# Solved: MSDOS Commands



## WaveRunner (Mar 9, 2010)

Not really an expert in MSDOS but feel comfortable using it. My question concerns the "cd" command. I am trying to access my sound driver from MSDOS 8.0 (?) into the CDROM drive. And the directory is SIGMA TE . when I type cd \sigma te I get an "invalid command" response. I am not familiar with changing directories when there is a space in the directory name. Any advice from anyone would be appreciated. Thanks...-WR


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## leroys1000 (Aug 16, 2007)

If you are using the command prompt,just use the directory name.
CD SIGMA TE
Leave out the \.
Don't know if it is going to handle the seperated name but should.


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

You need to put quotes around anything with spaces when dealing with dos.

cd "sigma te"


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## WaveRunner (Mar 9, 2010)

Thanks...I will try the quotes. I tried the other way and the same problem. Thanks for all of your (pl) time! -WR


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## WaveRunner (Mar 9, 2010)

Squashman said:


> You need to put quotes around anything with spaces when dealing with dos.
> 
> cd "sigma te"


Thanks for the input ...all of you. I got an answer from some guy in Norway?! MSDOS only recognizes names with 8 characters and no spaces. I forgot to mention initially that I was using DOS to access CDROM drive with OEM version of WXP from Sony?! So it appears in some case DOS can't access some directories and files. I am not sure why since the CD format is CDFS? Also...Squashman you are correct when using the Recovery Counsel in XP. Use the quotes around directories and files with spaces in their names. It works...but not with MSDOS. thanks....WR


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

Could probably try the short name.

cd SIGMAT~1


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## WaveRunner (Mar 9, 2010)

I think I did try that? Then learned that MSDOS v.8 has "long name support " but not sure what that means. any way went ahead and installed WXP any way then popped in the Sony Recovery disk to get access to CDROM Recovery Disk and then gained access into CD to check on drivers for "lil' Sis" who needed help. The driver was there and answered question on another thread of mine for Win 7 and High Def Audio. Thanks fo ryour help and when I get to the library I will check on MSDOS commands or will Google it and post instructions here. Thanks for input! -WR


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## leroys1000 (Aug 16, 2007)

If you CD to the directory just above that one,you can run
the DIR command to list everything in that directory so you
can see exactly how it is named in DOS.
If there is a lot of stuff in the directory,I think you can use a pipe
to page through it.
DIR |
I think you can use space or enter to page.


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

leroys1000 said:


> If there is a lot of stuff in the directory,I think you can use a pipe
> to page through it.
> DIR |
> I think you can use space or enter to page.


dir /p


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## leroys1000 (Aug 16, 2007)

Yes the /p will pause it,but if I remember correcly it scrolls
line by line.
The pipe scrolls page by page.
Could be wrong.
Been a while.


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## TheOutcaste (Aug 8, 2007)

*Dir /p* does screen at a time
You can also pipe to More:
*Dir |More*

*More* does screen at a time on Win9x versions, on NT based versions of Windows *More* does screen at a time using spacebar, line at a time using Enter; that may be the line by line you are thinking of.


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

leroys1000 said:


> Yes the /p will pause it,but if I remember correcly it scrolls
> line by line.
> The pipe scrolls page by page.
> Could be wrong.
> Been a while.


Not that hard to lookup.

```
C:\WINDOWS\system32>dir /?
Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory.

DIR [drive:][path][filename] [/A[[:]attributes]] [/B] [/C] [/D] [/L] [/N]
  [/O[[:]sortorder]] [/P] [/Q] [/S] [/T[[:]timefield]] [/W] [/X] [/4]

  [drive:][path][filename]
              Specifies drive, directory, and/or files to list.

  /A          Displays files with specified attributes.
  attributes   D  Directories                R  Read-only files
               H  Hidden files               A  Files ready for archiving
               S  System files               -  Prefix meaning not
  /B          Uses bare format (no heading information or summary).
  /C          Display the thousand separator in file sizes.  This is the
              default.  Use /-C to disable display of separator.
  /D          Same as wide but files are list sorted by column.
  /L          Uses lowercase.
  /N          New long list format where filenames are on the far right.
  /O          List by files in sorted order.
  sortorder    N  By name (alphabetic)       S  By size (smallest first)
               E  By extension (alphabetic)  D  By date/time (oldest first)
               G  Group directories first    -  Prefix to reverse order
  /P          Pauses after each screenful of information.
  /Q          Display the owner of the file.
  /S          Displays files in specified directory and all subdirectories.
  /T          Controls which time field displayed or used for sorting
  timefield   C  Creation
              A  Last Access
              W  Last Written
  /W          Uses wide list format.
  /X          This displays the short names generated for non-8dot3 file
              names.  The format is that of /N with the short name inserted
              before the long name. If no short name is present, blanks are
              displayed in its place.
  /4          Displays four-digit years

Switches may be preset in the DIRCMD environment variable.  Override
preset switches by prefixing any switch with - (hyphen)--for example, /-W.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>
```


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## leroys1000 (Aug 16, 2007)

Yeah,pipe to more was the one I was thinking of.


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## WaveRunner (Mar 9, 2010)

Thanks to all that helped on this thread. I am going to close this because any further questions on MSDOS would belong in another thread (ie: fdisk; multiboot etc). What I did was to install WXP on an old 6 gig HD and use it to access the CDROM with the Sony Recovery disk and driver files --need to help "lil Sis" with getting her audio working after installing Win 7 (SigmaTel and Windows 7 only likes Creative sound cards) and nothing at Sony to help upgrade?! I still like MSDOS for its simplicity in partitioning HD etc. Best wishes...WR


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## WaveRunner (Mar 9, 2010)

I beleive the file name has to be 8 or 11 characters in length. I was having trouble with the names because MSDOS does not recognize files with a space in it. But in WXP Recovery counsel it will recognize spaces in the name if quotes " " are put around the name. When trying to access the file in MS DOS remember that that MSDOS will cut off the name by the last two characters and add the ~1 (ie: mydocu~1) . Closing thread for good ...best wishes to all! -WR


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