dosdir -- Command

List contents of an MS-DOS directory
dosdir [-nv] device:[dir/][file]

dosdir  lists the  contents of  a directory  that lives  on an  MS-DOS file
system.  The MS-DOS  file system can reside either on  a floppy disk, or on
the MS-DOS segment  of a hard disk on your  system.  The MS-DOS file system
must be  named using the  device that holds  it, such as  floppy-disk drive
/dev/fha0 or  hard-disk partition /dev/at0a.  You can also build  a file of
aliases so that  you can access the drives as  a, b, etc.  For details, see
the Lexicon entry for doscp, which  explains how to set up defaults for the
dos family of commands.

dosdir recognizes the following options:

n    Newest: List the files in the  order in which they were last modified,
     from newest to oldest.  By default, dosdir lists files in alphabetical
     order.

v    Verbose.  Provide additional information about each action performed.

Example

The following command lists the contents of mydir. It assumes that you have
defined c as a default for a device on which is set an MS-DOS file system:

    dosdir c:/mydir

Files

/etc/default/msdos -- Setup file

See Also

commands, 
dos,
dosls,
ls

Notes

If you see the error

    dosdir: Probably not a DOS disk (media descriptor 0x00)

dosdir cannot find a valid boot  block on a partition.  It happens when you
try  to access  an  extended DOS  partition  as though  it  were a  primary
partition.   Check the  line  in /etc/default/msdos  to see  how dosdir  is
accessing that partition.

For  example, if  are trying  to access  device h: and  the entry  for that
device reads

    h=/dev/sd1a

this device  may in  fact be an  extended partition.  It  sometimes happens
with  removable  media,   such  as  removable  SCSI  disks,  have  extended
partitions built on them without the operator's knowledge.  To test whether
this partition is in fact an extended partition, type the command:

    dosdir -v /dev/sd1a;1

If you then see the contents of the partition, you know that you are on the
right track.  Change the entry for device h to read

    h=/dev/sd1a;1

and all should be well.

dosdir  does  not  understand compressed  MS-DOS  file  systems created  by
programs such as Stacker or MS-DOS  6.0 dblspace. If you are running MS-DOS
with file  compression, you must copy files to  an uncompressed file system
(for example,  to an uncompressed  floppy disk or to  the uncompressed host
for a compressed file system) to make them accessible to the dosdir.

© 2012 by Stephen A. Ness