NCP 422 (Operating System Laboratory)

EXPERIMENT #1
LIST OF DOS COMMANDS
NAME: INSTRUCTOR:
SECTION: DATE: GRADE:

OVERVIEW
OS short for disk operating system, is an acronym used to describe the family of several
very similar command-line computer operating systems for x86-based computers, including MS-
DOS, PC DOS, DR-DOS, FreeDOS, ROM-DOS, and PTS-DOS; although none of these systems
were officially named "DOS".
In DOS, many standard system commands were provided for common tasks such as listing
files on a disk or moving files. Some commands were built into the command interpreter, others
existed as external commands on disk. Over the several generations of DOS, commands were
added for the additional functions of the operating system. In the current Microsoft Windows
operating system, a text-mode command prompt window, cmd.exe, can still be used.
COMMAND PROCESSING

Figure 1. FreeDOS command line interpreter

The command interpreter for DOS runs when no application programs are running. When
an application exits, if the transient portion of the command interpreter in memory was
overwritten, DOS will reload it from disk. Some commands are internal — built into
COMMAND.COM; others are external commands stored on disk. When the user types a line of
text at the operating system command prompt, COMMAND.COM will parse the line and attempt
to match a command name to a built-in command or to the name of an executable program file
or batch file on disk. If no match is found, an error message is printed, and the command prompt
is refreshed.
External commands were too large to keep in the command processor, or were less
frequently used. Such utility programs would be stored on disk and loaded just like regular
application programs but were distributed with the operating system. Copies of these utility

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command programs had to be on an accessible disk, either on the current drive or on the
command path set in the command interpreter.
In the list below, commands that can accept more than one filename, or a filename including
wildcards (* and ?), are said to accept a filespec (file specification) parameter. Commands that can
accept only a single filename are said to accept a filename parameter. Additionally, command line
switches, or other parameter strings, can be supplied on the command line. Spaces and symbols
such as a "/" or a "-" may be used to allow the command processor to parse the command line into
filenames, file specifications, and other options.
The command interpreter preserves the case of whatever parameters are passed to
commands, but the command names themselves and filenames are case-insensitive. Many
commands are the same across many DOS systems, but some differ in command syntax or name.
DOS COMMANDS
A partial list of the most common commands for MS-DOS follows below:
 APPEND  DEFRAG  GOTO
 ARP  DEL  GPUPDATE
 ASSIGN  DELPART  GRAFTABL
 AT  DELTREE  HELP
 ATMADM  DIR  HOSTNAME
 ATTRIB  DISKCOMP  ICACLS
 BACKUP  DISKCOPY  IF
 BCDEDIT  DOSKEY  IPCONFIG
 BOOTSECT  DOSSHELL  LABEL
 BREAK  DRIVERQUERY  LH
 CACLS  DRIVPARM  LOADFIX
 CALL  DUMPCHK  LOADHIGH
 CD  ECHO  LOCK
 CHCP  EDIT  LOGOFF
 CHDIR  EDLIN  MD
 CHKDSK  ENDLOCAL  MEM
 CHKNTFS  ERASE  MKDIR
 CHOICE  EXIT  MKLINK
 CIPHER  EXPAND  MODE
 CLIP  EXTRACT  MORE
 CLS  FASTHELP  MOVE
 COLOR  FC  MOVE
 COMP  FCIV  MSAV
 COMPACT  FDISK  MSBACKUP
 CONVERT  FIND  MSCDEX
 COPY  FOR  MSCDEXNT
 CTTY  FORFILES  MSD
 DATE  FORMAT  MSG
 DEBUG  FTP  MWBACKUP

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 NBTSTAT  RMDIR  SWITCHES

 NET  ROBOCOPY  SYS
 NETSH  ROUTE  SYSTEMINFO
 NETSTAT  RUNAS  TASKKILL
 NLSFUNC  SC  TASKLIST
 NSLOOKUP  SCANDISK  TELNET
 PATH  SCANREG  TIME
 PATHPING  SCHTASKS  TITLE
 PAUSE  SET  TRACERT
 PING  SETLOCAL  TREE
 POPD  SETVER  TSKILL
 POWER  SFC  TYPE
 PRINT  SHARE  UNDELETE
 PROMPT  SHIFT  UNFORMAT
 PUSHD  SHUTDOWN  UNLOCK
 RD  SMARTDRV  VER
 REG  SORT  VERIFY
 REN  START  VOL
 RENAME  SUBST
 WMIC  XCOPYASSOC

TYPES OF COMMAND
 Internal Command
An internal command is an MS-DOS command that is stored in the system memory
and loaded from the command.com or cmd.exe. Figure 2 below shows how commands
contained within command.com are part of the command.com file. However, with the
external commands, each of the commands are their own separate file.
All of the internal commands are part of the shell which could be command.com or
cmd.exe (depending on your version of MS-DOS or Windows) and are not separate files
on the hard drive.
As long as you can open a command line you can run any of the internal commands
included with your version of MS-DOS or Microsoft Windows.
 External Command
An external command is an MS-DOS command that is not included in
command.com. External commands are commonly external either because they require
large requirements or are not commonly used commands. The illustration shows each of
the external commands are separate files. However, the internal commands are all included
in the command.com file.

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Many of the external commands are located in the Windows\system32 or

Winnt\system32 directories. If you need to locate the external file to delete it, rename it or
replace it, you can also find the file through MS-DOS.
As long as the file exists and you have the proper paths, an external command runs
just like an internal command by typing the command name at the prompt. However, if the
paths are not set properly or they are missing because the command line would not know
where to look for the external command, you would get an error. Unless of course you
were in the same directory as the command.

Figure 2. Internal vs External commands

EXERCISE
Identify all of the possible DOS Command listed above if it is internal or external command
INTERNAL COMMAND:

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EXTERNAL COMMAND:

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ACTIVITY
1. Discuss the differences or similarities between the following MSDOS commands:
a. COPY vs XCOPY vs ROBOCOPY
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b. COPY vs MOVE
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c. RD vs MD
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d. COPY vs REN
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e. SET vs PATH
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f. SYSTEMINFO vs DRIVERQUERY vs TASKLIST
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g. RD vs DEL
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3. What is Batch File? How helpful is batch file scripting?
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