Developer(s) | Microsoft, IBM, Novell, ReactOS contributors |
---|---|
Initial release | 1991, 32–33 years ago |
Operating system | MS-DOS, PC DOS, OS/2, eComStation, ArcaOS, Novell DOS 7, DR-DOS, Windows, ReactOS |
Platform | Cross-platform |
Type | Command |
Website |
docs |
DOSKEY is a
command for
DOS,
IBM
OS/2,
[1]
Microsoft Windows,
[2] and
ReactOS
[3] that adds
command history,
macro functionality, and improved editing features to the
command-line interpreters
COMMAND.COM
and
cmd.exe
.
The command was included as a terminate-and-stay-resident program with MS-DOS and PC DOS versions 5 and later, [4] then Windows 9x, [5] and finally Windows 2000 [6] and later.
In early 1989, functionality similar to DOSKEY
was introduced with
DR-DOS 3.40 with its
HISTORY
CONFIG.SYS directive. This enabled a user-configurable console input history buffer and recall as well as pattern search functionality on the console driver level, that is, fully integrated into the operating system and transparent to running applications. In the summer of 1991, DOSKEY
was introduced in MS-DOS/PC DOS 5.0 in order to provide some of the same functionality. DOSKEY
also added a macro expansion facility, though special support was required before applications such as command line processors could take advantage of it. Starting with
Novell DOS 7 in 1993, the macro capabilities were provided by an external DOSKEY
command as well. In order to also emulate the DOSKEY
history buffer functionality under DR-DOS, the DR-DOS DOSKEY
worked as a front end to the resident history buffer functionality, which remained part of the kernel.
DOSKEY
has also been included in IBM OS/2 Version 2.0.
[7]
In current
Windows NT-based operating systems, the DOSKEY
functionality is built into
CMD.EXE, although the DOSKEY
command is still used to change its operation.
The DOSKEY
command is not available in
FreeDOS, which has such features built into the command interpreter.
[8]
DOSKEY allows the use of several command switches:
DOSKEY [/switch ...] [macroname=[text]]
During a DOSKEY session, the following keyboard shortcuts can be used:
DOSKEY implements support for command macros, a simple text-substitution facility which is used somewhat like command line aliases in other environments.
The absence of a command history in COMMAND.COM
was a serious inconvenience ever since the earliest versions of MS-DOS. Numerous third-party programs have been written to address the issue; many were available long before Microsoft supplied DOSKEY. Some of them, including
JP Software's
4DOS and
NDOS, also provide additional editing capabilities lacking in DOSKEY, such as
filename completion. Some of the better-known DOSKEY alternatives are Jack Gersbach's DOSEDIT
, Chris Dunford's CED
, Sverre Huseby's DOSED
, Ashok Nadkarni's CMDEDIT
, Steven Calwas's ANARKEY
, Eric Tauck's TODDY
, and enhanced DOSKEY written by Paul Houle.
Paul Houle's Enhanced DOSKEY [9] is designed to be an enhanced drop-in replacement for the DOSKEY.COM that ships with MS-DOS and Windows 9x/ Windows Me. It also has a smaller disk and memory-resident footprint. The primary added feature is command and file "auto-completion" via the Tab key. Version 2.5, released in 2014, also adds full support for long filenames (LFN).