DOSBox-X DOS Shell Built-In Commands Full Reference

The DOSBox-X DOS shell provides a comprehensive set of built-in commands that are executed directly by the shell interpreter without requiring any external executable on disk. These commands are always available regardless of which drives are mounted, making them the foundation for navigating the file system, writing batch scripts, and managing the emulated DOS environment. Commands are registered in shell_cmds.cpp and many have both a short alias and a full name (for example, CD and CHDIR are identical).

Commands implemented as built-ins live inside the shell itself and require no file on any drive. Some names that look like shell commands (CHOICE, COUNTRY, DELTREE, ADDKEY, LS, and INT2FDBG) are actually programs on the Z: drive and are documented in DOS Programs.

CD / CHDIR — Change directory

Change the current working directory. With no argument, print the current path.

CD <path>
CHDIR <path>

CD C:\GAMES\DOOM
CD ..
CD \

Use CD /D <drive:path> to switch drives and directories simultaneously.

DIR — List directory contents

Display the files and subdirectories in the current or specified directory.

DIR [path] [/W] [/P] [/A[:attrib]] [/O[:order]] [/S] [/B] [/L]

Switch	Effect
`/W`	Wide list format (multiple columns)
`/P`	Pause after each screenful
`/A`	Show files with specified attributes (`H` hidden, `S` system, `D` dirs, `R` read-only)
`/O`	Sort order: `N` name, `S` size, `E` extension, `D` date, `-` reverse
`/S`	Include subdirectories recursively
`/B`	Bare format (filenames only)
`/L`	Lowercase output

DIR /W /P
DIR *.EXE /O:S
DIR C:\GAMES /S /B

LS — Unix-style directory listing (Z:\BIN\LS.COM)

Display directory contents in a compact Unix-style format. Supports colour-coded output and is more concise than DIR. LS is not a shell built-in — it runs as Z:\BIN\LS.COM, which is available because Z:\BIN\ is in the default DOS path.

LS [path] [options]

LS
LS C:\GAMES

MD / MKDIR — Make directory

Create a new directory (or a full path of nested directories).

MD <directory>
MKDIR <directory>

MD GAMES
MD C:\PROJECTS\SOURCE\UTILS

RD / RMDIR — Remove directory

Delete an empty directory.

RD <directory>
RMDIR <directory>

The directory must be empty. Use DELTREE to remove a directory and all its contents.

PUSHD — Push directory and change

Save the current directory on a stack and switch to the specified path.

PUSHD <path>

PUSHD C:\TEMP

Use POPD to return to the saved directory.

POPD — Pop directory from stack

Return to the directory that was saved by the most recent PUSHD call.

POPD

TRUENAME — Show canonical path

Display the fully resolved path for a given file or directory, expanding subst drives and following all aliases to their real names.

TRUENAME <path>

TRUENAME E:\MYFILE.TXT

File Operations

COPY — Copy files

Copy one or more files from a source to a destination. Supports wildcards and concatenation.

COPY <source> <destination> [/Y] [/-Y] [/V] [/A] [/B]

COPY GAME.EXE C:\BACKUP\
COPY *.TXT D:\DOCS\
COPY FILE1.TXT + FILE2.TXT COMBINED.TXT

Switch	Effect
`/V`	Verify copy after writing
`/Y`	Suppress overwrite prompt
`/-Y`	Require overwrite confirmation
`/A`	Treat files as ASCII text
`/B`	Treat files as binary

DEL / ERASE — Delete files

Delete one or more files. Wildcards are supported.

DEL <files>
ERASE <files>

DEL TEMP.TXT
DEL *.BAK
ERASE C:\OLD\*.*

There is no recycle bin in DOSBox-X. Deleted files cannot be recovered.

DELTREE — Delete directory tree (Z:\DOS\DELTREE.EXE)

Recursively delete a directory and all of its files and subdirectories. DELTREE is not a shell built-in — it runs as the program Z:\DOS\DELTREE.EXE.

DELTREE <directory>

DELTREE C:\JUNK

DELTREE is destructive and irreversible. It removes all contents without prompting unless confirmation is required by the environment.

REN / RENAME — Rename file

Rename a file or group of files (wildcards supported).

REN <oldname> <newname>
RENAME <oldname> <newname>

REN OLDNAME.TXT NEWNAME.TXT
REN *.BAK *.OLD

TYPE — Display file contents

Print the contents of a text file to the console.

TYPE <file>

TYPE README.TXT
TYPE C:\CONFIG.SYS

MORE — Page file contents

Display a file one screen at a time, pausing between pages. Can also read from stdin via pipe.

