Shell Commands

In order to find out how to use a particular command, type its name in a shell window, add '?' (without quotes) and press Enter. An explanation of MorphOS Shell arguments can be found here.

For learning how pattern matching (wildcards) works on MorphOS, please read the Pattern Matching article.

Names written in italics are internal commands, which can't be found as separate files from your filesystem, but you can list them with the Resident command.

By installing MorphOS Software Development Kit you will also get hundreds of traditional Unix commands which aren't listed here. 3rd party commands (native and legacy commands) can be installed by copying them to the SYS:C/ directory.

AddAudioModes	Builds and removes audio modes that AHI can understand
AddBuffers	Adds or displays cache buffers allocated for a drive
AddDataTypes	Activates datatypes or adds another datatype
AddUSBClasses	Add or remove Classes from the USB stack
AddUSBHardware	Manually add or remove USB hardware to/from MorphOS
Alias	Sets or displays command aliases
ARP	Displays and manipulates the Address Resolution Protocol cache
Ask	Displays a question at the execution of a script
AskHost	Displays the hostent information of a host
Assign	Lists, creates, modifies or removes an assign from MorphOS
Avail	Displays the amount of free memory available
Battery	Displays laptop's battery information
Beep	Flashes the current front-most screen
BindDrivers	Activates device drivers in expansion drawer (outdated)
Break	Allows to send a signal (for eg. CTRL+C) to a process
Bz2	Compresses or decompresses files
CD	Changes or displays current directory
ChangeTaskPri	Changes the priority of the given process
ClearRAMDebugLog	Clears the RAM debug log
CLI	Starts a new interactive CLI on the system
Clip	Manages clipboard contents
Clone	Reads the standard input or a file and writes it to both standard output and a specified file
Cls	Clears the console window
ConClip	Activates or De-activates the Clipboard
ConvertText	Converts a text file to a different character encoding
Copy	Copies a source file or directory to another directory
CPU	Displays information about the CPU of the computer
Date	Displays or sets the date and time of the system
Debug	Sets debug options
Delete	Deletes one or more files/directories
DevList	Displays a list of all devices present in memory
Dir	Lists file and directory names (w/o attributes)
DiskCache	Reworked DynamiCache disk caching engine to improve I/O performance
DiskChange	Informs MorphOS of a diskchange
DiskFree	Displays available space of specified volume
DOSList	Displays a detailed list of devices, volumes, and assigns
DRadioTool	Controls an USB Radio manufactured by D-Link or GemTek
Echo	Displays the specified message
Ed	A simple text editor
Eject	Simple command to eject CD media
Else	Specifies an alternative for an IF statement in a script file.
EndCLI	Closes CLI/Shell Window or Tab
EndIf	Terminates an IF block in a script file
EndShell	Closes CLI/Shell Window or Tab
EndSkip	Stops a SKIP branch
Eval	Evaluates a mathematical expression
Exe2Arc	Extracts the archive data from self extracting archive files
Execute	Executes a batch file
Failat	Changes failure limit for scripts (0=Ok, 5=Warn, 10=Error)
Fault	Translates numeric error codes to ASCII text
FileNote	Set a comment for a file
FileWrite	Writes data to a file
FlushLib	Removes unused libraries from memory
Format	Formats a disk
Freeze	Suspends tasks
FSDie	Kills a filesystem from a drive
FSList	Displays a list of all FileSystem present in memory
FSPrefs	Sets preferences for specified device
FSTest	Benchmarks some basic FileSystem operations
Get	Displays the contents of a local environment variable
Getenv	Displays the contents of a global environment variable
GetRAMDebugLog	Writes the RAM debug log to a file
HDMBRClear	Clears a master boot record from a drive
HDRead	Reads sector(s) from device/unit and dumps them to shell
HDTest	Benchmark FileSystem operations using direct device access
HDWrite	Writes sectors to a drive
HFSSetMacBoot	Sets HFS specific attributes so MAC can autoboot
HI	Send all active ARexx programs an external halt request
IconX	Executes a batch file from the desktop (Ambient)
ID	Prints UID and GID of a user
IDEStandby	Spins down the motor of IDE HDs
If	Adds intelligent branching to scripts
IfConfig	Configures network interfaces and shows interface configurations
iKill	Kills the specified program and tries to free its resources
Info	Displays information about mounted filesystems
Install	Writes a boot block or inspects a boot block on a floppy disk or a PCMCIA card, or a compatible device
Installer	Installs software by interpreting their installation scripts
IPrefs	Initialises preferences files on startup
Join	Joins several files into one bigger file
Lab	Defines a label in a batch file
LhA	Compresses or uncompresses files/dirs
LibList	Displays information about libraries present in memory
List	Lists the contents of the specified directory
LoadLib	Loads libraries or classes into memory
LoadMonDrvs	Loads monitor (ie: graphic) drivers
LoadWB	Loads the desktop manager (Ambient)
Lock	Write-protects a drive
Login	Logs in as a different user
LuaX	Interprets a Lua script
LZMADec	Uncompresses files in the LZMA format
LZMAInfo	Shows information stored in the .lzma file header
MakeDir	Creates a Directory
MakeLink	Creates a hard or soft link
MemTest	Runs a memory test
ModList	Displays a list of resident modules
Mount	Makes a new device known to MorphOS
NetConfig	Configures network interfaces
NewCLI	Starts a new interactive CLI/SHELL on the system
Newer	Compares if a file is newer than an another file in shell scripts
NewShell	Starts a new interactive CLI/SHELL on the system
Offline	Brings a network interface offline.
