DOS –Disc Operating System

INTRODUCTION:
Dos is a disk operating system with a set of programs that act as a translator between the user
and the computer in order to perform the task of the user. Ms-Dos is a popular operating system on Micro-Computers.
Related systems include MS-DOS, PC DOS, DR-DOS, Free DOS, PTS-DOS, ROM-DOS, JM-OS, and several others.This is the first program that is installed when an OS get installed. There are many version ranging from v2.0 to v7.0 .

Dos commands are of two types:

Internal Commands:
Cls : This command is used to clear the screen.

Ver : This helps us to know the later version of dos.

Vol : This command shows the label of the current drive & and its serial number.

Date : This command display the current date. Also called as the system date.

Time. : This command display the current time and also the message to enter the new time

Dir : This command display the list of files and directory in the mentioned directory or drive.

Dir/P : This command show all the files pagewise. Once the screen is full of filename a message saying “press any key to continue” is displayed, he user can take his/ her own time o view the files & its details.

Dir/w : This command is used to display the content of disk i.e files width wise i.e:- five filenames perline.

Wild Characters : There are 2 wild characters.
?: denoted any one single characters.
* : denotes any no of characters.

Type : This command is used to see the content of a specific file on the screen.

Rename or Ren : This command is used to change the filename.

Del (Deleting) : This command is used to erase the file from the disk.

Copy : This commands is used to duplicate the content of one file in to another file.

Directories : A directories is a separate area on the disk to store some files.
Md Rd

Edit : is a Dos Editor. It is an internal command.

External Commands :
External commands are ones which requires certain special Dos files for their execution.

Tree : This command display path and optionally list the content of each directory and sub directory on the specified drive.

Sort : The sort filter reads input ,sorts the data and then writes the sorted data screen or to a file or another device.

Find : Locates all the lines which contain a specific string of text in a file or files.

Print : This command used to print to content of the files.

Chkdsk: This command is used to display the report regarding the status of the disk.

Diskcopy: This command is used to copy the content of one disk to another.

Attrib : Each and every file has some attributes stored for it.

Backup: The hardisk can sometimes suffer a head crash. In such occasion all data on the disk is lost and irrecoverable.

Format : To make a floppy or hardisk capable of storage.

Del tree: It is used to delete all files or directories from the drive or directory from drive or directory.

DOS Shell

DOS shell, which first appeared with DOS 4 is a program that attempts to provide an easier interface to DOS. DOS shell provides a graphical front end to DOS commands allowing most of them to be executed using the mouse, with minimal keyboard input. Note that DOS shell was not provided with MS-DOS version 6.

To run the DOS shell program type DOSSHELL

Opening Screen Display

Once DOSSHELL is launched the first screen displays a menu bar to the top, directly beneath it a list of drives which can be accessed, and then three small windows. The windows are the Directory Tree window (in which you select a directory on the currently highlighted drive), the Files window (displaying the contents of the selected directory), and a Main window giving access to the DOS command prompt, editor, DOS Q-Basic and some disk utilities.

Help from within DOS Shell

You can get help on using the DOS shell environment in the following ways –

By using the Mouse - clicking on the Help option in the menu bar

By using the keyboard - by pressing Alt+H

In both cases a pull down menu appears and you select from the menu by moving the selection bar to one of the options with either the mouse or the ↑and ↓arrow keys and then clicking on your chosen option or pressing to activate it. Once you have done this a dialogue box will appears corresponding to the selection made.Another way of obtaining help is by simply highlighting the item you need help on using the mouse, and then pressing the F1 key. This has the effect of displaying a dialogue box whose content relates directly the item which was highlighted.

Basic Keys for using the Menus

Alt Activates the Menu Bar
← → Selects a menu
Activates selected menu
↓↑Selects a menu option
Activates the option
Esc Leaves the menu bar

Basic Keys for using the windows

Tab Moves between Drives, Directories, Files and Main windows
Arrow Keys Selects option within window
Activates option

Quitting DOS Shell

There are several ways of quitting from the DOS shell environment

Press Alt+F4
Press F3
From the menu select File and choose Exit