Dir (command)

Dir (command)

In computing, dir (directory) is a command used for file and directory listing, specifically in the command line interface (CLI) of these operating systems: RT-11, CP/M, VMS, DOS, OS/2, Singularity, and Microsoft Windows. It is analogous to the Unix ls command.

Because it is the primary means of displaying the files and directories on disk or other storage medium within a command window, the dir command is one of the most basic commands employed by users of the command line interface to MS-DOS and subsequent versions of Microsoft Windows.

The dir command has existed as a DOS command since the initial release of MS-DOS. It is built into the DOS command shell, and is not provided as a separate standalone program.

In DOS and Microsoft Windows, dir checks for switches in the %dircmd% environment variable.

In Windows PowerShell, dir is a predefined command alias for the Get-ChildItem Cmdlet which basically serves the same purpose.