How to make alias of 'ls' in winxp/dos

servnov · 11-03-2004, 06:13 PM

I would like to alias 'dir' as 'ls' in winxp. First of all dir is more like ls -l so what argument can I give to dir to be similar to ls...I want to then alias that, since I find myself always typing 'ls' :-P

Thymox · 11-03-2004, 06:32 PM

You could install Cygwin onto Windows and have a full BASH environment instead! Seriously, if you install Cygwin and add the Cygwin 'bin' folder to your Windows PATH environment variable you should be able to type ls at a dos prompt and it'll actually run ls proper. Certainly this is what I used to do in Windows.

vharishankar · 11-04-2004, 01:40 AM

The easiest way to give any alias in DOS/Windows is to create a batch file,

1. Give your filename as ls.bat
2. Give the command dir in the batch file.
3. Put ls.bat in a directory that is in the PATH.

Then you can type ls instead of dir.

As simple as that.

servnov · 11-04-2004, 04:47 PM

Thanks man, this is awesome. I found 'dir /b' to be much like 'ls' and made a bat file for it. I made a few more also

. I even used the good old DOS 'edit' to make some. I didn't think win32 could be so cool.

Are there some other good tricks you know? How can I make variables in command line (the $ in unix)?

vharishankar · 11-04-2004, 08:39 PM

I think you can use the SET command or similar in DOS to create environment variables. But since it's such a long time since I used DOS, I'm not sure. You should verify with somebody who knows.

And glad I could be of help