PC FAQs & Answers

By Steve Robinson
For suggestion or comments contact Steve Robinson

Customize Directory Commands

Does everything scroll by too fast to read when you type the directory command (DIR) from the DOS Prompt? Wouldn't it be nice to have it scroll by a page at a time. Or would you prefer to have the wide, alphabetical, or any other non-standard directory listing by simply typing DIR? Well, it's easy with the SET DIRCMD added to your AUTOEXEC.BAT startup file. Her are some examples of the different dir commands. For more options type HELP DIR at the DOS prompt.

DIR/B Use bare format ( no heading information ).
DIR/P Displays only a page at a time.
DIR/W Uses screen width to display 5 column dir listing.
DIR/A Shows all files, even the hidden ones.
DIR/AD Lists only the directories and no files.
DIR/AH Lists only files that are hidden.
DIR/AR Lists only files that are read only.
DIR/AS Lists only files that are system files.
DIR/O Lists in alphabetic order.
DIR/OD Lists by date & time ( earliest first ).
DIR/OE Lists by extention ( alphabetic ).
DIR/OG Lists directories first.
DIR/OS Lists by size ( smallest first ).
DIR/L Uses lowercase.
DIR/S Lists files in all sub-directories.
To customize your directory command to scroll by a page at a time and make it permanent, simply add the following statement to your AUTOEXEC.BAT startup file.

SET DIRCMD=/P
This was just an example using the page switch but you could use any other or a combination of all of them. For example, if you wanted your directory to scroll a page at a time in wide format, you would use the EDIT command to add the following statement to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

SET DIRCMD=/P /W

Personnal preferance dictates if or how you might change your directory command. But, to simply have a working knowledge of its variations can help greatly in a troubleshooting situation.

Steve is a second trick car inspector at the Crest Yard at Fort Worth.

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