Part 2: MS-DOS Commands

A command is the name of a special program that makes your computer carry out a task. There are two types of MS-DOS commands - internal and external.  We have already used the internal command DIR and the external command FORMAT. For this section, we will dig a bit deeper into several other commands.

Internal commands

Internal commands are built into the operating system as part of a file called COMMAND.COM (or, on a 2000 or XP machine CMD.EXE) . They are loaded into memory whenever you switch on your computer. When you type an internal command, MS-DOS performs it immediately. Many of the MS-DOS internal commands are listed below. The synonyms of some command names which you can use in place of their official names are shown in brackets.  We will only explore DEL (or ERASE),  COPY,  CD, MD, TYPE, DIR, PATH and EXIT in this tutorial. Follow-on classes at BU will require you to know more, but the above commands are a really good start.  Note that, depending on your version of MS-DOS, the list of internal commands may vary.  However, the ones we will cover are likely to be in any version you use. 
 
BREAK DEL (ERASE) PATH TYPE
CALL DIR PAUSE VER
CHCP ECHO PROMPT VERIFY
CHDIR (CD) EXIT REM VOL
CLS FOR REN(RENAME) SET
COPY GOTO RMDIR (RD)
CTTY IF SHIFT
DATE MKDIR(MD) TIME

External Commands

Files with extension COM or EXE are external commands. Because these commands are files, they are not built into the operating system ( these are the commands that alter between versions of MS-DOS) . The MS-DOS external commands may contain SOME or all of the following but we will only explore  DISKCOPY,   and FORMAT in this tutorial. Follow-on classes at BU will require you to know more, but the above commands are a really good start. Note that, depending on your version of MS-DOS, the list of external commands may vary.  However, the ones we will cover are likely to be in any version you use. 

 
 
APPEND EDLIN KEYB RESTORE
ASSIGN EXE2BIN KEYBXX SETVER
ATTRIB FASTOPEN LABEL SHARE
BACKUP FC MODE SORT
CHKDSK FDISK MORE SUBST
COMMAND FIND NLSFUNC SYS
COMP FORMAT PRINT TREE
DELTREE GRAFTABL RECOVER XCOPY
DISKCOMP JOIN REPLACE DISKCOPY

When you type an external command, MS-DOS looks for the command in the current directory. If it is not there, you must guide MS-DOS to the relevant directory with the PATH command (more on this later!).

Everyday MS-DOS Activities

This section provides a brief introduction to the MS-DOS activities that you are likely to perform most often.
 

Activity

Command needed

Formatting a diskette FORMAT
Copying a diskette DISKCOPY
Copying a file COPY
Deleting a file DEL (ERASE)
Listing the files in a directory DIR
Making a new directory MD
Changing from one directory to another CD
Setting a command search path PATH

In the next few pages we will explore the above commands by using video examples.