The
Dir command provides a host of ways to locate files on your hard drive. Because
Dir can check the entire drive, the results are often more accurate than
provided with the Windows search mechanisms. In addition, you can sort files as
needed (see the “Find Files in Sorted Order” section for details) and locate
files based on their attributes (see the “Find Files by Attribute” section for
details). The Dir command also supports a number of display options, such as
the /X command line switch that shows you the 8.3 (8 dot 3) display name for
files used in the registry. Type Dir /? and press Enter to see a complete list
of options.
Use
these steps to perform a basic search for files.
1.
Type
Dir Filename, where Filename is the name of the file you
want to locate.
(You
can optionally add an absolute or relative path to the file specification.)
3.
(Optional)
Type /B if you want the file listing displayed without the usual header
information.
4.
(Optional)
Type /P if you expect to see more than one screen of file listings and
want the Dir command to pause after each screen.
5.
(Optional)
Type /Q if you want to see the owner of the file.
6.
(Optional)
Type /R if you want to see the alternate streams in a file that contains
multiple streams. (Multiple stream files contain data in a sectionalized manner
and are somewhat rare, even in newer systems.)
7.
(Optional)
Type /W if you want to see just a list of filenames in the shortest
space possible (in tabular format, three to six filenames across).
8.
(Optional)
Type /X if you want to see the 8.3 filenames alongside the longer
filenames. For example, the Program Files directory becomes PROGRA~1 in 8.3 format
and My Interesting File.TXT becomes MYINTE~1.TXT. Files such as Desktop.INI are
already in 8.3 format, so they don’t have an 8.3 equivalent.
9.
Press
Enter.
The
Dir command shows zero or more files using the criteria you selected. Of
course, you only see a file displayed if the file exists.
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