JSI Tip 3109. How do I get the DIR command to show System and Hidden files?

When you issue a DIR command in a CMD prompt, the default behavior is to NOT show System and Hidden files.

To show everything, use the /A switch without any modifiers.

You can set the dircmd environment variable, to make /A the default.

I prefer using setting dircmd to /a /ogne, to also group directories first and sort by name and extension.

When you type dir /?, you receive the following short help:

Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory.DIR [drive:][path][filename] [/A]attributes [/B] [/C] [/D] [/L] [/N]  [/O]sortorder [/P] [/Q] [/S] [/T]timefield [/W] [/X] [/4]  [drive:][path][filename]              Specifies drive, directory, and/or files to list.  /A          Displays files with specified attributes.  attributes   D  Directories                R  Read-only files               H  Hidden files               A  Files ready for archiving               S  System files               -  Prefix meaning not  /B          Uses bare format (no heading information or summary).  /C          Display the thousand separator in file sizes.  This is the              default.  Use /-C to disable display of separator.  /D          Same as wide but files are list sorted by column.  /L          Uses lowercase.  /N          New long list format where filenames are on the far right.  /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 (oldest first)               G  Group directories first    -  Prefix to reverse order  /P          Pauses after each screenful of information.  /Q          Display the owner of the file.  /S          Displays files in specified directory and all subdirectories.  /T          Controls which time field displayed or used for sorting  timefield   C  Creation              A  Last Access              W  Last Written  /W          Uses wide list format.  /X          This displays the short names generated for non-8dot3 file              names.  The format is that of /N with the short name inserted              before the long name. If no short name is present, blanks are              displayed in its place.  /4          Displays four-digit yearsSwitches may be preset in the DIRCMD environment variable.  Overridepreset switches by prefixing any switch with - (hyphen)--for example, /-W.

For additional information, use tip 2815.