Basic Commands of Command Promt

1. How to change the directory (folder) in Command Prompt (CMD)

The first command from the list is CD (Change Directory). This command enables you to change the current directory or, in other words, to navigate to another folder from your PC. For instance, the command CD\ takes you to the top of the directory tree. To see how it works, after you open the Command Prompt, type cd\ and press Enter on your keyboard. You should see how the CD\ command takes you to the top of the directory tree. In this case, to the "C:" drive.

Running the CD\ command to change the directory to root

Note that the Command Prompt is not case sensitive, meaning that you can type commands using capital letters, lowercase or any combination of them. The commands CD, cd or Cd, all work the same way.

Going back to the "CD\" command, now you are working on the root of the "C:" drive. If you need to go to a specific folder from this drive run the command "CD Folder." The subfolders must be separated by a backslash character: "\." For instance, when you need to access the System32 folder located in "C:\Windows," type "cd windows\system32\" as shown below, and then press Enter on your keyboard.

Running the CD command to change the directory to a specific folder

When you need to go one folder up, use the "cd.." command. Let's assume that you want to go back to the Windows folder. Type "cd.." and press Enter on your keyboard.

Running the CD.. command to go up one level in the directory tree

The effect is that your current directory changes to "C:\Windows."

2. How to change the drive in Command Prompt (CMD)

To access another drive, type the drive's letter, followed by ":". For instance, if you wanted to change the drive from "C:" to "D:", you should type "d:" and then press Enter on your keyboard.

Changing the drive in Command Prompt

To change the drive and the directory at the same time, use the cd command, followed by the "/d" switch. The "/d" parameter is used to change the current drive to a specific folder from another disk volume.

For instance, if you are now on the "D:" drive and you want to go back to the Windows folder from the"C:" drive, you should type "cd /d C:\Windows" and press Enter on your keyboard, like in the following screenshot.

Changing the drive and directory in Command Prompt

NOTE: By typing only the drive letter you automatically move to your most recent location on that drive. For instance, if you are on "D:" drive and type "cd c:\windows" nothing seems to happen. However, if you type "c:" then the working folder changes to "c:\windows," assuming that it was the last folder you worked with on your "C:" drive.

3. How to view the contents of a directory in Command Prompt (CMD)

You can view the contents of a folder by using a command called DIR. To test it, we have created a folder named Digital_Citizen on the D: drive, with several files and subfolders. You can see them in the screenshot below.

A folder found in the root of the D drive

The last time, our working folder was "C:\Windows." To navigate to the folder mentioned above, we have to use the command "cd /d D:\Digital_Citizen." To view the contents of the folder, type DIR, and press Enter. The list of the files and folders contained by it is displayed, together with some details about each of them (the size and the date and time when they were last modified).

Using the DIR command to see the contents of a directory

4. How to create a new directory with Command Prompt (CMD)

You can make a new folder using the MKDIR (Make Directory) or the MD command. The syntax of these commands is "MKDIR Folder" or "MD Folder."

Let's say we need to create a new folder called Digital_Citizen_Life that is going to be placed in the "D:\Digital_Citizen" folder. To do that, we need to type "mkdir Digital_Citizen_Life" and then press Enter, as shown below.

The MKDIR command, in Command Prompt

To test if it worked, use the DIR command again. The newly created folder appears in the list.

Using DIR to see the contents of the directory, in Command Prompt

NOTE: Do not forget that all these commands depend on the current location in the Command Prompt. For instance, if you are on the "C:" drive and type "MKDIR test," the new folder is created in the root of the "C:" drive.

Another way to create a folder that does not involve being in the desired folder is to type the complete path of the new folder. For example, if you are working on the "D:" drive and you want to create a new folder in "C:," called other_stuff, type "mkdir c:\other_stuff" and then press Enter.

Using MKDIR to create a new directory, with a full path

When you need to create a folder with subfolders at the same time, you can use the "MKDIR Folder\Subfolder" command. For instance, if we type "mkdir Digital_Citizen_Tests\Beta\Test1" three folders are created: Digital_Citizen_Tests, Beta and Test1, in a tree-like structure.

Creating a folder with subfolders, using MKDIR in Command Prompt

5. How to rename files and folders with Command Prompt (CMD)

To rename files and folders, you need to use the REN (Rename) command. To rename folders, type "ren Folder NewFolderName." For example, if we wanted to rename the Digital_Citizen_Tests folder to Digital_Citizen_Final_Tests, we should run "ren Digital_Citizen_Tests Digital_Citizen_Final_Tests" and press Enter.

Renaming folders with the REN command, in Command Prompt

To rename a file, use the same command, like this: "ren filename.extension newname.extension". For instance, to rename the Digital_Citizen_Picture1.bmp file to Image0.bmp, we have to run the command "ren Digital_Citizen_Image1.bmp Image0.bmp" command.

