Linux/UNIX For DOS Users

UNIX For DOS Users

The following table shows a comparison between DOS (COMMAND.COM and MS/Windows NT CMD.EXE shell commands) and the equivalent Linux/Unix or Bash shell commands.

DOS Command UNIX or Bash Command Action DIR ls -l (or use ls -lF)(-a all files)
(df -k Space remaining on filesystem) List directory contents DIR *.* /o-d
DIR *.* /v /os
DIR /s
DIR /aa ls -tr
ls -ls
ls -R
ls -a List directory contents by reverse time of modification/creation.
List files and size
List directory/sub-directory contents recursively.
List hidden files. TREE ls -R List directory recursivly CD cd Change directory MKDIR
MD mkdir Make a new directory ASSIGN ln Create a file or directory link RMDIR
RD rmdir Remove a directory CHDIR pwd Display directory location DEL
ERASE rm -iv Remove a file RMDIR /S (NT)
DELTREE (Win 95...) rm -R Remove all directories and files below given directory COPY cp -piv Copy a file XCOPY cp -R Copy all file of directory recursivly RENAME or MOVE mv -iv Rename/move a file TYPE cat Dump contents of a file to users screen MORE more Pipe output a single page at a time HELP or COMMAND /? man Online manuals CLS clear
ctrl-l Clear screen EXIT
EXIT0 exit
exit 0 Exit a shell FIND
FINDSTR grep Look for a word in files given in command line COMP diff Compare two files and show differences. Also see comm, cmp, mgdiff and tkdiff. FC diff Compare two files and show differences. Also see comm, cmp, mgdiff and tkdiff. SET set and env List all environment variables SET variable=value
echo %variable% set

export variable=value
echo $variable

Set environment variables
Show environment variables ECHO text echo text Echo text to screen SET variable setenv (for C shell) or export VAR=val (for Korn shell. Also VAR=val) Set environment variables PATH
PATH %PATH%;C:\DIR echo $PATH
PATH=$PATH:/dir Display search path for executables.
Set PATH environment variable. PROMPT $p$g export PS1='\h(\u)\W> ' Set user command prompt. DATE or TIME date Show date. (also set date - DOS only) DOSKEY /h history List command history DOSKEY NAME=command alias NAME=command Set command alias BREAK ON trap Trap ctrl-break / Trap signals. SORT sort Sort data alphabetically/numerically EDLIN ed Line mode editor EDIT filename.txt pico, gnp, vi, xedit, xemacs,dtpad Edit a file. The Linux editor which looks most like DOS edit is probably Pico. (Not a recomendation!) BACKUP files A:\ tar -cvf /dev/fd0 files
mdir, mcopy
doswrite -a file (AIX only) Save files to floppy.
See Using DOS floppies RESTORE A:\ files tar -xvf /dev/fd0 files
mdir, mcopy
dosread -a file (AIX only) Read files from floppy.
See Using DOS floppies ATTRIB [+r|-r] [+a|-a] [+s|-s] [path\file] /s chmod Change file permissions. DOS: +:set to -:remove r:Read only a:Archive s:System /s:recursively ATTRIB +h or -h mv file .file Change file to a hidden file - rename file with prefix "." PRINT lpr Print a file CALL
COMMAND /C (DOS), CMD (NT) source script (cshrc)
. script (bash)
sh script Execute script from within batch shell. MEM free
top Show free memory on system TASKLIST (WIN2K, XP) ps -aux
top List executable name, process ID number and memory usage of active processes MSD lsdev Show system info (Command borrowed from AIX) SCANDISK
DEFRAG C: fsck
debugfs Check and repair hard drive file system CHDISK du -s Disk usage. FDISK fdisk Tool to partition a hard drive. SUBST V: C:\directory\path mount Mount a drive letter to a folder/directory on your hard drive. FORMAT mke2fs
See: fdformat and mformat for floppies Format drive file system.
For floppy drive use see YoLinux Tutorial Using DOS Floppies with Linux VER uname -a
echo $SHELL
cat /etc/issue Operating system/shell version pkzip tar and zip 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 TRACERT traceroute Show routes and router hops to given network destination. IPCONFIG (NT)
WINIPCFG (Win 95...)
ifconfig Display/configure network interface NBTSTAT (Netbios info: -n, -c)
NBTSTAT -A IP-address nslookup host-name
host host-name Print DNS info for host. NBTSTAT -a hostname nmblookup -A hostname lookup NetBIOS names. ROUTE PRINT route -n Print routing table. NET HELP START chkconfig --list |grep on List services. NET STARTservice-name
NET STOPservice-name service service-name start
service service-name stop Start/stop service/daemon. NET SHARES df Show mounted shares/filesystems. NET SEND (NT) smbclient -M MS-Windows-host-name
talk Send pop-up to a MS/Windows PC
Send message to another Unix/Linux user. See YoLinux tutorial WIN startx Start X-Windows. REBOOT shutdown -r now Reboot system.

