DOS Commands

In DOS, How can I tell what an internal command is and an external command is? I am not looking for a list of which ones are and which ones aren't...just how you can tell.

 

See if you have a directory in the drive root named DOS with com and exe files in it. External commands will be files other than Command.com

 

Internal commands can be seen in the .com or.exe file by simply examining it with notepad. Of course be certain that you do not save it afterward.

Edit: Best copy it to another folder and examine the copy.

 

Ok, Let me try this again. You are not in front of a PC and you have no access to the outside world. You are in a room all by yourself with a paper with words on it that are either internal or external, how do you tell which one is which? I hope this is explicit enough on what i am asking.

 

CertiGuide to A+ (Operating Systems)

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You can't.
You must examine the program or have a description of it, because the external commands are usually on the same path,so the program responds as if they were internal.

BTW, a good method of examiming command or cmd in notepad is to use find (ctrl-f) and type in attrib, then after it finds the first occurance, esc from find and use F3 to look through the file.

 

The following link lists Internal and External, never mind it says Dos 5.0, they are still the same, except that XP has some slightly different Internal's and a different set of External commands.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/71986
If you are going to dabble with dos commands, doing a little research on your own is a good idea. For example, notice this google seach syntax.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q="internal+commands"+site:microsoft.com&btnG=Google+Search

 

Thanks for the list. I appreciate your help but that's precisely what I didn't ask for.

 

Yes, I know, you were very explicit. My post and the previous posts are the best way to answer your question.
I am experienced using dos since about 1987, when Dos 4.01 and Windows 3.0 was all the rage.
What is your real purpose for this, taking an IT course? looking for easy answers? You'll just have to (L)earn them.

 

I pretty much know them know the commands i need to know just wondering how to tell the difference between them by just looking at them.

 

Sparrow summed it up pretty good