Helpful command equivalents between UNIX/Linux and Windows/DOS.
| UNIX or Bash Command | DOS Command | Action |
|---|---|---|
| ls -l (or use ls -lF)(-a all files) | DIR | List directory contents |
| df -k (Space remaining on filesystem) | ||
| ls -tr | DIR *.* /o-d | List directory contents by reverse time of modification/creation. |
| ls -ls | DIR *.* /v /os | List files and size |
| ls -R | DIR /s | List directory/sub-directory contents recursively. |
| ls -a | DIR /aa | List hidden files. |
| ls -R | TREE | List directory recursively |
| cd | CD | Change directory |
| mkdir | MKDIR | Make a new directory |
| MD | ||
| ln | ASSIGN | Create a file or directory link |
| rmdir | RMDIR | Remove a directory |
| RD | ||
| pwd | CHDIR | Display directory location |
| rm -iv | DEL | Remove a file |
| ERASE | ||
| rm -R | RMDIR /S (NT) | Remove all directories and files below given directory |
| DELTREE (Win 95…) | ||
| cp -piv | COPY | Copy a file |
| cp -R | XCOPY | Copy all file of directory recursively |
| mv -iv | RENAME or MOVE | Rename/move a file |
| cat | TYPE | Dump contents of a file to users screen |
| more | MORE | Pipe output a single page at a time |
| man | HELP or COMMAND /? | Online manuals |
| clear | CLS | Clear screen |
| ctrl-l | ||
| exit | EXIT | Exit a shell |
| exit 0 | EXIT0 | |
| grep | FIND | Look for a word in files given in command line |
| FINDSTR | ||
| diff | COMP | Compare two files and show differences. Also see comm, cmp, mgdiff and tkdiff. |
| diff | FC | Compare two files and show differences. Also see comm, cmp, mgdiff and tkdiff. |
| set and env | SET | List all environment variables |
| set | SET variable=value | Set environment variables |
| echo %variable% | Show environment variables | |
| export variable=value | ||
| echo $variable | ||
| echo text | ECHO text | Echo text to screen |
| setenv (for C shell) or export VAR=val (for Korn shell. Also VAR=val) | SET variable | Set environment variables |
| echo $PATH | PATH | Display search path for executable. |
| PATH=$PATH:/dir | PATH %PATH%;C:\DIR | Set PATH environment variable. |
| export PS1=’\h(\u)\W> ‘ | PROMPT $p$g | Set user command prompt. |
| date | DATE or TIME | Show date. (also set date – DOS only) |
| history | DOSKEY /h | List command history |
| alias NAME=command | DOSKEY NAME=command | Set command alias |
| trap | BREAK ON | Trap ctrl-break / Trap signals. |
| sort | SORT | Sort data alphabetically/numerically |
| ed | EDLIN | Line mode editor |
| pico, gnp, vi, xedit, xemacs,dtpad | EDIT filename.txt | Edit a file. The Linux editor which looks most like DOS edit is probably Pico. (Not a recommended!) |
| tar -cvf /dev/fd0 files | BACKUP files A:\ | Save files to floppy. |
| mdir, mcopy | See Using DOS floppies | |
| doswrite -a file (AIX only) | ||
| tar -xvf /dev/fd0 files | RESTORE A:\ files | Read files from floppy. |
| mdir, mcopy | See Using DOS floppies | |
| dosread -a file (AIX only) | ||
| chmod | ATTRIB [+r|-r] [+a|-a] [+s|-s] [path\file] /s | Change file permissions. DOS: +:set to -:remove r:Read only a:Archive s:System /s:recursively |
| mv file .file | ATTRIB +h or -h | Change file to a hidden file – rename file with prefix “.” |
| lpr | Print a file | |
| source script (cshrc) | CALL | Execute script from within batch shell. |
| . script (bash) | COMMAND /C (DOS), CMD (NT) | |
| sh script | ||
| free | MEM | Show free memory on system |
| top | ||
| ps -aux | TASKLIST (WIN2K, XP) | List executable name, process ID number and memory usage of active processes |
| top | ||
| lsdev | MSD | Show system info (Command borrowed from AIX) |
| fsck | SCANDISK | Check and repair hard drive file system |
| debugfs | DEFRAG C: | |
| du -s | CHDISK | Disk usage. |
| fdisk | FDISK | Tool to partition a hard drive. |
| mount | SUBST V: C:\directory\path | Mount a drive letter to a folder/directory on your hard drive. |
| mke2fs | FORMAT | Format drive file system. |
| See: fdformat and mformat for floppies | For floppy drive use see YoLinux Tutorial Using DOS Floppies with Linux | |
| uname -a | VER | Operating system/shell version |
| echo $SHELL | ||
| cat /etc/issue | ||
| tar and zip | pkzip | Compress and uncompress files/directories. Use tar to create compilation of a directory before compressing. Linux also has compress, gzip |
| hostname | HOSTNAME | Print host name of computer |
| ping | PING | Send packets to a network host |
| traceroute | TRACERT | Show routes and router hops to given network destination. |
| ifconfig | IPCONFIG (NT) | Display/configure network interface |
| WINIPCFG (Win 95…) | ||
| nslookup host-name | NBTSTAT (Netbios info: -n, -c) | Print DNS info for host. |
| host host-name | NBTSTAT -A IP-address | |
| nmblookup -A hostname | NBTSTAT -a hostname | lookup NetBIOS names. |
| route -n | ROUTE PRINT | Print routing table. |
| chkconfig –list |grep on | NET HELP START | List services. |
| service service-name start | NET STARTservice-name | Start/stop service/daemon. |
| service service-name stop | NET STOPservice-name | |
| df | NET SHARES | Show mounted shares/filesystems. |
| smbclient -M MS-Windows-host-name | NET SEND <node-name> <message> (NT) | Send pop-up to a MS/Windows PC |
| talk | Send message to another Unix/Linux user. | |
| startx | WIN | Start X-Windows. |
| shutdown -r now | shutdown -r -t 0 | Reboot system. |