DOS commands

dosbox-automation provides a comprehensive set of commands available at the DOS prompt. Most are clean-room reimplementations of classic MS-DOS commands, designed to be compatible with their original counterparts but not derived from MS-DOS source code. A number of additional commands are specific to dosbox-automation and provide emulator management features like mounting drives and controlling the audio mixer.

See The DOSBox shell to learn about the shell itself --- line editing, tab completion, command history, piping, and other interactive features.

Tip

Type HELP at the DOS prompt to see the most commonly used commands, or HELP /ALL for the complete list. Every command supports the /? flag for detailed usage help - for example, MOUNT /? or DIR /?.

dosbox-automation commands

These commands are specific to dosbox-automation and have no MS-DOS equivalent.

Command	Description
`AUTOTYPE`	Perform scripted keyboard entry into a running DOS game
`BOOT`	Boot dosbox-automation from a DOS drive or disk image
`CLIP`	Copy text to the clipboard or retrieve the clipboard's content
`CONFIG`	Perform configuration management and other miscellaneous actions
`GUIDE`	Open the Tutorials guide in your default web browser
`LOADROM`	Load a ROM image of the video BIOS or IBM BASIC
`MAKEIMG`	Create a new empty disk image
`MANUAL`	Open the user manual in your default web browser
`MIXER`	Display or change the sound mixer settings
`MOUNT`	Mount a directory or an image file to a drive letter
`MOUSECTL`	Manage physical and logical mice
`RESCAN`	Scan for changes on mounted DOS drives
`SERIAL`	Manage the serial ports
`SHOWPIC`	Display an image file

Note

IMGMOUNT is still accepted as an alias for MOUNT.

File & directory commands

Command	Aliases	Description
`ATTRIB`		Display or change file attributes
`CD`	`CHDIR`	Display or change the current directory
`COPY`		Copy one or more files
`DEL`	`DELETE`, `ERASE`	Remove one or more files
`DIR`		Display a list of files and subdirectories in a directory
`LS`		Display directory contents in wide list format
`MD`	`MKDIR`	Create a directory
`MORE`		Display command output or text file one screen at a time
`MOVE`		Move files and rename files and directories
`RD`	`RMDIR`	Remove a directory
`REN`	`RENAME`	Rename one or more files
`SUBST`		Assign an internal directory to a drive
`TREE`		Display directory tree in a graphical form

Batch file commands

Command	Description
`CALL`	Start a batch program from within another batch program
`CHOICE`	Wait for a keypress and set an ERRORLEVEL value
`ECHO`	Display messages and enable/disable command echoing
`FOR`	Run a specified command for each string in a set
`GOTO`	Jump to a labeled line in a batch program
`IF`	Perform conditional processing in batch programs
`PAUSE`	Wait for a keystroke to continue
`REM`	Add comments in a batch program
`SHIFT`	Left-shift command-line parameters in a batch program

Miscellaneous commands

Command	Aliases	Description
`CLS`		Clear the DOS screen
`DATE`		Display or change the internal date
`EXIT`		Exit from the DOS shell
`HELP`		Display help information for DOS commands
`KEYB`		Configure a keyboard layout and screen font
`LH`	`LOADHIGH`	Load a DOS program into upper memory
`LOADFIX`		Load a program in a specific memory region and then run it
`MEM`		Display the amount of used and free memory
`MODE`		Set the display mode or the keyboard's typematic rate
`MOUSE`		Load the built-in mouse driver
`PATH`		Display or set a search path for executable files
`SET`		Display or change environment variables
`SETVER`		Display or set the DOS version reported to applications
`TIME`		Display or change the internal time
`TYPE`		Display the contents of a text file
`VER`		Display the DOS version
`VOL`		Display the disk volume and serial number, if they exist

Bundled third-party programs

dosbox-automation ships a small number of FreeDOS utilities as pre-compiled binaries on the Y: drive. When the Y: drive is automounted (enabled by default), the Y:\DOS directory is added to the PATH automatically, making these commands available from any drive.

These are not dosbox-automation reimplementations - they are third-party open-source programs included for convenience.

Command	Description	Origin
`DEBUG`	Interactive DOS debugger	DOS-debug
`DELTREE`	Delete a directory tree including all files and subdirectories	FreeDOS
`XCOPY`	Extended file copy with subdirectory support	FreeDOS

Automation utilities

The Y: drive also carries small helpers written for dosbox-automation itself. They are ordinary DOS programs, so batch files and install recipes can call them like any other command.

SETMODE nn

Sets the video mode nn (hexadecimal) through INT 10h. Useful for putting the machine into a defined graphics or text mode from a batch file, which the scripting API cannot do on its own. Source is included on the drive.

OSD text / OSD /C

Shows the given text as an on-screen overlay, or clears it with /C. This lets a batch file label what it is doing while automation runs. The command only works while the web server is running; without it, it prints nothing and exits with errorlevel 1.