Dir (command)
Shell command for listing files and directories
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
dir, short for directory, is a shell command for listing file system contents: files and directories.[1] Arguably, the command provides the same essential functionality as the ls command, but typically the two commands are described as notably separate concepts, possibly since ls is implemented from a codebase that shares more history than many dir implementations.
| dir | |
|---|---|
The SpartaDOS X DIR command | |
| Developers | 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 |
The command is often implemented as internal in the operating system shell instead of as a separate application as many other commands are.
Variants
Although syntax, semantics and implementations vary, a dir command with essentially the same functionality is available in the operating systems:
CP/M,[2]
MP/M,[3]
ISIS-II,[4] iRMX 86,[5]
CDOS,[6]
TRIPOS,[7]
DOS,
4690 OS,[8]
OS/2,[9]
Windows,[10]
Singularity,
ROM-DOS,[11]
ReactOS,[12]
GNU,[13]
AROS,[14]
VMS,
RT-11,
RSX-11,
OS/8,
86-DOS,[15]
MS-DOS (in versions 1 and later),[16]
and DOSBox.
Some applications also provide a dir command with similar functionality. The typical File Transfer Protocol (FTP) command-line client provides a dir command for listing a remote directory. The numerical computing environments MATLAB and GNU Octave include a dir
command.[17][18]
Generally, Unix-like systems use the ls command for the needs that dir satisfies in other types of systems. Notably, the Unix-like GNU operating system, provides 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]
Examples
List all files and directories in the working directory.
C:\Users>dir
List text and batch files of the working directory by specifying filename extensions ".txt" or ".bat" with the "*" wildcard character that matches any base file name.
C:\Users>dir *.txt *.bat
List files and directories in the specified directory and any subdirectories, recursively, 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 space.
C:\Users>dir /s /w /p "C:\Users\johndoe\My Documents"
List any NTFS junction points:
<syntaxhighlight lang="doscon" class="tpl-codett" style="border:none; padding: 0px 0px; color:var(--color-base, #202122); background:transparent; " inline="1">C:\Users>dir /ash</syntaxhighlight>
<syntaxhighlight lang="output" class="tpl-codett" style="border:none; padding: 0px 0px; color:var(--color-base, #202122); background:transparent; " inline="1">Volume in drive C is OS.</syntaxhighlight>
<syntaxhighlight lang="output" class="tpl-codett" style="border:none; padding: 0px 0px; color:var(--color-base, #202122); background:transparent; " inline="1">Volume Serial Number is xxxx-xxxx</syntaxhighlight>
<syntaxhighlight lang="output" class="tpl-codett" style="border:none; padding: 0px 0px; color:var(--color-base, #202122); background:transparent; " inline="1">Directory of C:\Users</syntaxhighlight>
<syntaxhighlight lang="output" class="tpl-codett" style="border:none; padding: 0px 0px; color:var(--color-base, #202122); background:transparent; " inline="1">12/07/2019 02:30 AM <SYMLINKD> All Users [C:\ProgramData]</syntaxhighlight>
<syntaxhighlight lang="output" class="tpl-codett" style="border:none; padding: 0px 0px; color:var(--color-base, #202122); background:transparent; " inline="1">12/07/2019 02:30 AM <JUNCTION> Default User [C:\Users\Default]</syntaxhighlight>
<syntaxhighlight lang="output" class="tpl-codett" style="border:none; padding: 0px 0px; color:var(--color-base, #202122); background:transparent; " inline="1">12/07/2019 02:12 AM 174 desktop.ini</syntaxhighlight>
<syntaxhighlight lang="output" class="tpl-codett" style="border:none; padding: 0px 0px; color:var(--color-base, #202122); background:transparent; " inline="1">1 File(s) 174 bytes</syntaxhighlight>
<syntaxhighlight lang="output" class="tpl-codett" style="border:none; padding: 0px 0px; color:var(--color-base, #202122); background:transparent; " inline="1">2 Dir(s) 332,659,789,824 bytes free</syntaxhighlight>
