UNIX or Bash command for DOS Users

Command Comparison:

DOS Command	UNIX or Bash Command	Action
DIR	-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		List directory recursivly
CD		Change directory
MKDIR MD		Make a new directory
ASSIGN		Create a file or directory link
RMDIR RD		Remove a directory
CHDIR		Display directory location
DEL ERASE	-iv	Remove a file
RMDIR /S (NT) DELTREE (Win 95...)	rm -R	Remove all directories and files below given directory
COPY	-piv	Copy a file
XCOPY	-R	Copy all file of directory recursivly
RENAME or MOVE	-iv	Rename/move a file
TYPE		Dump contents of a file to users screen
MORE		Pipe output a single page at a time
HELP or COMMAND /?		Online manuals
CLS	ctrl-l	Clear screen
EXIT EXIT0	exit 0	Exit a shell
FIND FINDSTR		Look for a word in files given in command line
COMP		Compare two files and show differences. Also see comm, cmp, mgdiff and tkdiff.
FC		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		Show date. (also set date - DOS only)
DOSKEY /h		List command history
DOSKEY NAME=command	NAME=command	Set command alias
BREAK ON	trap	Trap ctrl-break / Trap signals.
SORT		Sort data alphabetically/numerically
EDLIN		Line mode editor
EDIT filename.txt	, , , , ,dtpad	Edit a file. The Linux editor which looks most like DOS edit is probably Pico. (Not a recomendation!)
BACKUP files A:\	-cvf /dev/fd0 files , doswrite -a file (AIX only)	Save files to floppy. See
RESTORE A:\ files	tar -xvf /dev/fd0 files , dosread -a file (AIX only)	Read files from floppy. See
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
ATTRIB +h or -h	mv file .file	Change file to a hidden file - rename file with prefix "."
PRINT		Print a file
CALL COMMAND /C (DOS), CMD (NT)	script () . script () sh script	Execute script from within batch shell.
MEM		Show free memory on system
TASKLIST (WIN2K, XP)		List executable name, process ID number and memory usage of active processes
MSD	lsdev	Show system info (Command borrowed from AIX)
SCANDISK DEFRAG C:		Check and repair hard drive file system
CHDISK	-s	Disk usage.
FDISK		Tool to partition a hard drive.
SUBST V: C:\directory\path		Mount a drive letter to a folder/directory on your hard drive.
FORMAT	See: and for floppies	Format drive file system. For floppy drive use see
VER	-a echo $SHELL cat /etc/issue	Operating system/shell version
pkzip	and	Compress and uncompress files/directories. Use tar to create compilation of a directory before compressing. Linux also has ,
HOSTNAME		Print host name of computer
PING		Send packets to a network host
TRACERT		Show routes and router hops to given network destination.
IPCONFIG (NT) WINIPCFG (Win 95...)		Display/configure network interface
NBTSTAT (Netbios info: -n, -c) NBTSTAT -A IP-address	host-name host-name	Print DNS info for host.
NBTSTAT -a hostname	-A hostname	lookup NetBIOS names.
ROUTE PRINT	-n	Print routing table.
NET HELP START	--list |grep on	List services.
NET STARTservice-name NET STOPservice-name	service-name start service-name stop	Start/stop service/daemon.
NET SHARES		Show mounted shares/filesystems.
NET SEND (NT)	smbclient -M MS-Windows-host-name	Send pop-up to a MS/Windows PC Send message to another Unix/Linux user. See
WIN		Start X-Windows.
REBOOT	-r now	Reboot system.

To find out how to do something on UNIX simply type "man -k subject_matter". This will do a key word search for all commands dealing with the subject matter. Then use the appropriate command. Online manuals are available on all the commands by typing "man command_name".

MS/Windows info:

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Shell Descriptor/Operators:

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

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Shell Script Operators:

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

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Bash shell aliases for DOS users:

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:"

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Devices:

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

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Equivalent Linux and MS/Windows GUI Applications:

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