.
Relative and Absolute path

Alternatively referred to as the file path and full path,


the absolute path contains the root directory and all
other subdirectories that contain a file or folder.

absolute path
C:\Windows\calc.exe

Windows non absolute path (relative path)


calc.exe
Wildcard characters
 Wildcard character will replace a single letter,
or word with a wild character
 * will replace any amput of characters, and ?
Will replace one.
 Example: copy a:/*.txt c:/ will copy all text files
to drive c:/
 Example 2: copy a:/?????.txt c:/ will copy any
5 letter text file to c:/
Basic Commands CD

 CD- Change directory


 You use this command when you want
to change the directory.
 Example: CD C:\DOS will bring you to
the dos folder
Basic Commands CD.. And CD\

 CD.. - brings you to the previous


directory.
 Example: if you are in C:\DOS\FOLDER
CD.. Will bring you to C:\DOS
Basic Commands CLS

 CLS Will clear the contents of the screen


Basic Commands DIR

 DIR will display the contents of the folder


Basic Commands COPY

 COPY will copy the file from one location


to another
 Example COPY A:\file.txt c:\ will copy
the file from a:\ to c:\
Basic Command XCOPY

 XCOPY can move files, directories, and


whole drives from one location to
another, It is more powerful then the
copy command, and has a lot of
switches.
Basic Commands MOVE

 MOVE will move the file or directory


from one location to another

 Example: MOVE a:\file.txt c:\file.txt will


move the file to the c:\ drive
Basic Command DEL

 DEL will delete a file or an empty


directory from the drive
Basic Command EDIT

 EDIT will open a text file


Basic Commands REN

 REN will rename the file


 Example : REN file.txt myfile.txt will
rename the file.txt to myfile.txt
Basic Commands MD/RD

 MD is used to make a directory (folder)


in MS-DOS.
 Example: MD myfolder will make a folder
called myfolder in current directory
 RD is used for remove directory
Deleting folders and sub folders
Basic Command TREE

 TREE shows you all of the folders and


files in current directory like explorer in
windows.
Attributes

 Attributes are the properties of a file


such as hidden, read-only, archive or
system file.
 In MS-DOS you can view/change
attributes with the attrib command.
 Example: attrib +r file.txt will make the
file read-only.
The MORE Command
The PRINT Command
 The PRINT Command in MS DOS is
used to print the text files
 Syntax :
 PRINT Filename
 E.g.
 PRINT File1.txt
The PROMPT Command
 The PROMPT is used to configure a
DOS prompt into our linking

 Syntax :
 C:\ PROMPT Promptname
 E.g.
 PROMPT NCIT

Now, the Prompt will be as NCIT


Checking the Date/Time
 For checking the date from the system in MS
DOS, we use the DATE command. It returns
the current system date.
 Similarly, the TIME command returns the
current time from the system.

 Syntax :
 C:\>DATE
 E.g. C:\>DATE
Removing unwanted Files
command line.
Go to Run –> cmd. This should open the command
prompt.

Type g:\ where g is the USB drive letter.

Now run the following command: attrib -h -r -s -a *.*.


This will remove the attributes hidden, archive,
system from all the files.

Type del autorun.inf. This will delete the autorun.inf


file.
F:\>edit test.txt

F:\>edit test.txt

F:\>copy con 123.docx


my name is indika rathninda^Z
1 file(s) copied.

F:\>edit 123.docx

F:\>dir>1234.txt
Batch file

DOS, OS/2, and Windows, a batch file is a

type of script file, a text file containing a

series of commands to be executed by the

command line interpreter. A batch file may

contain any command the interpreter accepts

interactively at the command prompt.


The Old New Thing

The command processor CMD.EXE comes with a mini-


calculator that can perform simple arithmetic on 32-bit
signed integers:

C:\>set /a 2+2 4
C:\>set /a 2*(9/2) 8
C:\>set /a (2*9)/2 9
C:\>set /a "31>>2" 7
Note that we had to quote the shift operator since it
would otherwise be misinterpreted as a "redirect stdout
and append" operator.

For more information, type set /? at the command


Concatenating Files Together in MS-DOS

Say you have two files (or twenty) named textfile1.txt and
textfile2.txt.
You want to create a new text file that combines the two.

While you could open each file up in your favorite editor


and copy and paste the text, this is time consuming and error
prone. A much easier way to accomplish this task is to use
the copy command:

>copy *.txt result.txt

This will take all the files with the extension .txt and
create a new text file called result.txt out of all of them.
Finding Text Inside Files in MS-DOS

Lets assume I have a group of text files and I need to


find out quickly which one contains the string
"Test" inside it. You can quickly accomplish this using
the 'find' command like so:
>find "Test" *.txt
This will search the contents of all the
text files in the current directory and return
a list of all of them that contain the string "Test".
This command is extremely useful for searching text files.

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