DOSKEY

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DOSKEY
TypeCommand
Websitedocs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/doskey

DOSKEY is a

command-line interpreters COMMAND.COM and cmd.exe
.

History

The command was included as a

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

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

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.
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

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

References

  1. ^ "JaTomes Help - OS/2 Commands". Archived from the original on 2019-04-14. Retrieved 2019-07-28.
  2. ^ "Doskey | Microsoft Docs". 2009-09-11.
  3. ^ "Reactos/Reactos". GitHub. 2021-11-02.
  4. .
  5. .
  6. .
  7. ^ OS/2 2.0 Redbooks Volume 2 - DOS and Windows Environment (GG24-3731)
  8. ^ "FreeDOS command: doskey". Archived from the original on 2011-11-07.
  9. ^ "Enhanced DOSKEY.com -- with auto-completion Paul Houle".

Further reading

External links

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