Command Summary

Command Line Editing

Command Summary

Refer to the "Command Reference" chapter of DOSBook for the syntax of a particular command and for an explanation of how to use that command. For the syntax and explanation of any NET command (to work with the network), refer to the "NET Commands" chapter of DOSBook. Chapter 5, "Using the Online Documentation," in this manual explains how to access information in DOSBook. You can also display help text for any command by entering the command followed by /? or /H.

For an alphabetical listing of the operating system commands, refer to the "Command Reference" chapter of DOSBook.

NOTE: In this manual, batch file subcommands are summarized in Chapter 7, "Batch Processing," and CONFIG.SYS commands are summarized in Chapter 9, "Configuring the System." Chapter 10, "Managing Memory," has information about the configuration commands that help you manage memory. For detailed descriptions of all batch file, CONFIG.SYS, and memory management commands, however, refer to DOSBook.

Table 8-1
Operating System Commands

To do this:	Use this command:
Date and Time
Display and change the current date	DATE
Display and change the current time	TIME
Change the time and date stamp for files	TOUCH
Directories
Assign a different drive letter to a drive or directory	ASSIGN
Attach a directory structure to an empty subdirectory on another drive	JOIN
Display the current directory path or change the current directory	CHDIR or CD
Copy an empty subdirectory structure	XCOPY
Create a new directory	MKDIR or MD
Delete an empty directory	RMDIR or RD
Delete a group of subdirectories and files	XDEL
Display a directory structure	TREE
List the files in a directory	DIR XDIR (more options)
Move a directory	MOVE
Rename a directory	RENDIR
Replace a subdirectory path with a drive letter	SUBST
Disk Compression
Create an empty Stacker* drive using available disk space	CREATE
Decompress the data on a Stacker drive	UNSTACK
Display the status of Stacker drives	STACKER
Mount or unmount a Stacker drive	STACKER
Preview drive compression	PREVIEW
Disk Management
Compare the contents of entire diskettes	DISKCOMP
Copy an entire diskette	DISKCOPY
Provide access to a CD-ROM drive	NWCDEX
Display the volume label of a disk drive	VOL
Create, modify, or delete a disk volume label	LABEL
Improve the performance of the hard disk	DISKOPT NWCACHE
Format a diskette or hard disk	FORMAT
Partition and format a hard disk	FDISK
Unformat a diskette	UNFORMAT
Verify the integrity of data on a disk, and make corrections	CHKDSK
Files
Display or change the password protection level	PASSWORD
Check that data has been written correctly to disk	VERIFY
Compare two files	COMP FC
Convert .EXE files to .BIN or .COM files	EXE2BIN
Copy or combine files	COPY REPLACE XCOPY (more options)
Delete "pending delete" files	DELPURGE
Change file attributes	ATTRIB
Display the contents of a text file on screen	TYPE
Edit a text file	EDIT
Erase a file (no automatic query for confirmation)	DEL ERASE or ERA XDEL (more options)
Erase a file (automatic query for confirmation)	DELQ ERAQ
Show a directory structure (to locate a file)	TREE
Find a string of characters in a text file	FIND
Move a file	MOVE
Print a file	See Printing Files
Rename a file	RENAME or REN
Recover a file	See Recovering Files
Change the time and date stamp for files	TOUCH
Set a search path for commands or batch files	PATH APPEND
Transfer files between two computers	FILELINK
Input/Output
Redirect input and output	CTTY Filter symbol Redirection symbols >, < and >>
Sort input alphabetically, and write it to an output device	SORT
International Language Support
Change the active code page for national language support	NLSFUNC CHCP
Display international characters on a CGA monitor	GRAFTABL
Load the appropriate keyboard for the country	KEYB
Select the time and date format, currency symbol, and code page	COUNTRY
Prepare, select, or display a code page	MODE
Memory Management
Load a program into upper memory	HILOAD/LOADHIGH
Display information about current memory usage	MEM
Disable selected memory features	MEMMAX
Enable or disable the EMM386 memory manager	EMM386
Networking
Perform network tasks using the NET utility	NET
Use the network administration utility	NET ADMIN
List network users and send messages to them	NET CONSOLE
Use the network diagnostics utility	NET DIAGS
Perform network tasks using the command line	NET commands
Play the arcade-style network game	NETWARS
Online Help
Open DOSBook, the online manual.	DOSBOOK HELP
Operating System
Configures your computer to co-exist with other operating systems (such as Windows 95)	LOADER
Change system configuration settings	SETUP
Display the version number of the current operating system	VER
Load another copy of COMMAND.COM	COMMAND
Lock your computer temporarily	LOCK
Modify the system prompt	PROMPT
Transfer operating system files and COMMAND.COM to a specified drive	SYS
Printing Files
Assign and set up a printer	MODE
Print a graphical display by using the <PrtScr> key	GRAPHICS
Print a text file	PRINT COPY
Print a text file to a PostScript* printer	SCRIPT
Program Control
Create a macro	DOSKEY
Debug a program	DEBUG
Define variable strings in the command processor environment	SET
Enable the sharing of files and data	SHARE
Enable or disable the stopping of programs with <Ctrl><Break>	BREAK
Load a program during startup	INSTALL
Load and configure the Task Manager	TASKMGR
Terminates a batch file or secondary command processor	EXIT
Recovering Files
Delete "pending delete" files	DELPURGE
Recover backups
Recovers lost data from a damaged disk	RECOVER
Recover deleted files	UNDELETE
Save deleted files on disk	DELWATCH
Save the File Allocation Table on disk	DISKMAP
Screen Display
Change the display mode	MODE
Clear the screen	CLS
Display text on the console a screenful at a time	MORE
Modify the cursor for laptop computers	CURSOR
Modify the system prompt	PROMPT
Security,/B>
Display or change the password protection level for files	PASSWORD
Lock your computer temporarily	LOCK
Disable security if you cannot access the hard disk	UNSECURE

Command Line Editing

The following table lists the command-line editing keys. Refer to the "Command Reference" chapter of DOSBook for a detailed example of how to edit a command line.

Table 8-2
Command Line Editing Keys

Key	Function
<Esc>	Cancels the command line and leaves the original stored command line unchanged.
<Backspace>	Deletes the previous character in the stored command line.
<Del>	Deletes the currently highlighted character from the stored command line.
<Ins>	Allows you to insert characters into the stored command line. Any characters you insert are displayed on screen. Switch insert mode off by pressing <Ins> again.
<F1>	Copies and displays one character from the stored command line.
<F2>	Copies all characters up to the specified character from the stored command line (<F2> must be followed by a character).
<F3>	Copies all the remaining characters from the stored command line to the screen.
<F4>	Deletes all characters up to the specified character from the stored command line (<F4> must be followed by a character).
<F5>	Copies the current command line (as edited) to the stored command line; the line is not edited as a command and you can edit it further if you want.
<F6>	Specifies the End-Of-File marker (<Ctrl> Z). If you create a file using the COPY command, for example, press <F6> when you finish entering the text to mark the end of the file.
<F9>/<F10>	Clears the stored command line.

Extended Command Line Editing