In a Windows command line or MS-DOS window, information may scroll too fast to read. On this page, we list command switches that help display and format a command’s output so it can be all read.

Listing files or command output one page at a time

If a command (e.g., dir) is showing too much output, use one of the following examples to show any output one page at a time.

There are no scroll bars in any version of MS-DOS or any version of Microsoft Windows when the command line window is fullscreen (no “Command Prompt” title bar is not showing). To change between a fullscreen and a window mode in early versions of Windows press the Alt+Enter shortcut key. All new versions of Windows no longer support this shortcut key.

Tab

To list files in MS-DOS one page at a time use the pipe ( | ) command in conjunction with the more statement, as shown in the examples below.

dir | more

or

attrib . | more

Also, commands like the dir command allow the /p switch to display the output one page at a time, as shown in the example below.

dir /p

  • Full list of MS-DOS and Windows command line commands.
  • How to resize a fullscreen command line (DOS) window.
  • MS-DOS and Windows command line help and support.