Is there a switch that can be added to the simple DIR command that can alphabetize the results? My old DOS books do not indicate what to do here. I have been working with directories that often contain 1-200 little files, and it is difficult to locate the data concerning a certain single file (with poor eyesight) in the middle of a huge group. Can the switch also be altered to indicate what were the most recent files, or a sort by date? Wm.

Ever tried dir /? to see the command line parameters? /O List by files in sorted order. sortorder N By name (alphabetic) S By size (smallest first) E By extension (alphabetic) D By date & time (earliest first) G Group directories first - Prefix to reverse order You can set this up in autoexec.bat or from the prompt by using the dircmd variable: set dircmd=/o:-d .. would display files by date and in reverse order Those people that think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do

Oh, yes. Have used the / for years. Per your list, am now wondering if the command switch is not case sensitive. Will add the line to the autoexec.bat file and see if that makes a difference. All this DOS ignoring of commands began last weekend. Wm.

I'm fairly certain case is not an issue, as I use lower case, yet the DOS 'Help' program examples are all in uppercase. set dircmd=/o:e/a/p .. is my preference - however, if I'm dealing with large numbers of files, the old Dosshell file manager is still one of my favourites. Not sure what you mean by 'ignoring of commands' - perhaps there are other issues in play? Those people that think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do

If you're looking for a single file, and know at least partially what it's called, you can significally reduce the number of results using wildcards... AKhalifman@hotmail.com