MORE [file]
TYPE BIGFILE.TXT | MORE

ATTRIB — File attributes

View or modify file attributes. Prefix attributes with + to set or - to clear.

ATTRIB [+R|-R] [+H|-H] [+S|-S] [+A|-A] <file> [/S]

Attribute	Meaning
`R`	Read-only
`H`	Hidden
`S`	System
`A`	Archive

ATTRIB +R IMPORTANT.TXT
ATTRIB -H *.SYS
ATTRIB +R +H AUTOEXEC.BAT

Batch & Scripting

CALL — Call a batch file

Execute a batch file as a subroutine and return to the calling batch file when it finishes.

CALL <batchfile> [arguments]

CALL SETUP.BAT
CALL C:\SCRIPTS\INIT.BAT ARG1 ARG2

Without CALL, executing another .bat from within a batch file does not return.

ECHO — Display text or toggle echo

Print a message to the screen, or turn command echoing on or off.

ECHO [text]
ECHO [ON|OFF]
ECHO.

ECHO Hello, DOS!
ECHO OFF
ECHO.
ECHO This line is blank above

ECHO. (with a dot and no space) prints a blank line.

FOR — Loop command

Iterate over a set of values and execute a command for each one. Long filename support in FOR loops is controlled by LFNFOR.

FOR %<variable> IN (<set>) DO <command>

FOR %F IN (*.TXT) DO TYPE %F
FOR %I IN (1 2 3) DO ECHO %I

Inside a batch file, use %%F (double percent) instead of %F.

GOTO — Jump to label

Jump to the specified label within the current batch file.

GOTO <label>

GOTO END
:END
ECHO Done.

IF — Conditional execution

Execute a command only when a condition is true. Supports string comparison, file existence, and error-level checks.

IF [NOT] EXIST <file> <command>
IF [NOT] ERRORLEVEL <n> <command>
IF [NOT] <string1>==<string2> <command>

IF EXIST GAME.EXE GAME.EXE
IF NOT EXIST SAVE.DAT ECHO No save file found.
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO ERROR
IF "%1"=="" GOTO USAGE

PAUSE — Wait for keypress

Halt batch execution and display Press any key to continue... until the user presses a key.

PAUSE

REM — Comment

Insert a comment into a batch file. The line is ignored during execution.

REM <text>

REM This batch file installs the game
REM Author: Player One

SHIFT — Shift batch parameters

Shift the numbered batch parameters (%0, %1, …) left by one position, discarding %0 and promoting %1 to %0.

SHIFT

CHOICE — Prompt for user choice (Z:\DOS\CHOICE.COM)

Display a prompt and wait for the user to press one of a defined set of keys. Sets ERRORLEVEL to the position of the chosen key. CHOICE is not a shell built-in — it runs as the program Z:\DOS\CHOICE.COM.

CHOICE [/C:<choices>] [/N] [/S] [/T:<key>,<seconds>] [text]

CHOICE /C:YN Continue?
CHOICE /C:ABC /T:A,5 Select option (A/B/C):

Switch	Effect
`/C:<keys>`	Set of valid keys (default `YN`)
`/N`	Do not show choices in prompt
`/S`	Case-sensitive matching
`/T:<key>,<secs>`	Default key after timeout

Environment

SET — Environment variables

Display all environment variables, set a variable, or clear one.

SET
SET <variable>=<value>
SET <variable>=

SET
SET MYVAR=Hello
SET MYVAR=
SET PATH=C:\UTILS;%PATH%

A special extension SET /P <var>=<prompt> is not available in the DOSBox-X shell; use CHOICE for interactive input.

PATH — Executable search path

Display or set the list of directories searched for executables.

PATH
PATH <path1>[;<path2>…]
PATH ;

PATH
PATH C:\DOS;C:\UTILS;C:\GAMES
PATH ;

PATH ; clears the path to an empty string.

PROMPT — Command prompt string

Customise the DOS command prompt. Special tokens are expanded when the prompt is displayed.

PROMPT [text]

Token	Expands to
`$P`	Current drive and path
`$G`	`>` character
`$D`	Current date
`$T`	Current time
`$N`	Current drive letter
`$$`	Literal `$`
`$_`	Newline

PROMPT $P$G
PROMPT [$T] $P$G

ALIAS — Command aliases

Define shorthand aliases for commands or command strings.

ALIAS [name=command]
ALIAS

ALIAS LL=DIR /W
ALIAS CLS=ECHO OFF
ALIAS

Running ALIAS with no arguments displays all currently defined aliases.

ASSOC — File extension associations

Display or set the program association for a file extension. When set, running a file with that extension will automatically invoke the associated program.

