Advanced DOS

In addition to the basic tutorial the 1994 Tutor.COM product contained an advanced DOS tutorial as well as complete descriptions of all the DOS commands through DOS 6.x.

These will be added to the web version and links to the pages will originate here when the files are posted.

To give you a taste, here are tables of all DOS commands with a very brief description of each command...

Command	Type	Description
@	Batch	Suppress display of a single command
ANSI.SYS	CONFIG.SYS	Screen and keyboard controller
APPEND	Transient	Sets a search path for data files
ASSIGN	Transient	Reassigns disk drive letters
ATTRIB	Transient	Changes or reports file attributes
BACKUP	Transient	Backs up data from one drive to another
BASIC	Transient	Simple version of BASIC (with PC-DOS)
BASICA	Transient	Advanced BASIC (with PC-DOS)
BREAK	Resident & CONFIG.SYS	Affects checking for Control-Break
BUFFERS	CONFIG.SYS	Allocates memory for disk buffering
CALL	Batch	Invokes one batch file from another
CD	Resident	See CHDIR
CHCP	Resident	Change or display current code page
CHDIR	Resident	Changes or displays current directory
CHKDSK	Transient	Checks disk, reports, & fixes problems
CLS	Resident	Clears the screen
COMMAND	Transient	Command processor (start a child process)
COMP	Transient	Compares files
COPY	Resident	Copy/combine files
COUNTRY	CONFIG.SYS	Defines country-specific symbol set
CTTY	Resident	Redirects the input/output device

Command	Type	Description
DATE	Resident	Display or set the system date
DBLSPACE	Transient	Manage compressed volume
DBLSPACE.SYS	CONFIG.SYS	Moves the DBLSPACE.BIN file
DEBUG	Transient	Minimum system debugger
DEFRAG	Transient	Optimizes file storage on hard drive
DEL	Resident	Deletes files (also see ERASE)
DELTREE	Transient	Deletes an entire directory tree
DEVICE	CONFIG.SYS	Install device driver
DEVICEHIGH	CONFIG.SYS	Install device driver into UMB
DIR	Resident	Displays a listing of files on disk
DISKCOMP	Transient	Compare two floppy disks track by track
DISKCOPY	Transient	Copy two floppy disks track by track
DISPLAY.SYS	CONFIG.SYS	Controls installation of code pages
DOS	CONFIG.SYS	Defines where to load DOS; activates UMBs
DOSKEY	Transient	Recall and edit command line & macros
DOSSHELL	Transient	Flexible graphic (or text) command shell
DRIVER.SYS	CONFIG.SYS	External floppy disk driver
DRIVPARM	CONFIG.SYS	Define parameters for physical drive
ECHO	Batch	Control message display in batch files
EDIT	Transient	Full screen text editor
EDLIN	Transient	Line editor
EGA.SYS	CONFIG.SYS	Supports EGA with DOS 5.0 task switcher
EMM386	Transient	Turn expanded memory support on/off
EMM386.EXE	CONFIG.SYS	Expanded memory and UMB area controller
ERASE	Resident	See DEL
EXE2BIN	Transient	Convert some EXE files to binary (COM)
EXIT	Resident	End child process
EXPAND	Transient	Expand compressed DOS 5.0 install file
FASTHELP	Transient	Provides a commented list of DOS commands
FASTOPEN	Transient	Caches file locations for faster access
FC	Transient	Compares two files or groups of files
FCBS	CONFIG.SYS	Supports file control blocks
FDISK	Transient	Partition manager for hard disks
FILES	CONFIG.SYS	Defines number of files DOS can open
FIND	Transient	Find a string in a file or group of files
FOR	Batch	Repeat DOS commands for set members
FORMAT	Transient	Format hard and floppy disk drives

Command	Type	Description
GOTO	Batch	Transfer control within a batch file
GRAFTABL	Transient	Display upper ASCII set in graphic mode
GRAPHICS	Transient	Graphics screen printing utility
GWBASIC	Transient	Microsoft interpreted BASIC
HELP	Transient	Presents brief online help in DOS 5.0
HIMEM.SYS	CONFIG.SYS	DOS 5.0 extended and HMA memory manager
IF	Batch	Batch file conditional
INCLUDE	CONFIG.SYS	Saves retyping blocks in CONFIG.SYS
INSTALL	CONFIG.SYS	Loads special memory-resident commands
INTERLNK	Transient	Manages an INTERLNK connection
INTERLNK.EXE	CONFIG.SYS	Establishes an INTERLNK connection
INTERSVR	Transient	Starts the server for an INTERLNK connect
JOIN	Transient	Join directory to drive
KEYB	Transient	Modifies the keyboard response
LABEL	Transient	Define or display a disk label
LASTDRIVE	CONFIG.SYS	Defines last logical drive
LH	Resident	See LOADHIGH
LINK	Transient	Creates program files from OBJ modules
LOADFIX	Transient	Loads programs above 64K when needed
LOADHIGH	Resident	Load programs into the UMB above 640K

