Explain the following DOS commands: CHKDISK, FORMAT, ATTRIB, and PATH.

a. CHKDISK

This command is used for analyzing, diagnosing & correct common disk errors (hard disk). It produces reports on the status of files on disk.

If we invoke this command without any parameter it will analyse the current drive. If we invoke the command with drive name, it will analyse that drive.

C :\> CHKDISK

C :\> CHKDISK D

b. FORMAT

Formats prepare a blank disk for receiving & storing data, or create a new blank disk from a used one.

It requires a specific drive letter for the disk to format. If we want to cancel this command use ctrl+c.

c. ATTRIB

This command is used to display or change the attributes of a file. File can be declared read only, read write, archived, not archived, hidden or not hidden.

d. PATH

It specifies a list of subdirectories where DOS looks for executable program file.

If we invoke this command without parameter it displays the current search path. If we want to change the search path, then invoke this command with a list of the drives & subdirectories where we want DOS to look forv program files.