Windows 7 / Getting Started

Sorting Listings

By default, dir sorts files by name.You can list files in some other order by using the /o option, followed by one or more letters indicating which parts of the file information to use for sorting. Reference List previous, earlier in this tutorial, shows the whole list of sort options. Some of the most useful combinations are listed here:

Option 	Sorts
/o-s 	By size. Largest first
/odn 	By date. Oldest first, then by name
/o-dn 	By date. Newest first, then by name
/oen 	By type (extension), then by name

Listing Hidden Files

Normally, hidden files are omitted from dir listings. (What would be the point otherwise?) However, you can ask dir to list hidden files by adding /ah to the command line.The /a flag instructs dir to list files with specified attributes, and the h indicates that you want to see hidden files.

You can use the /a option to select files based on the other attributes listed in Reference List previous. For example, /as lists only system files, /a-s lists only files that are not marked as system files, and so on.

[Previous] [Contents] [Next]

In this tutorial:

  1. The CMD Command-Line
  2. CMD Versus COMMAND
  3. Running CMD
  4. Opening a Command Prompt Window with Administrator Privileges
  5. CMD Options
  6. Disabling Command Extensions
  7. Command-Line Processing
  8. Console Program Input and Output
  9. Using the Console Window
  10. I/O Redirection and Pipes
  11. Copy and Paste in Command Prompt Windows
  12. Command Editing and the History List
  13. Name Completion
  14. Enabling Directory Name Completion
  15. Multiple Commands on One Line
  16. Grouping Commands with Parentheses
  17. Arguments, Commas, and Quotes
  18. Escaping Special Characters
  19. Configuring the CMD Program
  20. The Search Path
  21. Changing the Path
  22. Predefined and Virtual Environment Variables
  23. Setting Default Environment Variables
  24. Built-in Commands
  25. Extended Commands
  26. Listing Files with the Dir Command
  27. Paginating Long Listings
  28. Printing Directory Listings
  29. Sorting Listings
  30. Locating Alternate File Streams
  31. Setting Variables with the Set Command
  32. Conditional Processing with the if Command
  33. Scanning for Files with the for Command
  34. Using the for Command's Variable
  35. Processing Directories
  36. Numerical for Loop
  37. Getting More Information