Dir (command)

dir
The SpartaDOS X DIR command
Developers	DEC, DR, Intel, Cromemco, MetaComCo, Microsoft, IBM, Datalight, ICD, Inc.
Operating system	CP/M, MP/M, ISIS-II, iRMX 86, CDOS, TRIPOS, DOS, MSX-DOS, SISNE plus, 4690 OS, PC-MOS, OS/2, Windows, Singularity, ReactOS, AROS, VMS, RT-11, RSX-11, OS/8, AmigaDOS
Platform	Cross-platform
Type	Command
License	CP/M, MP/M: BSD-like MS-DOS: MIT PC-MOS: GPL-3.0-only ReactOS: GPL

dir, short for directory, is a shell command for listing file system contents: files and directories.^[1] Arguably, the command provides the same essential functionality as the ls command, but typically the two commands are described as notably separate concepts, possibly since ls is implemented from a codebase that shares more history than many dir implementations.

The command is often implemented as internal in the operating system shell instead of as a separate application as many other commands are.

Although syntax, semantics and implementations vary, a dir command with essentially the same functionality is available in the operating systems: CP/M,^[2] MP/M,^[3] ISIS-II,^[4] iRMX 86,^[5] CDOS,^[6] TRIPOS,^[7] DOS, 4690 OS,^[8] OS/2,^[9] Windows,^[10] Singularity, ROM-DOS,^[11] ReactOS,^[12] GNU,^[13] AROS,^[14] VMS, RT-11, RSX-11, OS/8, 86-DOS,^[15] MS-DOS (in versions 1 and later),^[16] and DOSBox.

Some applications also provide a dir command with similar functionality. The typical File Transfer Protocol (FTP) command-line client provides a dir command for listing a remote directory. The numerical computing environments MATLAB and GNU Octave include a dir command.^[17][18]

Generally, Unix-like systems use the ls command for the needs that dir satisfies in other types of systems. Notably, the Unix-like GNU operating system, provides a dir command that is equivalent to ls -C -b; that is, by default files are listed in columns, sorted vertically, and special characters are represented by backslash escape sequences.^[19]

List all files and directories in the working directory.

C:\Users>dir

List text and batch files of the working directory by specifying filename extensions ".txt" or ".bat" with the "*" wildcard character that matches any base file name.

C:\Users>dir *.txt *.bat

List files and directories in the specified directory and any subdirectories, recursively, in wide format, pausing after each screen of output. The directory name is enclosed in double-quotes, to prevent it from being interpreted is as two separate command-line options because it contains a space.

C:\Users>dir /s /w /p "C:\Users\johndoe\My Documents"

List any NTFS junction points:

C:\Users>dir /ash
Volume in drive C is OS.
Volume Serial Number is xxxx-xxxx
Directory of C:\Users
12/07/2019  02:30 AM    <SYMLINKD>     All Users [C:\ProgramData]
12/07/2019  02:30 AM    <JUNCTION>     Default User [C:\Users\Default]
12/07/2019  02:12 AM               174 desktop.ini
              1 File(s)            174 bytes
              2 Dir(s)  332,659,789,824 bytes free

• Directory (OpenVMS command)
• List of DOS commands
• tree

• Wolverton, Van (1990). MS-DOS Commands: Microsoft Quick Reference, 4th Revised edition. Microsoft Press. ISBN 978-1556152894.
• Kathy Ivens; Brian Proffit (1993). OS/2 Inside & Out. Osborne McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0078818714.
• Frisch, Æleen (2001). Windows 2000 Commands Pocket Reference. O'Reilly. ISBN 978-0-596-00148-3.

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Guide to Windows Commands

• dir | Microsoft Docs
• Open source DIR implementation that comes with MS-DOS v2.0
• Dir command syntax and examples