The Windows command line (CMD) is one of the most useful utilities on a Windows PC. You can interact with the Operating System directly with the help of CMD and you can do a lot of things which are not available in the graphical user interface (GUI).
In this article, we will make you aware of many commands that you can use on the Windows CLI to work on files and folders.
Set the current drive command
To set or change the current drive, enter the drive letter followed by a colon (:), e.g.,
prompt> d: // Change the current drive to D. The prompt changes to D:\...
D:\...> c: // Change the current drive to C. The prompt changes to C:\...
C:\...> Program Files
Change Directory cd Command
Use command “cd new-path” to change current working directory under the current drive.
C:\> cd Program Files
// Set current directory to " Program Files " relative to current directory of the current drive
Output:
C:\Program Files>
C:\Program Files>cd Microsoft
// Set current directory to " Program Files " relative to current directory of the current drive
Output:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft>
Change directory to the root of the current drive
cd\ sets the directory to the root of current drive.
C:\.......> cd\
Output:
C:\>
Command Refer to Parent Directory
You can use “..” (double-dot) to refer to the parent directory.
C:\Program Files\Microsoft> cd ..
Output:
C:\Program Files>
Command to List All Items in Directory
By using dir command, you can list all the items of the current directory. Below given command returns all the items available in D:\TEST directory.
C:\Test>dir
![CMD dir Command](https://codefordevs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/image-1.png)
Output:
![Output of DIR CMD](https://codefordevs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/image-2.png)
You can use wild cards in dir for pattern matching. The wildcard “*” matches zero or more characters while “?” matches one character.
Following example lists all the files ending with “.csv”
C:\Test>dir *.csv
Following example return the files such as Example2.txt
C:\Test>dir Example?.txt
Command to Create a New Directory
By using mkdir command, you can create a new directory in the specified folder. The below given creates a new folder with the name “New_Test_Folder” in the directory D:\TEST
D:\TEST>mkdir New_Test_Folder
Command to Delete a Folder
By using rmdir command, you can delete the specified directory in the specified folder. The below given deletes “New_Test_Folder” folder of directory D:\TEST
D:\TEST>rmdir New_Test_Folder
The folder must be empty for this command to work.
Command to Delete a File
By using del command, you can delete the specified file in the specified folder. The below given deletes “Example2.txt” file of directory D:\TEST
D:\TEST>del Example2.txt
File Renaming Command on CMD
By using below given synax, you can rename rename a file.
ren filename.extension new-name.extension