Directory Navigation
The operating system and command processor remember both a current or
default drive for your system as a whole, and a current or default
directory for every drive in your system. The current directory on the
current drive is sometimes called the current working directory.
With traditional command processors, you change the current drive by
typing the new drive letter plus a colon at the prompt, and you change the
current working directory with the CD command. CMD.EXE supports those
standard features, and offer a number of enhancements to make directory
navigation much simpler and faster.
The CMD.EXE directory navigation features are in three groups: features
which help the command processor find the directory you want, methods for
initiating a directory change with a minimal amount of typing, and methods
for returning easily to directories you've recently used. Each group is
summarized below.
Finding Directories
Traditional command processors require you to explicitly type the name of
the directory you want to change to. CMD.EXE support this method, and
also offer two significant enhancements:
* Extended Directory Searches allow the command processor to search
a "database" of all the directories on your system to find the one
you want.
* The CDPATH allows you to enter a specific list of directories to
be searched, rather than searching a database. Use CDPATH instead
of Extended Directory Searches if you find the extended searches
too broad, or your hard drive has too many directories for an
efficient search.
Initiating a Directory Change
CMD.EXE supports the traditional methods of changing directories, and
also offers several more flexible approaches:
* Automatic directory changes allow you to type a directory name at
the prompt and switch to it automatically, without typing an
explicit CD or similar command.
* The CD command can change directories on a single drive, and can
return to the most recently used directory.
* The CDD command changes drive and directory at the same time, and
can return to the most recently used drive and directory.
* The PUSHD command changes changes the drive and directory like
CDD, and records the previous directory in a directory "stack."
You can view the stack with DIRS and return to the directory on
the top of the stack with POPD.
CDD, PUSHD, and automatic directory changes can also change to a network
drive and directory mapped to a drive letter or specified with a UNC name
(see File Systems for more information about network directories).
Returning to a Previous Directory
Traditional command processors do not remember previously-used
directories, and can only "return" to a directory by changing back to it
with a standard drive change or CD command. CMD.EXE supports three
additional methods for returning to a previous directory:
* The CD - and CDD - commands can be used to return to the previous
working directory (the one you used immediately before the current
directory). Use these commands if you are working in two
directories and alternating between them.
* The directory history window allows you to select one of several
recently-used directories from a popup list and return to it
immediately. The window displays the contents of the directory
history list.
* The POPD command will return to the last directory saved by PUSHD.
The directory stack holds 511 characters, enough for 20 to 40
typical drive and directory entries.
Created using Inf-PHP v.2 (c) 2003 Yuri Prokushev
Created using Inf-HTML v.0.9b (c) 1995 Peter Childs