In DOS systems, an internal command is any command that resides in the COMMAND.COM file.

This includes the most common DOS commands, such as COPY and DIR. Commands that reside in other COM files, or in EXE or BAT files, are called external commands

Table of Contents (the Commands)

command cd (chdir) chcp cls copy copy con ctty date del (erase) dir exit lock md (mkdir) path (;) prompt rd (rmdir) ren (rename) set time type unlock ver vol The following commands are rarely used outside of BATCH files: break call echo for (%) (%%) (errorlevel) (==) (exist) lfnfor pause rem shift verify goto if (not) lh (loadhigh)

This first command isn't really an "internal" command at all. It describes all the switches that can be used when executing the COMMAND.COM program itself (and secondary copies):

command -------

COMMAND.COM

Starts a new copy of the Windows Command Interpreter. COMMAND [[drive:]path] [device] [/E:nnnnn] [/L:nnnn] [/U:nnn] [/P] [/MSG] [/LOW] [/Y [/[C|K] command]] [drive:]path Specifies the directory containing COMMAND.COM. device Specifies the device to use for command input and output. /E:nnnnn Sets the initial environment size to nnnnn bytes. (nnnnn should be between 256 and 32,768). /L:nnnn Specifies internal buffers length (requires /P as well). (nnnn should be between 128 and 1,024). /U:nnn Specifies the input buffer length (requires /P as well). (nnn should be between 128 and 255). /P Makes the new Command Interpreter permanent (can't exit). /MSG Stores all error messages in memory (requires /P as well). /LOW Forces COMMAND to keep its resident data in low memory. /Y Steps through the batch program specified by /C or /K. /C command Executes the specified command and returns. /K command Executes the specified command and continues running. Back to TOC

cd -------

Change Directory

Displays the name of or changes the current directory. CHDIR [drive:][path] CHDIR[..] CD [drive:][path] CD[..] .. Specifies that you want to change to the parent directory (in other words: Move up one folder in the directory tree). DOS 7, WHEN using a DOS-window, allows you to use extra dots here! If you were in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\shellext, you could enter cd... to go up to C:\WINDOWS or even cd.... to get to the root.

Type CD drive: to display the current directory in the specified drive. Type CD without parameters to display the current drive and directory. Back to TOC

chcp ------CHCP [nnn] nnn

Change Code Page

Displays or sets the active code page number.

Specifies a code page number.

Type CHCP without a parameter to display the active code page number. Back to TOC

cls ------CLS Back to TOC

Clear Screen

Clears the screen.

copy -------

Copy or Concatenate Files

Copies one or more files to another location. COPY [/A | /B] source [/A | /B] [+ source [/A | /B] [+ ...]] [destination [/A | /B]] [/V] [/Y | /-Y]

source /A /B destination file(s). /V /Y /-Y

Specifies Indicates Indicates Specifies

the file or files to be copied. an ASCII text file. a binary file. the directory and/or filename for the new

Verifies that new files are written correctly. Suppresses prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an existing destination file. Causes prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an existing destination file.

The switch /Y may be preset in the COPYCMD environment variable. This may be overridden with /-Y on the command line To append files, specify a single file for destination, but multiple files for source (using wildcards or file1+file2+file3 format).

Note this special case of the COPY command:

copy con output.txt

Copy from Console

to ...
After you type this command and press ENTER, MS-DOS copies everything you type to the file OUTPUT.TXT. When you are finished typing, press CTRL+Z to indicate that you want to end the file. The Control-Z character will appear on the screen as " ^Z ". You can also end a COPY CON command by pressing the F6 key. Pressing F6 also generates the Control-Z character; a " ^Z " still appears on the screen. The following example copies information from the keyboard to a printer connected to LPT1: copy con lpt1 Back to TOC

ctty ------CTTY device device Back to TOC

Change Termial Type

Changes the terminal device used to control your system.

The terminal device you want to use, such as COM1.

date ------Displays or sets the date. DATE [date] Type DATE without parameters to display the current date setting and a prompt for a new one. Press ENTER to keep the same date. Back to TOC

del -------

Delete (Erase) Files

Deletes one or more files. DEL [drive:][path]filename [/P] ERASE [drive:][path]filename [/P] [drive:][path]filename /P Specifies the file(s) to delete. Specify multiple files by using wildcards.

