dir (command) - Wikipedia

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The SpartaDOS X DIR command
Developer(s)	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

In computing, dir (directory) is a command in various computer operating systems used for computer file and directory listing.^[1] It is one of the basic commands to help navigate the file system. The command is usually implemented as an internal command in the command-line interpreter (shell). On some systems, a more graphical representation of the directory structure can be displayed using the tree command.

The command is available in the command-line interface (CLI) of the operating systems Digital Research CP/M,^[2] MP/M,^[3] Intel ISIS-II,^[4] iRMX 86,^[5] Cromemco CDOS,^[6] MetaComCo TRIPOS,^[7] DOS, IBM/Toshiba 4690 OS,^[8] IBM OS/2,^[9] Microsoft Windows,^[10] Singularity, Datalight ROM-DOS,^[11] ReactOS,^[12] GNU,^[13] AROS^[14] and in the DCL command-line interface used on DEC VMS, RT-11 and RSX-11. It is also supplied with OS/8 as a CUSP (Commonly-Used System Program).

The dir command is supported by Tim Paterson's SCP 86-DOS.^[15] On MS-DOS, the command is available in versions 1 and later.^[16] It is also available in the open source MS-DOS emulator DOSBox. MS-DOS prompts "Abort, Retry, Fail?" after being commanded to list a directory with no diskette in the drive.

The numerical computing environments MATLAB and GNU Octave include a dir function with similar functionality.^[17][18]

List all files and directories in the current working directory.

List any text files and batch files (filename extension ".txt" or ".bat").

Recursively list all files and directories in the specified directory and any subdirectories, 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 whitespace character.

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

dir is not a Unix command; Unix has the analogous ls command instead. The GNU operating system, however, has 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] Actually, for compatibility reasons, ls produces device-dependent output. The dir instruction, unlike ls -Cb, produces device-independent output.

• Directory (OpenVMS command)
• List of DOS commands
• ls (corresponding command for *nix systems)

• 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.

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