The description below is from the book DOS the
Easy Way by Everett Murdock Ph.D.
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for information about downloading the book.
Type: Internal (1.0 and later)
Syntax:
DIR [d:][path][filename] [/A:(attributes)] [/O:(order)]
[/B][/C][/CH][/L][/S][/P] [/W]
Purpose: Displays directory of files and directories stored on
disk.
Discussion
In addition to files and directories, DIR also displays both the volume
name and
amount of free storage space on the disk (if there are files stored in
the current directory). Note that both of these are for the entire DISK, not
just for the path you specified.
The DIR command is also useful if you want to know what directories have
been created on the specified disk. The directories will be displayed
along with the files on the disk. They can be identified by the DIR label
that follows the directory name.
Wildcard characters (? and *) can be used to specify groups of files.
For more information about the DIR command, see Chapter 2,
Using Common DOS Commands, in the downloadable book DOS the Easy Way.
When you use the DIR command, it will display all files that match the
path and filename specifications, along with their size in bytes and the
time and date of their last modification. If you don`t enter one of the
options, the entire list will be displayed, even if the list is too long
to fit on one screen. To limit the amount of data displayed, use either
of the two options described below.
Options
/A:attributes
Only the files whose attributes match the ones you
specify will be displayed. You can enter a sequence of attributes after
the colon. It is not necessary to enter spaces between entries. This
option is available with DOS Versions 5 and 6.
Allows you to specify the order in which the entries will be
displayed. This option is available with DOS Versions 5 and 6.
The possible options are:
N|-N - By name (alphabetical or reverse alphabetical).
E|-E - By extension ( alphabetical or reverse alphabetical).
D|-D - By date and time (chronologically or reverse).
S|-S - By size (increasing or decreasing).
C|-C - Sorts by DoubleSpace compression ratio lowest to highest or
highest to lowest. (Version 6.0 only)
G|-G - Group directories (before, or after) other files.
Other Switches
/B - (Bare format) Displays only file names.
/C - Displays the compression ratio of files compressed using
DBLSPACE. This option is available with DOS Version 6.
/CH - Displays the compression ratios of files on a DoubleSpace volume.
Cannot be used at the same time as the /C option. This option is available
with DOS Version 6.
/L Information is displayed in lowercase letters. This option is
available with DOS Versions 5 and 6.
/S Displays file entries in the specified directory and all
subdirectories located below it hierarchically.
/P Pauses when the screen is full. Press any key to display
another screen full of data.
/W Displays only filenames and directory names (without the added
information about each file) in a five-wide display format.
Examples
To display only files with the .TXT filename extension on the current drive
that begin with the letters FIL, enter
dir fil*.TXT
To display only files on drive C that have no filename extension,
enter
dir c:*.
This form of the DIR command will also display directories. They can
be identified by the DIR label that follows the directory name.
For more information about this command, refer to the downloadable book DOS the Easy Way.
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