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

 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