MS/Windows info:

• http://www.mcmcse.com/
• http://www.techtutorials.net/

DOS Descriptor/Operator UNIX or Bash Descriptor/Operator Description \ / Directory path delimiter .\ ./ Current directory ..\ ../ Parent directory ctrl-z ctrl-d End of file/close shell ctrl-c ctrl-c Interrupt/process break * * file name wild card Single character wild card %VAR% $VAR Variable prefix %1 %2 %3 $1 $2 $3 First, second and third shell command line arguments. / - Command line option flag prefix | | Pipe > > stdout redirection >> >> stdout redirection overwrite < < stdin redirection

DOS Operator UNIX or Bash Operator Description @
ECHO OFF set +v Set verbose mode off. -v: Echo each line of shell script as it is executed. % $ command line argument prefix. DOS: %1 Bash: $1 for firs argument. REM # Comment. (Not processed.) == = string "equal to" comparison !==! != string "not equal to" comparison NOT ! negative of test expression CHOICE case case/switch statement IF

IF EXIST C:\filename

IF NOT EXIST C:\filename

if [[ test-resulting-in-bool ]];
then
...
elif ...;
then
...
else
...
fi

if [ -e /dir/filename ];
then

if [ ! -e /dir/filename ];
then

if-test

If file exists

If file does not exist.

GOTO ABC
...
:ABC goto ABC
...
:ABC Branch FOR ... IN ... DO

FOR %%fff IN (C:\dir\*.*)
DO echo %%fff

for ffiillee in lliisstt;
do ...;
done

for (( expr1; expr2; expr3; ))
do ...;
done

For loop ERRORLEVEL $? exit status/return code PAUSE sleep sleep for specified interval

The following are bash shell aliases which can be added to the system profile or the user's personal profile ($HOME/.bashrc) to correct and help DOS users on Linux.

alias dir="echo 'Use the command: ls -lF'"
alias tree="echo 'Use the command: ls -R'"
alias del="echo 'Use the command: rm -iv'"
alias move="echo 'Use the command: mv -iv'"
alias rename="echo 'Use the command: mv -iv'"
alias copy="echo 'Use the command: cp -piv'"
alias type="echo 'Use the command: cat'"
alias cls="echo 'Use the command: clear'"
alias mem="echo 'Use the command: free'"
alias ver="echo 'Use the command: uname -a'"
alias A:="echo 'Use the command: mdir a:'"
alias a:="A:"
alias C:="echo 'No C drive in Linux. Go to your home directory with the command: cd'"
alias c:="C:"

DOS Device Linux Device Description NUL /dev/null Send into nothingness CON stdin stdin from console PRN
LPT1 /dev/lp0 First printer device COM1 /dev/ttyS0 Firsst serial port

MS/Windows Command Linux Command Description C:\WINDOWS\cmd gnome-terminal
konsole Command Text Terminal C:\WINDOWS\explorer nautilus --no-desktop File browser c:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore firefox
mozilla Web browser C:\WINDOWS\notepad
C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories\wordpad gedit Text editor C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\winword
excel
powerpnt oowriter
oocalc
ooimpress MS/Office and Open Office suites (ooffice) C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\acrord32 acroread Adobe PDF viewer mspaint tuxpaint
xfig
gimp Graphics and painting program C:\Program Files\WinZip\winzip32 file-roller File compress / decompress / pack / unpack taskmgr ksysguard
qps
gnome-system-monitor
xosview Process and system load monitor