Quick Reference MS DOS Commands

The following table gives a brief summary of some of the most widely used MS DOS commands. Note that only the simplest form of the commands are given many options which can be used with most commands are not listed. For many commands [command] /? will produce a list of options, for example, format /?.

The commands are divided into shell commands found in command.com and utilities which are separate indivdual programs.

format [drive] Format disk. help [command] Display help on MS DOS commands. label [drive] Set disk volume label. mem [options] Display used and free memory. mode [options] Display/set device config info. more <filename Display file page-by-page. sort filename1>[filename2] Sort input and write to output. tree Display directory tree. undelete filename Undelete a deleted file. xcopy source [destination] Copy directory tree.