The Current Directory

MS-DOS always recognizes one directory as the current (or default) directory, just as it always recognizes one drive as the current drive. The current directory is the directory you are logged onto at the time and the one in which MS-DOS performs your commands, unless you tell it to do otherwise. If you installed MS-DOS according to the instructions in your MS-DOS Installation Guide, the MS-DOS command prompt displays the current directory.

If you want to run a program or access a data file that is not stored in the current directory, you can either change directories (making a different directory the current directory) or include a pathname in your command.

Changing the Current Directory

To change from one directory to another, use the CHDIR command, or its shorthand equivalent, CD. For example, to change to the root directory of the current drive from anywhere in the directory tree, type the following and press Enter:

CHDIR \

If you are in the WORDPROC directory and you want to change to PERSONAL, a subdirectory of WORDPROC, type the following and press Enter:

CD PERSONAL

To change from PERSONAL back to WORDPROC, you can use the special symbol . . (two periods). The . . symbol always designates the parent directory, which is the directory one level above the current directory. You can type:

CD . .

Using MS-DOS with Your Equity 386SX

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