Online	Brings a network interface online.
Open	Opens files and locations
OpenURL	Opens the openurl.library to pass a URL to the appropriate application depending on the URL's protocol and the specified OpenURL prefs settings
Passwd	Changes a user's password
Path	Sets or displays the search path for executables
PathPart	Extracts directory or file name from a path, or assembles a path
PCIScan	This command outputs extensive information about the PCI bus
PCIWrite	Tool to communicate with PCI devices
PenCamTool	Read out images from an USB webcam using the STV680 chip
PFSDiskValid	Analyses or fixes a PFS3 volume
PFSFormat	Formats a PFS3 partition
PFSList	Lists directory contents with PFS3 specific information
PFSMakeRollover	Creates rollover files
PFSSetDeldir	Sets or displays the size of the .deldir directory
PFSSetFileNameSize	Sets or retrieves the maximum length of filenames
PFSSetRollover	Manipulates rollover files
Ping	Ping is a utility to measure round-trip-times and check reachability of a host over a IP-network
Play	Plays audio files supported by the Reggae multimedia framework
PlayMidi	CAMD Midi player
PortList	Displays a list of ports of running programs
PowerMac7FanControl	For controlling the fan speed and reporting fan status and system sensor temperatures on PowerMac7 systems
PowManTool	Very simple shell tool to control GemBird SIS-PM Silvershield PowerManager sockets/outlets
Prompt	Changes the prompt for the current CLI/Shell
Protect	Changes the protection bits of a file
PsdStackloaderToMOSPrefs	Obsoleted USB stack related command
Quit	Exits a batch file with specified return code
Quote	Quotes strings in various ways
Reboot	Resets the computer
Relabel	Changes the name of a disk
RemRAD	Removes recoverable RAM-Drive from the system
Rename	Renames files and directories
RequestChoice	Asks for input via a requester
RequestFile	Asks for a filename via a file requester
Resident	Adds or Removes a command in memory
ResList	Displays a list of all resources in memory
RexxMast	Starts the ARexx Server
RocketTool	Controls a USB Rocket or Missile Launcher
Route	Shows or manipulates the IP routing table
Run	Spawns a background shell or process
RunFS	Runs/mounts a network filesystem in background
RX	Interprets the specified ARexx script
RXC	Closes the resident process
RXCmd	Executes single ARexx commands on a given ARexx port directly
RXLIB	Preadds an arexx library/host to the global list for scripts
RXSET	Adds a (name,value) pair to the Clip List
Search	Searches a file or pattern for a string
SegTracker	Tracking utility for disk loaded files (inc. libs and devs)
SendBeacon	Creates notifications
Set	Creates or modifies specified local environment variable
SetClock	Changes system and/or internal clock time
SetClockNTP	Syncs the realtime clock from the internet using Network Time Protocol
SetDate	Changes the last modification date of a file
Setenv	Creates or modifies specified global environment variable
SetKeyboard	Sets keyboard layout
SetMixer	Sets audio input and output mixing
ShowCGXConfig	Shows information about installed graphics cards and driver versions
ShowConfig	Shows system configuration information about software versions, hardware, and registered user
ShowInterface	Shows network interface information
ShutDown	Shuts down the computer
Skip	Skips to the appropriate label
SmbFS	Mounts a samba share (SMB1)
Smb2FS	Mounts a samba share (SMB2/3)
SonixCamTool	Read out images from an USB webcam using the Sonix Technologies chipset with OV7630 sensors.
Sort	Sorts a file
Ssh2FS	Mounts a SFTP share
Stack	Sets or displays the current stack size
Stat	Displays some system stats since boot
Status	Displays a list of currently running CLI processes
TaskList	Displays a detailed list of all running tasks
TCC	Closes the global tracing console
TCO	Opens the global tracing console
tcpdump	Dumps traffic on a network.
TE	Clears the global tracing flag
Time	Measures the time it takes to execute a command
Touch	Creates a file
TraceRoute	Traceroute is a computer network diagnostic tool for displaying the route (path) and measuring transit delays of packets across an Internet Protocol (IP) network
Trance	Activates JIT 68k emulation
TS	Starts interactive tracing by setting the external trace flag
Type	Displays the contents of a file to the screen
Unalias	Removes the named alias from the alias list
UnMount	Try to unmount specified device
UnRAR	Uncompresses RAR archives
Unset	Removes a local variable
Unsetenv	Removes a global variable
Uptime	Shows uptime of MorphOS
USBDevLister	Lists all found USB devices
USBErrorLog	Shows all USB-Related messages since the start of the stack
Version	Reports the version number of the specified file
Wait	Waits for an amount of time
WaitForLib	Waits 10 seconds for library to appear
WaitForNotification	Waits for file notifications
WaitForPort	Waits 10 secs for port to appear
WaitX	Waits for an amount of time and then executes the given command line
WakeOnLAN	Sends a Wake-on-LAN message
WBRun	Starts the specified command as if it was started from Ambient
Which	Searches the command path for a particular item
WhoAmI	Displays the username of the current user
Why	Displays return code of last executed command
XAD2LhA	Extracts data from other archives and stores it in an LhA archive
XADLibInfo	Displays the name, flags, ID, required xadmaster version, version and revision of all clients in xadmaster.library
XADList	Examines files and prints the names of the archivers
XADUnDisk	The master shell tool to extract data from disk archives
XADUnFile	The master shell tool to extract data from file archives
XADUnTar	A shell tool to extract data from Tar archives and compressed Tar archives
XZ	Compresses or uncompresses files
XZDec	Uncompresses XZ archives