DOSKEY

DOSKEY

The ReactOS doskey command
Developer(s)	Microsoft, IBM, Novell, ReactOS contributors
Initial release	1991, 32–33 years ago
Operating system	MS-DOS, PC DOS, OS/2, eComStation, ArcaOS, Novell DOS 7, DR-DOS, Windows, ReactOS
Platform	Cross-platform
Type	Command
Website	docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/doskey

DOSKEY is a command for DOS, IBM OS/2,^[1] Microsoft Windows,^[2] and ReactOS^[3] that adds command history, macro functionality, and improved editing features to the command-line interpreters COMMAND.COM and cmd.exe.

History

The command was included as a terminate-and-stay-resident program with MS-DOS and PC DOS versions 5 and later,^[4] then Windows 9x,^[5] and finally Windows 2000^[6] and later.

In early 1989, functionality similar to DOSKEY was introduced with DR-DOS 3.40 with its HISTORY CONFIG.SYS directive. This enabled a user-configurable console input history buffer and recall as well as pattern search functionality on the console driver level, that is, fully integrated into the operating system and transparent to running applications. In the summer of 1991, DOSKEY was introduced in MS-DOS/PC DOS 5.0 in order to provide some of the same functionality. DOSKEY also added a macro expansion facility, though special support was required before applications such as command line processors could take advantage of it. Starting with Novell DOS 7 in 1993, the macro capabilities were provided by an external DOSKEY command as well. In order to also emulate the DOSKEY history buffer functionality under DR-DOS, the DR-DOS DOSKEY worked as a front end to the resident history buffer functionality, which remained part of the kernel.

DOSKEY has also been included in IBM OS/2 Version 2.0.^[7]

In current Windows NT-based operating systems, the DOSKEY functionality is built into CMD.EXE, although the DOSKEY command is still used to change its operation.

The DOSKEY command is not available in FreeDOS, which has such features built into the command interpreter.^[8]

Usage

Command switches

DOSKEY allows the use of several command switches:

DOSKEY [/switch ...] [macroname=[text]]

/REINSTALL

Installs a new copy of DOSKEY.

/LISTSIZE=[size]

Sets size of command history buffer to size.

/MACROS

Displays all DOSKEY macros.

/MACROS:ALL

Displays all DOSKEY macros for all executables which have DOSKEY macros.

/MACROS:[executable name]

Displays all DOSKEY macros for the given executable.

/HISTORY

Displays all commands stored in memory.

/INSERT

Specifies that new text typed is inserted in old text.

/OVERSTRIKE

Specifies that new text overwrites old text.

/EXENAME=exename

Specifies the executable.

/MACROFILE=filename

Specifies a file of macros to install.

/APPEDIT

(undocumented - since MS-DOS 7)

/COMMAND

(undocumented - since MS-DOS 7)

/PERMANENT

(undocumented - since MS-DOS 7)

/SCRSIZE

(undocumented - since MS-DOS 7)

/XHISTORY

(undocumented - since MS-DOS 7)

[macroname]

Specifies a name for a macro created.

[text]

Specifies commands to record.

Keyboard shortcuts

During a DOSKEY session, the following keyboard shortcuts can be used:

↑ and ↓

Recall commands

Esc

Clears command line

Ctrl+Home

Clears command line from the cursor to the beginning of the line.

Ctrl+End

Clears command line from the cursor to the end of the line.

F7

Displays command history

Alt+F7

Clears command history

F8

Searches command history

F9

Selects a command by number

Alt+F10

Clears macro definitions

Command macros

DOSKEY implements support for command macros, a simple text-substitution facility which is used somewhat like command line aliases in other environments.

$T

Command separator. Allows multiple commands in a macro.

$1–$9

Batch parameters. Equivalent to %1-%9 in batch programs.

$*

Symbol replaced by everything following the macro name on command line.

Alternatives

The absence of a command history in COMMAND.COM was a serious inconvenience ever since the earliest versions of MS-DOS. Numerous third-party programs have been written to address the issue; many were available long before Microsoft supplied DOSKEY. Some of them, including JP Software's 4DOS and NDOS, also provide additional editing capabilities lacking in DOSKEY, such as filename completion. Some of the better-known DOSKEY alternatives are Jack Gersbach's DOSEDIT, Chris Dunford's CED, Sverre Huseby's DOSED, Ashok Nadkarni's CMDEDIT, Steven Calwas's ANARKEY, Eric Tauck's TODDY, and enhanced DOSKEY written by Paul Houle.

Paul Houle's Enhanced DOSKEY^[9] is designed to be an enhanced drop-in replacement for the DOSKEY.COM that ships with MS-DOS and Windows 9x/Windows Me. It also has a smaller disk and memory-resident footprint. The primary added feature is command and file "auto-completion" via the Tab key. Version 2.5, released in 2014, also adds full support for long filenames (LFN).

See also

• List of DOS commands

References

Further reading

• Cooper, Jim (2001). Special Edition Using MS-DOS 6.22, Third Edition. Que Publishing. ISBN 978-0789725738.
• Dyson, Peter (1995). Mastering OS/2 Warp. Sybex. ISBN 978-0782116632.
• Stanek, William R. (2008). Windows Command-Line Administrator's Pocket Consultant, 2nd Edition. Microsoft Press. ISBN 978-0735622623.
• Paul, Matthias R. (1997-07-30). NWDOS-TIPs — Tips & Tricks rund um Novell DOS 7, mit Blick auf undokumentierte Details, Bugs und Workarounds. MPDOSTIP (in German) (3 ed.). Archived from the original on 2016-11-04. Retrieved 2014-08-06. (NB. NWDOSTIP.TXT is part of MPDOSTIP.ZIP, maintained up to 2001 and distributed on many sites at the time. The provided link points to a HTML-converted older version of the NWDOSTIP.TXT file.)

External links

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Guide to Windows Commands

• doskey | Microsoft Docs
• Paul Houle's enhanced DOSKEY

This page was last edited on 15 October 2023, at 16:18