1. Basic DOS How to get some work done

2. It’s all a file Everything is a file: OS files, Application files, Data files and Game files Files have 8.3 names: up to eight characters for name, a period, and up to three characters for file extension File names longer than this require quotes around the name We store files in Directories/Folders

3. Drives Drive “names” are single letters followed by a colon Properly, it is A: and B: for floppy disk drives Hard disk drives (and other drives) start at C: and go to Z: That means we can have 26 drives in a system

4. Changing Drives Type the drive letter followed by the colon and press A:\> C: takes you to the C: drive C:\> A: takes you back to A: drive We can “address” or execute a file on another drive C:\> A:FDISK will run the program FDISK that is located on the A: drive

5. Directories We store files in Directories or Folders To see the file(s) in a directory, we type A:\> DIR And we get a list of the files

7. Organizing Files Use directories and subdirectories; start with Root Directory (C:\) Root Directory C:\ DataAppsStuff FebJan MyFile01 Mar This is legal since fully qualified file name is: C:\Data\Jan\MyFile01 File name here is: C:\Data\Feb\MyFile01

8. Case DOS is not case-sensitive like most UNIX systems are – DIR, Dir and dir all mean the same The first thing the Command Interpreter does is to upper-case what you have typed

9. Internal and External COMMAND.COM is the Command Interpreter and consists of many “chapters” or includes many commands We call these “Internal Commands” You don’t have to go anywhere or reference anything to use these commands DIR, CD, RD, MD, COPY, MOVE are internal commands

10. Focus DOS is focused on the current directory and the “prompt” will tell you C:\DOS> means we are in the DOS directory of the C: drive If the command you typed is not an internal command, DOS looks in the current directory for the file/program DOS is also focused on the drive (C: above)

11. PATH The PATH is an environmental variable that holds a list of directories to search for a program C:\DOS;C:\WP5;A:\;D: is a valid path DOS will search the PATH for the program you requested if the PATH is set

12. Path Fully Qualified Name is also the Path (to the file): C:\Data\Jan\MyFile01 Path File Name

13. Errors If DOS can do what you asked with the information provided, it usually does not say much If DOS can’t do what you asked, it returns an error Bad Command or File Name

14. Program Files DOS can only “run” three types of files and these end in.COM,.EXE or.BAT.COM and.EXE files are compiled (binary) files;.BAT files are text files that you can create and run

15. Additional Information Some commands do not require additional information, but most do DIR will give you a directory of the current directory, DIR c:\DOS would give you a directory of the DOS directory If the command expects more data and you don’t provide it, DOS will use current directory and/or drive

16. Make Directory MD will create a new directory, under the current directory Name is eight characters no period and no extension (unless you are Microsoft) New directory will only have two entries: The “dot” file for current directory The “double dot” file for parent (up one level) directory

17. Notice no response from MD

18. Changing Directories Use the CD command Allows you to go down one level CD.. Will take you up one level You can get fancy, just watch carefully if you do!

20. Remove Directory Use RD to remove the named directory that is directly below your current directory Removed directory has to be empty before you can remove it

22. Delete a file Use DEL to remove a file in the current active directory

23. Wild Cards The asterisk, shift-8, will replace up to eight characters. Thus *.* is any file with any extension The question mark will replace ONE character. Thus file? Would be file1, file2, file3 and so on

24. Copy Use COPY (note two parameters required, each separated by one (or more) spaces COPY A:\*.COM C:\DOS\*.* would copy all files with.com extension from the A: drive to the C:\DOS directory (directory must exist already) space

26. FDISK Does not require any parameters – presumes you don’t have drive letters yet Is an External program; it is located in the root directory of A: To run it A:\ fdisk

27. FORMAT DOES require a parameter: the drive letter you want to format It will be located on the RAM drive created when DOS loads from the startup disk The poor guy in Alaska

28. The Boot Process Part of DOS loads, with support (or not) for CD drive Creates a RAM drive; a section of memory (RAM) that gets a drive letter and can store files Uncompresses several files and places them in the RAM drive RAM drive will get next drive letter after hard disk drive and before CD drive