WINDOWS COMMANDS

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References: Windows Command Line Interface, Prof.

Yitzchak Rosenthal

CLI AND DOS

The Windows command line interface (CLI) commands

are sometimes referred to as "DOS" commands.

DOS was the name of the operating system that predated

Windows (it stands for Disk Operating System).

The only way to control DOS was to use these commands

The commands in the modern Windows Command Line

interface are very similar to the original DOS commands.

WHY SHOULD WE USE THE CLI (DOS COMMANDS)?

Many windows users will never have a need for the DOS commands

DOS commands are useful or required for many administrative or programming tasks

For example, using DOS commands one can write programs to automate many administrative tasks.

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THE BASICS Prompt: what the computer tells you when ready

for a command (c:\>) You type a command and press ENTER when you

want to send it to the computer Computer may come back with text about what it

did (or didn’t do) and then will present the Prompt again.

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ACCESSING THE COMMAND LINE

XP: Run dialog box; type CMD or COMMAND Vista/7: Search Dialog box; same commandor start | All Programs | Accessories | Command

Promptor Right-click shortcut and select Run As

Administrator for commands that affect Windows

Win 8/8.1: Windows Button, CMD

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FOCUS

• Command Line always focused on a drive and directory; prompt will show both

• C:\Windows\System32> has focus on C: drive and Windows\System32 folder

• Change focus– Type drive letter and colon, then ENTER– Type CD and directory name to drill down– Type CD .. To go up a level

• DOS will remember drive and directory

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FILENAMES

Everything is a file to the computer Each file has a name: 8.3 format Windows allows 255 characters in file name Extension (should be) unique to application that

created the file; changing the file extension does not change the file contents

Windows uses file extension to determine: a) Program that created it and b) What icon to use for the file

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ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange

Each unique method of binary organization is called a file format

ASCII defines 256 eight-bit characters First, universal, file format still used for

configuration files

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FOLDERS

Also called directories Any file at the root of the directory tree is said

to be in the Root Directory A folder within a folder is a sub-directory or

subfolder Any folder can have many subfolders and files;

names have to be unique unless in different folders

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PATH

The route to a file; listing of drive and directory structure to get to the file: C:\Windows\System32\Notepad.exe

This is the path to the file and its full name

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COMMAND.COM

Shifts command to upper case Looks within command.com Looks within the current directory (focus) Looks in directories specified in the PATH Returns “Bad command or file name” <command> /? Will bring up help on the

command

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OH NO!

DOS will do what you say, not what you mean so double-check spelling and syntax before the Enter key is pressed

I wanted a directory listing, but I typed DEL instead of DIR

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DIR

Shows the contents of the current directory Can show another directory if you point it there:

dir c:\windows Dir /w will give you a five-column display Dir /p will pause at each screenful of

information

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SPACES IN FILENAMES

If any folder or filename in a path contains spaces, you must surround the entire path with quotes when using it in a DOS command.

Example

dir "c:\my folder\my file.txt"

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CD

Change directory CD <directory name> will take you down to

that directory CD .. Will take you up one directory level CD \ will take you to the root directory for the

drive

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MOVE BETWEEN DRIVES

Type the drive name followed by a colon and then press enter

A: will take you to the A: drive C: will take you to the C: drive Command will remember what directory you

were in on each drive when you switch

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MD

MD <name> to make a directory New directory is directly below current directory Automatically creates . (dot) and .. (double-dot)

files. Dot is current directory; double-dot is parent directory (one up)

Does not tell you anything if it worked

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RD

RD <name> to remove (empty) directory (only . and .. Files remain

Removes directory below current directory RD <name> /s will remove files, subdirectories

and directory

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RUNNING A PROGRAM

Your computer can only run files with the extensions: .exe, .com or .bat

You do not have to type the extension to run the file/program

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ATTRIB

Attrib <name> displays the attributes (H,S,R,A) for a file

Attrib <name> + turns on the attribute Attrib <name> - turns off the attribute

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WILDCARDS

* (shift-8) replaces any number of characters ? Replaces just one character Can be used anywhere a file name is legal DIR a*.* will find any file that starts with “a” in

the directory and has any extension

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REN

Renames a file name to a new name REN <old name> <new name>

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DEL

BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THIS COMMAND!!!! Deletes one or more (if you use wildcards) files;

all gone, no going back Will not remove directories Actually, replaces the first character with Σ You don’t get a response

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COPY/MOVE

Copy <what> <where> Copy d:\win98\*.* c:\win98\*.* will copy all files

from the D: drive (optical drive) win98 directory to the C:\WIN98 directory – will not change file names

