Command to list all files in a folder as well as sub-folders in windows

Question

I tried searching for a command that could list all the file in a directory as well as subfolders using a command prompt command. I have read the help for "dir" command but coudn't find what I was looking for. Please help me what command could get this.

Skulk

The below post gives the solution for your scenario. [SubDirectory Files Listing command][1] [1]: #3448003 – Burble

dir /s does the job. – Airframe

If you are in europe you may want to do a chcp 1252 before any of the below solutions to get our special characters right in windows.. – Pectase

Answer 1

The below post gives the solution for your scenario.

dir /s /b /o:gn

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/S Displays files in specified directory and all subdirectories.

/B Uses bare format (no heading information or summary).

/O List by files in sorted order.

Then in :gn, g sorts by folders and then files, and n puts those files in alphabetical order.

Burble

A description of the switches used would greatly improve this answer. – Michellemichels

This outputs the path + filename not just the filename. This doesn't work. When recursive /s is added, DIR will always output the full paths in outputs. So a FOR script would likely be needed to recursively find all filenames inside a directory tree and output them in alphabetical order in a text file. – Statesmanship

This is a great option. However, it sadly doesn't seem to work in PowerShell, which means I seem to be unable to use this command on a UNC path. – Erlandson

For PowerShell, try dir -s instead of the /s format for flags. – Inclusive

Great answer. In addition to this, because of how difficult it is to do things like copy specific parts of text from a vanilla command prompt, it can be good to append >list.txt to make it output to a file to be more easily used. So the command would be: dir /s /b /o:gn >list.txt – Hypso

Answer 2

If you want to list folders and files like graphical directory tree, you should use tree command.

tree /f

There are various options for display format or ordering.

Check example output.

Answering late. Hope it help someone.

Annalee

Works fine inside of Windows 10 installing window! – Kelwin

How to print this to file? I tried >f.txt but not print exact i see – Epigenesis

I know the OP asked for a command, but I'm wondering if you know of a GUI-style way of getting the same tree-like display of directories and files? – Glauconite

To answer my own comment, you can use WinDirStat. See here: https://mcmap.net/q/102153/-tree-view-of-a-directory-folder-in-windows-closed – Glauconite

@Epigenesis you need to write the command properly. Example: cd C:\Users\username\Desktop tree /F #Shows the tree only tree /F>C:\Users\username\Desktop\tree.doc #Saves the tree to tree.doc file – Commissar

use tree /a /f > output.doc .. to generate the tree as a file – Algolagnia

Answer 3

An addition to the answer: when you do not want to list the folders, only the files in the subfolders, use /A-D switch like this:

dir ..\myfolder /b /s /A-D /o:gn>list.txt

Conjugal

This solution worked great with the added bonus of exporting the list to a .txt file. – Lanie

Wow, great solution. You literally saved me 25 minutes... to create folders and copy files manually – Fredella

great answer >>> – Barela

Found this way to get the relative path (it uses powershell, though) powershell.exe "Get-ChildItem -Recurse . | Resolve-Path -Relative" Courtesy – Protolithic

Answer 4

If you simply need to get the basic snapshot of the files + folders. Follow these baby steps:

• Press Windows + R
• Press Enter
• Type cmd
• Press Enter
• Type dir -s
• Press Enter

Cabral

Without any arguments, dir only gives information about the files and directories in the current folder, but the OP wants the return to include files in subfolders as well. – Olshausen

@Olshausen Thanks a lot for highlighting this! Can you please suggest an edit? I am more than happy for improvements :) – Cabral

Answer 5

An alternative to the above commands that is a little more bulletproof.

It can list all files irrespective of permissions or path length.

robocopy "C:\YourFolderPath" "C:\NULL" /E /L /NJH /NJS /FP /NS /NC /B /XJ

I have a slight issue with the use of C:\NULL which I have written about in my blog

https://theitronin.com/bulletproofdirectorylisting/

But nevertheless it's the most robust command I know.

Moonshine

Answer 6

The below post gives the solution for your scenario.

**dir /s /b /o:gn**

/S Displays files in specified directories and all subdirectories.

/B Uses bare format (no heading information or summary).

/O List by files in sorted order.

:gn, g sorts by folders and then files, and n puts those files in alphabetical order.

Just for all files except long path, write the following command:

**dir /b /o:gn**

For Tree: write in your cmd

tree /f

Hosea

Answer 7

An addition to the above answers :

To print specific file present in the folders/sub-folders for eg : If you want to list just the csv files then :

dir /b/s/A-D/o:gn *.csv >list.txt

If you want to also include .xlsx files then the code is :

dir /b/s/A-D/o:gn *.csv *.xlsx >list.txt

You can mention more file types in the same way.

P.S Got to know this one from chatgpt :P

Reest