Command	Type	Description
MD	Resident	See MKDIR
MEM	Transient	Displays memory status
MEMMAKER	Transient	Analyzes and optimizes memory use
MENUCOLOR	CONFIG.SYS	Changes colors in a CONFIG.SYS menu
MENUDEFAULT	CONFIG.SYS	Sets the default in a CONFIG.SYS menu
MENUITEM	CONFIG.SYS	Places in item in a CONFIG.SYS menu
MIRROR	Transient	Store info for UNDELETE
MKDIR	Resident	Make a subdirectory
MODE	Transient	Change device operation
MORE	Transient	Controls scrolling of screen output
MOVE	Transient	Moves files and renames directories
MSAV	Transient	Anti-virus scanning program
MSBACKUP	Transient	Backup to floppy disks
MSCDEX	Transient	Links CD-ROM drivers to DOS
MSD	Transient	Diagnostic aid
NLSFUNC	Transient	Set country-specific code page
NUMLOCK	CONFIG.SYS	Defines the status of NumLock at boot
PATH	Resident	Set or display an executable search path
PAUSE	Batch	Pause a batch file
POWER	Transient	Manage power conservation functions
POWER.EXE	CONFIG.SYS	Load power management functions
PRINT	Transient	Print files in the background
PRINTER.SYS	CONFIG.SYS	Code page support for printers
PROMPT	Resident	Change the DOS prompt

Command	Type	Description
QBASIC	Transient	QBASIC interpreter
RAMDRIVE.SYS	CONFIG.SYS	Creates a phantom disk in RAM
RD	Resident	See RMDIR
RECOVER	Transient	Reclaim information from bad files
REM	Batch	Remark in batch or CONFIG.SYS file
REN	Resident	See RENAME
RENAME	Resident	Change one or more filenames
REPLACE	Transient	Replace files or update a directory
RESTORE	Transient	Restore files from a BACKUP
RMDIR	Resident	Remove a subdirectory
SCANDISK	Transient	Disk repair and analysis
SELECT	Transient	Set up a boot disk with country info
SET	Resident	View and change environment variables
SETVER	Transient	Manages the version table for programs
SETVER.EXE	CONFIG.SYS	Reports "wrong" version number to programs
SHARE	Transient	File locking and sharing
SHELL	CONFIG.SYS	Specifies command processor to use
SHIFT	Batch	Move batch parameters one to the left
SIZER	Transient	Not for general use - Won't run at prompt
SMARTDRV	Transient	Creates and manages a disk cache (DOS 6)
SMARTDRV.EXE	CONFIG.SYS	Loads double buffering capability
SMARTDRV.SYS	CONFIG.SYS	Creates and manages a disk cache (DOS 5)
SORT	Transient	Sort a file or the output of a command
STACKS	CONFIG.SYS	Set aside memory for stack space
SUBMENU	CONFIG.SYS	Establish lower level startup menus
SUBST	Transient	Substitute disk letter for a path
SWITCHES	CONFIG.SYS	Makes standard keyboard out of enhanced
SYS	Transient	Make a disk bootable

Command	Type	Description
TIME	Resident	Set or display system time
TREE	Transient	Show file and directory structure
TRUENAME	Resident	Displays true name of SUBST & JOIN disks
TYPE	Resident	Show file contents to the screen
UNDELETE	Transient	Recovers deleted files
UNFORMAT	Transient	Recovers FORMATted or RECOVERed diskette
VDISK.SYS	CONFIG.SYS	Creates a phantom disk in extended memory
VER	Resident	Display DOS version
VERIFY	Resident	Confirm writes to disks
VOL	Resident	Show disk label information
VSAFE	Transient	Memory resident virus activity monitor
XCOPY	Transient	Extended copy of files and directories
XMAEM.SYS	CONFIG.SYS	Extended to expanded memory
XMA2EMS.SYS	CONFIG.SYS	Expanded memory for 80386 computers