Prompts for confirmation before deleting each file.

Note: In most cases the file is NOT actually "erased"; the space it used is simply noted as being available for new files to write over it. If you really want to erase every word of a sensitive file, you should get a 'security program' designed to overwrite all erased files!
Back to TOC

dir -------

Directory Listing

Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory. DIR [drive:][path][filename] [/P] [/W] [/A[[:]attributes]] [/O[[:]sortorder]] [/S] [/B] [/L] [/V] [drive:][path][filename] Specifies drive, directory, and/or files to list. (Could be enhanced file specification or multiple filespecs.) /P Pauses after each screenful of information.

/W /A

Uses wide list format. Displays files with specified attributes. attributes D H S Directories Hidden files System files R A Read-only files Files ready for archiving Prefix meaning not

/O sortorder

List by files in sorted order. N S E D G A By name (alphabetic) By size (smallest first) By extension (alphabetic) By date & time (earliest first) Group directories first Prefix to reverse order By Last Access Date (earliest first)

/S Displays files in specified directory and all subdirectories. /B Uses bare format (no heading information or summary). /L Uses lowercase. /V Verbose mode. Switches may be preset in the DIRCMD environment variable. Override preset switches by prefixing any switch with - (hyphen)--for example, /-W. Back to TOC

exit ------Quits the COMMAND.COM program (command interpreter). EXIT

If you're in a DOS-Window in Windows, this will close the window!

Back to TOC

lock ------Locks a drive, enabling direct disk access for an application. LOCK [drive:]

Note: If you use this command in a DOS-Window, it will only affect the floppy disk drives; Windows 95/98 does not allow you to lock a drive directly while it is operating. If you try lock C: , you'll get the error message: " Locking operation failed."
Back to TOC

md ------MKDIR [drive:]path MD [drive:]path Back to TOC

Make Directory

Creates a directory.

path ------Displays or sets a search path for executable files. PATH [[drive:]path[;...]] PATH ; Type PATH (without any parameters) to display the current path.

Type PATH ; (PATH space semi-colon) to CLEAR all search-path settings; this means that DOS will only be able search the current directory.

NOTE: When used in a DOS-Window, these commands ONLY apply to that particular DOS-Window! (The PATH will not be changed globally.) See the SET command for a similar effect in DOS-Windows, and also for a utility (W95envar.zip) that will make global changes!

Back to TOC

prompt -------

Changes the Windows command prompt. PROMPT [text] text Specifies a new command prompt.

Prompt can be made up of normal characters and the following special codes: $Q $$ $T $D $P $V $N $G $L $B $H $E $_ = (equal sign) $ (dollar sign) Current time Current date Current drive and path Windows version number Current drive > (greater-than sign) < (less-than sign) | (pipe) Backspace (erases previous character) Escape code (ASCII code 27) Carriage return and linefeed

Type PROMPT without parameters to reset the prompt to the default setting. Back to TOC

rd ------RMDIR [drive:]path RD [drive:]path Back to TOC

Remove (Delete) Directory

Removes (deletes) a directory.

ren -------

Rename File or Directory

Renames a file/directory or files/directories. RENAME [drive:][path][directoryname1 | filename1] [dirname2 | filename2] REN [drive:][path][directoryname1 | filename1] [dirname2 | filename2]

Note that you cannot specify a new drive or path for your destination. Back to TOC

set -------

Displays, sets, or removes Windows environment variables. SET [variable=[string]] variable string Specifies the environment-variable name. Specifies a series of characters to assign to the variable.

Type SET without parameters to display the current environment variables.

Note: If you use SET in a DOS-Window to add a variable and string, it will only affect commands run in that particular window! Unlinke Win NT (which has a DOS 'Environment' Tab), Windows 95/98 normally will not allow you to set global Environment strings while the OS is running: You have to set them in AUTOEXEC.BAT and reboot the system! However, I recently found that Microsoft made a utility for setting Environment strings from a DOS-window with a 'global' effect... this utility is called WINSET.EXE ( it's archived with another util called SHORTCUT.EXE and labeled as W95ENVARS.EXE ). You can download this now as: W95envar.zip.
Back to TOC

time ------Displays or sets the system time. TIME [time] Type TIME with no parameters to display the current time setting and a prompt for a new one. Press ENTER to keep the same time. Back to TOC

type ------Displays the contents of text files. TYPE [drive:][path]filename

NOTE: If there are more than 25 lines in the file, you'll need to pipe the screen output through the DOS External Command MORE in order to keep all but the last screen from flashing past you! EXAMPLE:
C:\>type tips.txt |more Back to TOC

unlock -------

Unlocks a drive, disabling direct disk access for an application. UNLOCK [drive:] Back to TOC

See LOCK

ver ------VER

Version

Displays the Windows version.