There is no “undo” for copy/move gone wrong

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XCOPY

Allows copying of directories, files and subdirectories at one time

Xcopy c:\data d:\data /s/e will copy everything in the c:\data directory to a d:\data directory including files and subdirectories (/s) even if empty (/e)

ROBOCOPY

Robust copy command Allows you to copy files and directory structures

across a network Found in Vista and 7

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CHKDSK

Command line version of Error Check Usually fails when you start it because it can

not lock the drive; will run next time Windows restarts

FORMAT

We have a whole presentation on this Format c: /s will format c: drive and install

system files (DOS)

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Hostname Will give you the name of the computer

SFC System File Checker SFC /scannow Will attempt to set computer disk to be the

same as installation disk

Shutdown

| MORE

This is what you typefollowed by the ENTER key

`

This is the prompt. It is

printed by the computer

To view a lot of output, instead of using the scroll bar, you can force the output of most commands to be displayed one screen at a time.

Type the command followed by "| more" (without the quotes), for example:

c:\> help | more

The vertical bar symbol (also called a pipe symbol) is located on the keyboard above the backslash ( \ ) character.

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OUTPUT OF "HELP | MORE"

When you use "| more", the output from the command is displayed one screenfull at a time

Below is the output of the command "help | more" Press the spacebar to see the next screenfull of output. Press the ENTER key to see the next line of output. To quit seeing the output type "q" (for quit) or Ctrl-C

31USING “| MORE” WITH OTHER COMMANDS

You can add “| more” (without the quotes) to the end of most commands to have the output of that command displayed one page at a time.

E.g.

dir | more

type myfile.txt | more

We will learn more about what the “|” means later.

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CHANGING THE PROPERTIESOF THE COMMAND WINDOW

Another way to see more information at once is to increase the height of the command window

To do that, "left click" on the icon in the upper left hand corner of the window and choose "Properties"

INCREASE THE SIZE OF THECOMMAND WINDOW

CHANGING THE PROPERTIES OF THE COMMAND WINDOW

Another way to see more information at once is to increase the height of the command window

To do that, "left click" on the icon in the upper left hand corner of the window and choose "Properties"

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INCREASING THE HEIGHT OF THE COMMAND WINDOW

choose the "Layout" tab.

change the value of the "Height" field in the "Window Size" section

this is the number of lines of output that is displayed in the command window. (the default value is 24)

press the "OK" button

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APPLY THE CHANGES

finally, you will see this dialog box

If you choose "Apply properties to current window only" then the next time you start a command window the new window will be the original size

If you choose "Modify shortcut that started this window" then then next time that you start a command window it will be the larger size.

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RESULT - LARGER COMMAND WINDOW

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INCREASING THE HEIGHT OF THE COMMAND WINDOW

choose the "Layout" tab.

change the value of the "Height" field in the "Window Size" section

this is the number of lines of output that is displayed in the command window. (the default value is 24)

press the "OK" button

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APPLY THE CHANGES

finally, you will see this dialog box

If you choose "Apply properties to current window only" then the next time you start a command window the new window will be the original size

If you choose "Modify shortcut that started this window" then then next time that you start a command window it will be the larger size.

Make a choice (either is fine) and press the "OK" button.

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RESULT - LARGER COMMAND WINDOW

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Windows Command-Line File and Folder Management ToolsTool DescriptionATTRIB Displays, applies, or removes attributes for the specified file or folder.

CD Changes to the specified folder.COMP Compares the contents of two specified files byte by byte.

COMPACT Displays or modifies the compression settings for the specified file or folder (which must be located on an NTFS partition).

COPY Creates a copy of the specified file or folder in another location.

DEL Deletes the specified file or folder.DIR Displays a directory listing for the current folder or for the specified file or folder.

FC Compares the content of two specified files.FIND Searches for and displays all the instances of a specified string in a file.

FINDSTR Uses a regular expression to search for and display all the instances of a specified string in a file.

MKDIR Creates the specified folder.MOVE Moves the specified file or folder to another location.

REN Changes the name of the specified file or folder.

REPLACE Replaces files in the destination folder with files in the source folder that have the same name.

RMDIR Deletes the specified folder.SORT Sorts the specified file and then displays the results.

SFC Runs the System File Checker, which scans and verifies the protected Windows 7 files.

TAKEOWN Enables an administrator to take ownership of the specified file.

TREE Displays a graphical tree diagram showing the subfolder hierarchy of the current folder or the specified folder.

WHERE Searches for and displays all the files that match a specified pattern in the current folder and in the PATH folders.

XCOPY Creates a copy of the specified file or folder in another location. This tool offers many more options than the COPY command.