Windows command | Unix command | Notes |
arp |
arp |
|
assign |
ln |
Create a file link |
assign |
ln -s |
On Unix, a directory may not have multiple links, so instead a symbolic link must be created with ln -s . |
assoc |
file |
|
at |
at batch cron |
|
attrib |
chown chmod |
Sets ownership on files and directories |
cd |
cd |
On Windows, cd alone prints the current directory, but on Unix cd alone returns the user to his home directory. |
cd |
pwd |
On Windows, cd alone prints the current directory. |
chkdsk |
fsck |
Checks filesystem and repairs filesystem corruption on hard drives. |
cls |
clear |
Clear the terminal screen |
copy |
cp |
|
date time |
date |
Date on Unix prints the current date and time. Date and time on Windows print the date and time respectively, and prompt for a new date or time. |
del |
rm |
|
deltree |
rm -r |
Recursively deletes entire directory tree |
dir |
ls |
“dir” also works on some versions of Unix. |
doskey /h F7 key |
history |
The Unix history is part of the Bash shell. |
edit |
vi emacs etc. |
edit brings up a simple text editor in Windows. On Unix, the environment variable EDITOR should be set to the user’s preferred editor. |
exit |
exit Control-D |
On Unix, pressing the control key and D simultaneously logs the user out of the shell. |
explorer |
nautilus etc. |
The command explorer brings up the file browser on Windows. |
fc |
diff |
|
find |
grep |
|
ftp |
ftp |
|
help |
man |
“help” by itself prints all the commands |
hostname |
hostname |
|
ipconfig /all |
ifconfig -a |
The /all option lets you get the MAC address of the Windows PC |
mem |
top |
Shows system status |
mkdir |
mkdir |
|
more |
more less |
|
move |
mv |
|
net session |
w who |
|
net statistics |
uptime |
|
nslookup |
nslookup |
|
ping |
ping |
|
print |
lpr |
Send a file to a printer. |
reboot shutdown -r |
shutdown -r |
|
regedit |
edit /etc/* |
The Unix equivalent of the Windows registry are the files under /etc and /usr/local/etc . These are edited with a text editor rather than with a special-purpose editing program. |
rmdir |
rmdir |
|
rmdir /s |
rm -r |
Windows has a y/n prompt. To get the prompt with Unix, use rm -i . The i means “interactive”. |
set |
env |
Set on Windows prints a list of all environment variables. For individual environment variables, set <variable> is the same as echo $<variable> on Unix. |
set Path |
echo $PATH |
Print the value of the environment variable using set in Windows. |
shutdown |
shutdown |
Without an option, the Windows version produces a help message |
shutdown -s |
shutdown -h |
Also need -f option to Windows if logged in remotely |
sort |
sort |
|
start |
& |
On Unix, to start a job in the background, use command & . On Windows, the equivalent is start command . See How to run a Windows command as a background job like Unix ?. |
systeminfo |
uname -a |
|
tasklist |
ps |
“tasklist” is not available on some versions of Windows. See also this article on getting a list of processes in Windows using Perl |
title |
? |
In Unix, changing the title of the terminal window is possible but complicated. Search for “change title xterm”. |
tracert |
traceroute |
|
tree |
find ls -R |
On Windows, use tree | find “string” |
type |
cat |
|
ver |
uname -a |
|
xcopy |
cp -R |
Recursively copy a directory tree |