Common command equivalents

The command sets of the DOS and UNIX systems has similarities and differences. The following table lists some of the more common DOS commands with their UNIX equivalents. For details on the UNIX commands, see section C of the manual pages or use the man command. For example, the man pwd command will display the manual page for the pwd(C) command.

DOS command	UNIX command	Function
cd (no arguments)	pwd	print current directory
cd dir, chdir dir	cd dir	change directory to dir
cls	clear	clear screen
comp	diff	compare files
copy	cp	copy file
del, erase	rm	remove file
dir	ls	list directory contents
find	grep	search file for pattern
mkdir, md	mkdir	make new directory
more	more	display file screen-by-screen
print	lp	print file on printer device
ren, rename	mv	rename (move) file
rmdir, rd	rmdir	remove directory
sort	sort	sort file
type	cat	display file contents
undelete	--	restore deleted file
		wild card (match zero or more characters)
?	?	wild card (match any one character)
.	.	current directory
..	..	directory above current directory
cmd > file	cmd > file	redirect output of cmd to file
cmd >> file	cmd >> file	append input of cmd to file
cmd < file	cmd < file	use file as input to cmd to
cmd1 | cmd2	cmd1 | cmd2	send output of cmd1 to cmd2