Back to TOC

vol ------VOL [drive:]

Volume Label/SN

Displays the disk volume label and serial number, if they exist.

Note: The DOS command to change a Volume Label is an "External Command" (the program is: LABEL.EXE). Back to TOC

The following commands are rarely used outside of a BATCH file (such as AUTOEXEC.BAT): break ------Sets or clears extended CTRL+C checking. BREAK [ON | OFF] Type BREAK without a parameter to display the current BREAK setting. Back to TOC

call ------Calls one batch program from another. CALL [drive:][path]filename [batch-parameters] batch-parameters Back to TOC Specifies any command-line information required by the batch program.

echo -------

Displays messages, or turns command-echoing on or off. ECHO [ON | OFF] ECHO [message] Type ECHO without parameters to display the current echo setting.

Back to TOC

for ------Runs a specified command for each file in a set of files. FOR %variable IN (set) DO command [command-parameters] %variable Specifies (set) Specifies used. command Specifies command-parameters Specifies a replaceable parameter. a set of one or more files. Wildcards may be

the command to carry out for each file. parameters or switches for the specified command.

To use the FOR command in a batch program, specify %%variable instead of %variable. Back to TOC

goto ------Directs Windows to a labelled line in a batch program. GOTO label label Specifies a text string used in the batch program as a label.

You type a label on a line by itself, beginning with a colon.

Example:
The following batch program formats a disk in drive A as a system disk. If the operation is successful, the GOTO command simply directs MS-DOS to the label named "end"; if not, an error message is displayed: echo off format a: /s if not errorlevel 1 goto end echo An error occurred during formatting. :end echo Successfully formatted the disk in drive A. Back to TOC

if -------

Performs conditional processing in batch programs.

IF [NOT] ERRORLEVEL number command IF [NOT] string1==string2 command IF [NOT] EXIST filename command NOT only Specifies that Windows should carry out the command

if the condition is false. ERRORLEVEL number Specifies a true condition if the last program run returned an exit code equal to or greater than the number specified. command Specifies the command to carry out if the condition is met. string1==string2 Specifies a true condition if the specified text strings match. EXIST filename Specifies a true condition if the specified filename exists.

Note: Although you can only check directly for the existence of a file, you can also check for directories (folders) by using the NUL operator as a filename. Example: if exist C:\TEMP\NUL goto done will route program flow to the label "done" only if the folder C:\TEMP exists!
Back to TOC

lfnfor -------

Long File Name FOR

Enables/Disables Long file names when processing FOR commands. LFNFOR [ON | OFF] Type LFNFOR without a parameter to display the current setting. Back to TOC

lh -------

Load High

Loads a program into the upper memory area. LH [drive:][path]filename [parameters] LOADHIGH [drive:][path]filename [parameters]

LOADHIGH [/L:region1[,minsize1][;region2[,minsize2]...] [/S]] [drive:][path]filename [parameters] /L:region1[,minsize1][;region2[,minsize2]]... Specifies the region(s) of memory into which to load the program. Region1 specifies the number of the first memory region; minsize1 specifies the minimum size, if any, for region1. Region2 and minsize2 specify the number and minimum size of the second region, if any. You can specify as many regions as you want. /S Shrinks a UMB to its minimum size while the program is loading.

[drive:][path]filename Specifies the location and name of the program. Back to TOC

pause ------PAUSE Back to TOC

Suspends processing of a batch program and displays the message: Press any key to continue....

rem ------Records comments (remarks) in a batch file or CONFIG.SYS. REM [comment] Back to TOC

shift ------Changes the position of replaceable parameters in a batch file. SHIFT Back to TOC

verify ------Tells Windows whether to verify that your files are written correctly to a disk.

VERIFY [ON | OFF] Type VERIFY without a parameter to display the current VERIFY setting. Back to TOC