Dir (command)

Directory information command on various operating systems

For other uses, see Dir (disambiguation).

dir

The SpartaDOS X `DIR` command

Developer(s)| DEC, DR, Intel, Cromemco, MetaComCo, Microsoft, IBM, Datalight, ICD, Inc.
Operating system| CP/M, MP/M, ISIS-II, iRMX 86, CDOS, TRIPOS, DOS, MSX-DOS, SISNE plus, 4690 OS, PC-MOS, OS/2, Windows, Singularity, ReactOS, AROS, VMS, RT-11, RSX-11, OS/8, AmigaDOS
Platform| Cross-platform
Type| Command
License| CP/M, MP/M: BSD-like
MS-DOS: MIT
PC-MOS: GPL-3.0-only
ReactOS: GPL

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.

## Implementations

[edit]

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, Datalight ROM-DOS,[11] ReactOS,[12] GNU,[13] AROS[14] 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.[15] On MS-DOS, the command is available in versions 1 and later.[16] 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.[17][18]

## Examples

[edit]

CP/M 3.0 directory listing on a Commodore 128 home computer. Directory listing on SCP running on a robotron PC 1715. Directory listing on CP/J 2.21 running on an Elwro 804 Junior. Microsoft Windows Command Prompt showing a directory listing.

### DOS, Windows, ReactOS

[edit]

List all files and directories in the current working directory.

C:\Users>dir

List any text files and batch files (filename extension ".txt" or ".bat").

C:\Users>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.

C:\Users>dir /s /w /p "C:\Users\johndoe\My Documents"

List any NTFS junction points:

C:\Users>dir /ash
Volume in drive C is OS.
Volume Serial Number is xxxx-xxxx
Directory of C:\Users
12/07/2019  02:30 AM    <SYMLINKD>     All Users [C:\ProgramData]
12/07/2019  02:30 AM    <JUNCTION>     Default User [C:\Users\Default]
12/07/2019  02:12 AM               174 desktop.ini
1 File(s)            174 bytes
2 Dir(s)  332,659,789,824 bytes free

## Unices

[edit]

`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".[19] Actually, for compatibility reasons, ls produces device-dependent output. The `dir` instruction, unlike `ls -Cb`, produces device-independent output.

## See also

[edit]

* Directory (OpenVMS command)
* List of DOS commands
* ls (corresponding command for *nix systems)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Rügheimer, Hannes; Spanik, Christian (October 22, 1988). AmigaDOS quick reference. Grand Rapids, Mi : Abacus. ISBN 9781557550491 - 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.
8. ^ [1][dead link]
9. ^ "JaTomes Help - OS/2 Commands". www.jatomes.com. Archived from the original on 2019-04-14. Retrieved 2019-07-20.
10. ^ "MS-DOS and Windows command line dir command". www.computerhope.com.
11. ^ "Datalight ROM-DOS User's Guide" (PDF). www.datalight.com.
12. ^ "GitHub - reactos/reactos: A free Windows-compatible Operating System". October 22, 2019 - via GitHub.
13. ^ "GNU Coreutils Manual". Free Software Foundation.
14. ^ "AROS Research Operating System". aros.sourceforge.net.
15. ^ 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)
16. ^ Wolverton, Van (2003). Running MS-DOS Version 6.22 (20th Anniversary Edition), 6th Revised edition. Microsoft Press. ISBN 0-7356-1812-7.
17. ^ "List folder contents - MATLAB dir". www.mathworks.com.
18. ^ "Function Reference: dir". octave.sourceforge.io.
19. ^ dir invocation (GNU coreutils) at www.gnu.org

## Further reading

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Guide to Windows Commands

* dir | Microsoft Docs
* Open source DIR implementation that comes with MS-DOS v2.0
* Dir command syntax and examples

* v
* t
* e

Windows command-line programs and shell builtins

* COMMAND.COM
* Command Prompt
* Windows PowerShell
* Recovery Console

File system navigation|

* cd (chdir)
* dir
* popd
* pushd
* tree

File management|

* attrib
* cacls
* cipher
* compact
* copy
* del (erase)
* deltree
* icacls
* mkdir (md)
* mklink
* move
* openfiles
* recover
* ren (rename)
* replace
* rmdir (rd)
* robocopy
* takeown
* xcopy

Archiving|

* expand
* extrac32
* extract
* makecab
* pax
* tar

Disk management|

* chkdsk
* convert
* defrag
* diskcomp
* diskcopy
* diskpart
* diskraid
* diskshadow
* drvspace
* fdisk
* format
* fsutil
* label
* manage-bde
* refsutil
* subst
* scandisk
* sys
* vol
* vssadmin

Processes|

* at
* exit
* kill
* powercfg
* runas
* sc
* schtasks
* shutdown
* start
* taskkill
* tasklist

Registry|

* assoc
* ftype
* reg
* regini
* regsvr32

User environment|

* chcp
* cmdkey
* date
* graftabl
* mode
* path
* set
* setver
* setx
* time
* title
* ver
* where
* whoami

File contents|

* comp
* edit
* edlin
* fc
* find
* findstr
* print
* type

Scripting|

* choice
* clip
* cscript
* doskey
* echo
* for
* forfiles
* goto
* if
* more
* pause
* prompt
* rem
* timeout

Networking|

* arp
* bitsadmin
* curl
* getmac
* hostname
* ipconfig
* nbtstat
* net
* netsh
* netstat
* nslookup
* PathPing
* ping
* rpcping
* route
* scp
* setspn
* sftp
* ssh
* ssh-add
* ssh-agent
* ssh-keygen
* ssh-keyscan
* tracert
* winrm
* winrs

Maintenance and care|

* auditpol
* dispdiag
* driverquery
* eventcreate
* eventtriggers
* logman
* mofcomp
* msiexec
* ntbackup
* pnpunattend
* pnputil
* REAgentC
* relog
* sfc
* sxstrace
* systeminfo
* tracerpt
* typeperf
* w32tm
* WBAdmin
* wecutil
* wevtutil
* winmgmt
* winsat
* wmic

Boot management|

* bcdedit
* bootcfg
* bootsect
* fixboot
* fixmbr

Software development|

* debug
* exe2bin
* QBasic

Miscellaneous|

* break
* cls
* dism
* dpath
* gpresult
* gpupdate
* help
* MSCDEX
* pentnt
* tpmtool
* tpmvscmgr
* wsl

* List of DOS commands
* Environment variables
* Windows Support Tools

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