Renaming files with the REN command, in Command Prompt

6. How to copy files with Command Prompt (CMD)

The Copy command allows you to copy files from one location to another. To use this command, type "copy location\filename.extension newlocation\newname.extension".

For example, let's use this command to copy the Image0.bmp file from the Digital_Citizen folder located on the "D:" drive to the "D:\Digital_Citizen\Digital_Citizen_Tests\ folder. To make things more interesting, we want the file to be named Testing_Picture1.gif. To do all that, we must type the command "copy D:\Digital_Citizen\image0.bmp D:\Digital_Citizen\Digital_Citizen_Tests\testing_picture1.gif" followed by Enter. You should also receive a confirmation of the operation, as you can see below.

Using COPY to copy files with Command Prompt

If you are copying within the same directory, you do not have to put the path in command. As an example, let's copy Digital_Citizen_Notes.txt from "D:\Digital_Citizen" in the same folder, only with a different extension: let's say Digital_Citizen_Notes.docx.

To do that, we have to run the command "copy Digital_Citizen_Notes.txt Digital_Citizen_Notes.docx."

Using the COPY command to copy files in the same directory

7. How to copy folders (and their contents) with Command Prompt (CMD)

To copy a folder and its content from a location to another, use the XCOPY command followed by the "/s /i" operators. Let's assume that we need to copy a folder from "D:\Digital_Citizen" to "C:\Backup_Digital_Citizen." To do that, we have to run the command "xcopy /s /i d:\Digital_Citizen c:\Backup_Digital_Citizen." The "/s" parameter ensures that all the directories and subdirectories are going to be copied, except the ones that are empty. The "/i" parameter creates a new directory if the destination folder does not exist and copies all the files in it.

Using XCOPY to copy folders and their contents, in Command Prompt

8. How to delete files with Command Prompt (CMD)

The DEL (Delete) is used to delete files from the folders you have created. To delete all the files from a folder, you can run the command "del folder." For instance, from the directory, Digital_Citizen found on the "D:" drive if we want to delete all the files from the Digital_Citizen_Tests folder, type the command "del Digital_Citizen_Tests." You need to confirm the delete process by typing the letter "y" from Yes, and then press Enter.

NOTE: To also delete hidden files from the folder, you must add the "/h" parameter. Also, note that the DEL command does not work for deleting folders - for that, you have to use the RD command of which you can read in the next section of this tutorial.

Using the DEL command to delete all the files in a directory, in Command Prompt

If you need to delete a single file, use the DEL command followed by that file's name. For instance, to delete the file Digital_Citizen_Notes.txt from "D:\Digital_Citizen," we should run the command "del Digital_Citizen_Notes.txt."

Using the DEL command to delete a single file, in Command Prompt

Here is a list of useful DEL combinations that are worth mentioning:

• DEL *.DOCX - delete all files with the DOC extension (you can use any file extension necessary, DOCX is just an example);
• DEL Test*.* - delete all files beginning with Test;
• DEL *.* - delete ALL files from the current folder.

9. How to delete folders with Command Prompt (CMD)

The DEL command cannot be used to delete folders. Therefore we must use another command to remove any empty folder: RD (Remove Directory). We have previously deleted all the files from the Digital_Citizen_Tests folder. It is now time to delete the directory too, by typing "RD Digital_Citizen_Tests."

Using the RD command to delete folders, in Command Prompt

10. How to launch an app with Command Prompt (CMD)

To run a program from the Command Prompt, you need only to navigate to the folder that contains the executable and type the program's name. For example, if you want to launch Paint using Command Prompt, go to "C:\Windows\System32", where its executable is: mspaint.exe. Let's see how this operation is done if you were in "D:\Digital_Citizen." First of all, change the working directory to the application's folder by typing "cd /d c:\windows\System32\". Then write mspaint.exe or mspaint and press Enter. Both commands can be seen in the screenshot below.

Launching an app from Command Prompt

11. How to get help in the Command Prompt (CMD)

To access help in the Command Prompt, you have to type the help command and then press Enter. A list with all available commands is displayed, as you can see below.

The HELP command from Command Prompt

If a particular command interests you, type help followed by the name of that command. Another way to do the same thing is to type the command's name followed by the "/?" parameter. To test it, use "help cd" or "cd/?" to display information about the cd command. In the picture below you can see the result:

Using the HELP command or the /? parameter to find help in Command Prompt

Conclusion

The Command Prompt is a powerful tool for Windows computer users who are willing to get their hands dirty and learn new things. We hope that this article was useful in helping you learn the basics of running commands in the Command Prompt. If you have any questions about it, do not hesitate to leave us a comment below.