List of DOS commands

APPEND

Sets the path to be searched for data files or displays the current search path. The APPEND command is similar to the PATH command that tells DOS where to search for program files (files with a .COM, . EXE, or .BAT file name extension).

The command is available in MS-DOS versions 3.2 and later.[1]

ASSIGN

Redirects requests for disk operations on one drive to a different drive. It can also display drive assignments or reset all drive letters to their original assignments.

The command is available in MS-DOS versions 3 through 5 and IBM PC DOS releases 2 through 5.[1]

ATMDM

Lists connections and addresses seen by Windows ATM call manager.

ATTRIB

Changes or views the attributes of one or more files. Defaults to display the attributes of all files in the current directory. The file attributes available include read-only, archive, system, and hidden attributes. The command has the capability to process whole folders and subfolders of files and also process all files.

The command is available in MS-DOS versions 3 and later.[1]

BACKUP and RESTORE

These are commands to backup and restore files from an external disk. These appeared in version 2, and continued to PC DOS 5 and MS-DOS 6 (PC DOS 7 had a deversioned check). In DOS 6, these were replaced by commercial programs (CPBACKUP, MSBACKUP), which allowed files to be restored to different locations.[1]

BASIC and BASICA

Environment for programming in BASIC. IBM computers had BASIC 1.1 in ROM, and IBM's versions of BASIC used code in this ROM-BASIC, which allowed for extra memory in the code area. BASICA last appeared in IBM PC DOS 5.02, and in OS/2 (2.0 and later), the version had ROM-BASIC moved into the program code. Microsoft released GW-BASIC for machines with no ROM-BASIC. Some OEM releases had basic.com and basica.com as loaders for GW-BASIC.EXE. BASIC was dropped after MS-DOS 4, and PC DOS 5.02. OS/2 (which uses PC DOS 5), has it, while MS-DOS 5 does not.

BREAK

Instructs DOS to check whether the and keys have been pressed before carrying out a program request.

The command is available in MS-DOS versions 2 and later.[1]

CALL

Starts a batch file from within another batch file and returns when that one ends.

The command is available in MS-DOS versions 3.3 and later.[1]

CD and CHDIR

Sets the working directory or with no arguments displays the current value. Both names, CD and CHDIR, refer to the same command and are abbreviations of the phrase "change directory".

The command is available in MS-DOS versions 2 and later.[1]

CHCP

Either displays or changes the active code page used to display character glyphs in a console window. Similar functionality can be achieved with ) which removes the disk's file table without deleting any of the data. The same version also introduced the UNFORMAT command to undo the effects of a quick format, restoring the file table and making all the files accessible again.

UNFORMAT only works if invoked before any further changes have overwritten the drive's contents.[1]

VER

An internal DOS command, that reports the DOS version presently running, and since MS-DOS 5, whether DOS is loaded high.

The command is available in MS-DOS versions 2 and later.[1]

VERIFY

Enables or disables the feature to determine if files have been correctly written to disk (You can enable the verify command by typing "verify on" on Command Prompt and pressing enter. To display the current VERIFY setting, type VERIFY without a parameter. To turn off the feature, type "verify off"). If no parameter is provided, the command will display the current setting.[29]

The command is available in MS-DOS versions 2 and later.[1]

VOL

An internal command that displays the disk volume label and serial number.

The command is available in MS-DOS versions 2 and later.[1]

VSAFE

A TSR program that continuously monitors the computer for viruses.

The command is available in MS-DOS versions 6 and later.[1]

XCOPY

Copy entire directory trees. Xcopy is a version of the copy command that can move files and directories from one location to another.

XCOPY usage and attributes can be obtained by typing XCOPY /? in the DOS Command line.

The command is available in MS-DOS versions 3.2 and later.[1]