ASSOC
ASSOC .<ext>
ASSOC .<ext>=<program>
ASSOC .<ext>=

ASSOC
ASSOC .TXT
ASSOC .TXT=EDIT.COM
ASSOC .TXT=

Running ASSOC with no arguments lists all current associations. Assigning an empty string (ASSOC .EXT=) removes the association.

HISTORY — Command history

Display the list of previously entered commands, or clear the history buffer.

HISTORY
HISTORY /C

Switch	Effect
`/C`	Clear the command history buffer

Running HISTORY with no arguments prints all previous commands in reverse chronological order.

System

CLS — Clear screen

Clear the console screen.

CLS

DATE — Show or set date

Display the current system date or set a new one.

DATE
DATE <mm-dd-yyyy>

TIME — Show or set time

Display the current system time or set a new one.

TIME
TIME <hh:mm:ss>

VER — Show version

Display the current DOSBox-X version and the emulated DOS version string.

VER

CHCP — Change or display active code page

Display the currently active DOS code page, or switch to a different one. Code pages control which character set is used for display and input.

CHCP
CHCP <codepage>

CHCP
CHCP 437
CHCP 850
CHCP 932

Running CHCP with no arguments displays the active code page number. Note that changing code pages is not supported in PC-98 or JEGA/AX machine modes.

VERIFY — Write verification

Enable or disable DOS write verification. When ON, each disk write is verified by re-reading the sector.

VERIFY [ON|OFF]
VERIFY

VOL — Volume label

Display the volume label and serial number of the specified drive.

VOL [drive:]

VOL
VOL C:

BREAK — Ctrl+C checking

Control how often DOS checks for a Ctrl+C (break) keypress. When ON, checks happen more frequently (on any DOS call).

BREAK [ON|OFF]
BREAK

CTTY — Change console device

Redirect console I/O to a different device, such as a serial port.

CTTY <device>

CTTY COM1
CTTY CON

EXIT — Exit the shell

Exit the current shell. If DOSBox-X is running only one shell, this closes the emulator.

EXIT

HELP — Display command help

Show a list of available shell commands, or display detailed help for a specific command.

HELP
HELP <command>
HELP /ALL

HELP DIR
HELP COPY
HELP /ALL

COUNTRY — Set country code (Z:\SYSTEM\COUNTRY.COM)

Set the country code used for locale-sensitive formatting of dates, times, and currency. COUNTRY is not a shell built-in — it runs as the program Z:\SYSTEM\COUNTRY.COM.

COUNTRY <code>

COUNTRY 44
COUNTRY 49

ADDKEY — Inject keystrokes (Z:\BIN\ADDKEY.COM)

Insert synthetic keystrokes into the keyboard input buffer. ADDKEY is not a shell built-in — it runs as the program Z:\BIN\ADDKEY.COM.

ADDKEY <key>

Drive Management

SUBST — Substitute drive letter

Assign a drive letter to a directory path, making it accessible as a virtual drive.

SUBST <drive:> <path>
SUBST <drive:> /D

SUBST E: C:\GAMES\DOOM
SUBST E: /D

LFNFOR — Long filename FOR loops

Toggle whether FOR loops expand to long filenames (LFN) or short 8.3 names.

LFNFOR [ON|OFF]
LFNFOR

LFNFOR ON
LFNFOR OFF
LFNFOR

Capture & Debug

DX-CAPTURE — Toggle A/V capture

Start or stop an AVI video / WAV audio capture of the current DOSBox-X session.

DX-CAPTURE
DX-CAPTURE /V
DX-CAPTURE /W

Switch	Effect
`/V`	Toggle video (AVI) capture only
`/W`	Toggle audio (WAV) capture only

DEBUGBOX — Launch debugger

Open the DOSBox-X built-in debugger, or run a program under the debugger.

DEBUGBOX
DEBUGBOX <program>

DEBUGBOX
DEBUGBOX MYAPP.EXE

LH / LOADHIGH — Load into upper memory

Attempt to load a TSR or device driver into the upper memory area (UMA) to preserve conventional memory.

LH <program> [args]
LOADHIGH <program> [args]

LH MOUSE.EXE
LOADHIGH ANSI.SYS

INT2FDBG — INT 2Fh debugging (Z:\DEBUG\INT2FDBG.COM)

Enable or disable logging of INT 2Fh (multiplex interrupt) calls. INT2FDBG is not a shell built-in — it runs as the program Z:\DEBUG\INT2FDBG.COM.

INT2FDBG [+|-]

Command-Line Options

DOS Commands

Configuration Reference

Building & Contributing

DOSBox-X DOS Shell Built-In Commands Full Reference

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Navigation

File Operations

Batch & Scripting

Environment

System

Drive Management

Capture & Debug