How to get better directory listings in a Command Prompt

From ArticleWorld


Although cmd.exe (and its ancestor. command.com) are not exactly the most feature-packed shells around, they still do have some of their tricks. You can use these to obtain more helpful listings, or, if you are using a scripting language, for better integration and more capabilities in scripts.

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Interesting options

1. Did you know that you can view directory listings from more than one source? You simply pass more locations as arguments. For example: 

C:\> dir C:\Games D:\kidgames

2. You can easily obtain the shortened, 8.3 DOS-style filename along with the long file name without counting letters yourself. Simply use the /X switch: 

C:\Games\> dir /X

3. If your script needs absolute paths for files, you can get them using the /S and /B switches: 

C:\Games\> dir /S /B

4. You can have your files sorted. For example, you can sort your files by size, using the /OS switch: 

C:\Games\> dir /OS
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Notes

You can find out more switches using the /? (help) switch. This will display a list of all the options supported by the DIR command.

Although this may seem like quite a lot, the fact that cmd.exe is not to powerful remains. If you can, you should consider getting a replacement, like 4DOS. Or, you may want to check a shell ported from a Unix environment, like sh or bash.

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