Dir (command)
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dir, short for directory, is a shell command for listing file system contents; files and directories.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Arguably, the command provides the same essential functionality as the ls command, but typically the two commands are described as notably separate concepts, possibly since <syntaxhighlight lang="text" class="" style="" inline="1">ls</syntaxhighlight> is implemented from a codebase that shares more history than many <syntaxhighlight lang="text" class="" style="" inline="1">dir</syntaxhighlight> implementations.
The command is often implemented as internal in the operating system shell instead of as a separate application as many other commands are.
Implementations
Although syntax, semantics and implementations vary, a <syntaxhighlight lang="text" class="" style="" inline="1">dir</syntaxhighlight> command is available in the command-line interface (CLI) of the operating systems Digital Research CP/M,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> MP/M,<ref name="MP/M_1981_UG">Template:Cite book</ref> Intel ISIS-II,<ref>ISIS II Users Guide</ref> iRMX 86,<ref>iRMX 86 INTRODUCTION AND OPERATOR'S REFERENCE MANUAL For Release 6</ref> Cromemco CDOS,<ref>CDOS USER'S MANUAL</ref> MetaComCo TRIPOS,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> DOS, IBM/Toshiba 4690 OS,<ref>[1]Template:Dead link</ref> IBM OS/2,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Microsoft Windows,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Singularity, Datalight ROM-DOS,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> ReactOS,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> GNU,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> AROS<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and in the DCL command-line interface used on DEC VMS, RT-11 and RSX-11. It is also supplied with OS/8 as a CUSP (Commonly-Used System Program).
The dir command is supported by Tim Paterson's SCP 86-DOS.<ref>Template:Cite book (59 pages)</ref> On MS-DOS, the command is available in versions 1 and later.<ref name="RUNNINGMSDOS">Template:Cite book</ref> It is also available in the open source MS-DOS emulator DOSBox. MS-DOS prompts "Abort, Retry, Fail?" after being commanded to list a directory with no diskette in the drive.
The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client program ftp is using dir command for listing remote directory.
The numerical computing environments MATLAB and GNU Octave include a dir
function with similar functionality.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Examples
DOS, Windows, ReactOS
List all files and directories in the current working directory. Template:Sxhl
List any text files and batch files (filename extension ".txt" or ".bat"). Template:Sxhl
Recursively list all files and directories in the specified directory and any subdirectories, in wide format, pausing after each screen of output. The directory name is enclosed in double-quotes, to prevent it from being interpreted is as two separate command-line options because it contains a whitespace character. Template:Sxhl
List any NTFS junction points: Template:Pre
Unix
Traditionally, Unix and Unix-like systems use the <syntaxhighlight lang="text" class="" style="" inline="1">ls</syntaxhighlight> command for the needs that dir satisfies. But, the GNU operating system, has a dir command that "is equivalent to ls -C -b; that is, by default files are listed in columns, sorted vertically, and special characters are represented by backslash escape sequences".<ref>dir invocation (GNU coreutils) at www.gnu.org</ref> Actually, for compatibility reasons, <syntaxhighlight lang="text" class="" style="" inline="1">ls</syntaxhighlight> produces device-dependent output. The dir command, on the other hand, produces device-independent output.