Definition: Dir
(1) (DIR) (Digital Instrumentation Recorder) An earlier 19mm, helical-scan magnetic tape technology from Sony, earmarked end of life in 2004. Based on the D1 format, DIR was fast enough for sonar, radar and other high-speed data archiving. Cassettes came in 8.7GB, 43GB and 96GB capacities. Once a standard in the U.S. government, DIR was gradually replaced by LTO and SAIT technologies. See DTF, LTO, AIT and magnetic tape.
DIR Cassettes Were Huge
(2) (DIRectory) A DOS/Windows internal command that lists the file names on disk. Originating with the CP/M operating system, Dir is widely used by Windows programmers and power users. Following are various examples:
DIFFERENT SEQUENCES
BY ATTRIBUTE
FIND DUPLICATE FILES
The following example finds all files named X.BAT anywhere in the C: drive, because the command is initiated at the root of the drive (C:\>):
Next to the 4mm DAT cassette, the 96GB DIR cassette was enormous.
(2) (DIRectory) A DOS/Windows internal command that lists the file names on disk. Originating with the CP/M operating system, Dir is widely used by Windows programmers and power users. Following are various examples:
dir names, date and size
dir /w no date and size
dir /p pause each screenful
dir /ad only folders
dir *. only folders plus files
without extensions
dir *.jpg all files
dir *.mp3 of a
dir *.doc certain
dir *.exe type
DIFFERENT SEQUENCES
dir /o folders, then files dir /oe by extension a to z dir /o-e by extension z to a dir /os small to large dir /o-s large to small dir /od earliest to latest dir /o-d latest to earliest
BY ATTRIBUTE
dir /ar read only files dir /ah hidden files dir /aa files to be archived dir /as system files
FIND DUPLICATE FILES
The following example finds all files named X.BAT anywhere in the C: drive, because the command is initiated at the root of the drive (C:\>):
C:\>dir x.bat /s