Displaying All the Files in a Folder using the Command Prompt

by Barry Dysert
(last updated November 6, 2017)

2

You probably already know that you can navigate through folders and view their contents by using the Windows Explorer. Another way to display all the files a folder contains is by using the Command Prompt window. (Accessing the Command Prompt window is covered in this tip.)

At the command prompt, you can navigate through the folders and subfolders by using the CD command to change your current directory. Just follow the command by a space and the name of the directory you want to change to. If the directory name contains spaces, simply surround the directory name with quote marks, as shown in these examples:

CD "my files"
CD "c:/my data/word documents/budgeting"

After navigating to the directory using the CD command, you can see what files are contained in the directory by typing the DIR command at the command prompt.

 This tip (12033) applies to Windows 7, 8, and 10.

Author Bio

Barry Dysert

Barry has been a computer professional for over 35 years, working in different positions such as technical team leader, project manager, and software developer. He is currently a software engineer with an emphasis on developing custom applications under Microsoft Windows. When not working with Windows or writing Tips, Barry is an amateur writer. His first non-fiction book is titled "A Chronological Commentary of Revelation." ...

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What is five minus 4?

2017-11-06 18:55:49

Hawkmeister

dir /ah will display all files in the current folder/directory EVEN 'hidden' files.

2017-11-06 10:25:10

Henry Noble

There are several options (switches) for the DIR command. Among the more useful:

DIR /P Pauses after each screenful of data when the list is long

DIR /O Sorts the list with directories before files

Switches can be combined. For example: DIR /O /P

DIR /? Displays the help file for the Dir command

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