In Command Prompt (CMD), working with files is an essential part of managing your system. You can perform tasks such as viewing, copying, moving, renaming, and deleting files. Below are the most commonly used commands for file management in CMD, along with their practical uses.

Viewing Files with type

The type command is used to display the contents of a file in the command prompt window. This is useful for quickly checking the contents of text files without opening a dedicated text editor.

To display the contents of a file:

type filename.txt

If the file is large, the text will scroll rapidly. To view the file page by page, use the more command in combination with type:

type filename.txt | more

Compare with comp

comp will check each byte within two files looking for differences and then displays where they start. By default, the differences are shown in a decimal format.

C:\Users\student\Desktop> comp .\file-1.md .\file-2.md
 
Comparing .\file-1.md and .\file-2.md...
Files compare OK  

Copying Files with copy

The copy command is used to copy files from one location to another. You can specify a file or group of files to copy, as well as the destination directory.

To copy a single file to a different directory:

copy source.txt D:\Backup\source.txt

To copy multiple files:

copy *.txt D:\Backup\

You can also use the /y switch to suppress the confirmation prompt when overwriting an existing file:

copy /y source.txt D:\Backup\source.txt

Moving Files with move

The move command is used to move or rename files. This is useful when you want to change the file’s location or name without making a copy.

To move a file to a different directory:

move source.txt D:\Backup\

To rename a file:

move oldname.txt newname.txt

If the file is being moved and renamed, the same syntax applies:

move source.txt D:\Backup\newname.txt

Renaming Files with ren

The ren (rename) command is used specifically for renaming files within a directory. It allows you to change the name of a file, but not its location.

To rename a file:

ren oldname.txt newname.txt

If you want to rename multiple files with a pattern (e.g., changing extensions), you can use wildcards:

ren *.txt *.bak

This will rename all .txt files to .bak in the current directory.

Deleting Files with del

The del command is used to delete files from the system. This is a permanent operation, and deleted files cannot be recovered unless a backup exists.

To delete a specific file:

del filename.txt

To delete all files in a directory:

del *.*

Be cautious when using this command as it will delete all files in the current directory.

To delete multiple files based on a pattern, you can use wildcards:

del *.txt

To confirm each deletion, you can use the /p switch:

del /p filename.txt

Deleting Files with erase

The erase command is synonymous with del and works the same way. It is simply another option for file deletion.

To delete a file:

erase filename.txt

Viewing and Editing File Properties with attrib

The attrib command is used to view and modify file attributes, such as making files read-only, hidden, or system files.

To view file attributes:

attrib filename.txt

To make a file read-only:

attrib +r filename.txt

To remove the read-only attribute:

attrib -r filename.txt

To make a file hidden:

attrib +h filename.txt

Searching for Text in Files with find

The find command allows you to search for specific text or strings within files. This is helpful when you need to locate a particular term in a large file or set of files.

To search for a string in a file:

find "search_string" filename.txt

To search for a string in all .txt files in a directory:

find "search_string" *.txt

Compressing Files with compact

The compact command is used to compress files and directories in NTFS file systems. This can save disk space, especially for large files.

To compress a file:

compact /c filename.txt

To uncompress a file:

compact /u filename.txt

To compress all files in a directory:

compact /c /s:directory_path