Can 4DOS show file sizes listed with DIR using comma seperators? \ VOGONS

Can 4DOS show file sizes listed with DIR using comma seperators?

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First post, by Sleaka_J

Posted on 2026-02-08, 12:40

Sleaka_J Offline

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Rank: Newbie
Posts: 55
Joined: 2024-08-08, 12:05

I'm tearing my hair out with this one.

I'm using 4DOS on a SvarDOS installation and when typing DIR the file sizes shown do not have comma separators like the regular COMMAND.COM shell does. And it just seems to be ONLY the individual file sizes that don't show it, the total bytes used and free space at the end uses the comma separators.

As an example, here's what it will show:

<Directories>
AUTOEXEC.BAT 563 <date and time>
COMMAND.COM 25673 <date and time>
CONFIG.SYS 494 <date and time>
KERNEL.SYS 58923 <date and time>
ETC

Here's what I want it to show:

<Directories>
AUTOEXEC.BAT 563 <date and time>
COMMAND.COM 25,673 <date and time>
CONFIG.SYS 494 <date and time>
KERNEL.SYS 58,923 <date and time>

I know it's only a minor change, but isn't customising the look of this kinda thing what we like?

Is it even possible to get 4DOS to show the commas?

Reply 1 of 2, by DaveDDS

Posted on 2026-02-08, 15:17

DaveDDS Offline

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Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1216
Joined: 2021-05-09, 23:07
Location: Canada

Assuming 4DOS has a "normal" DOS disk/direcrory structure, and can run "normal" DOS programs...

You could use my XDIR.COM (which includes ','s in sizes - I just added an option to suppress - so you can have it both ways):

1use:    XDIR [filespec] [options]
2
3opts:   /2              24 hour time
4        /A[+-]adehrs    File must have Attributes           ('e' =accept Every)
5        /B              Bare format
6        /C              Compact format                      (default with /O)
7        /E              show sEconds
8        /F              Files only (no dirs) in list        (default with /SCB)
9        /L              use Lower case
10        /M              show Memory use
11        /N              No commas
12        /S              list Subdirs
13        /T              directories Trail filenames
14        /U              no sUmmary
15        /W              Wide format
16        /O[-!]o         list in Order                       ('-' = reverse)
17            o:  'D'ate, 'E'xtension, 'N'ame, 'S'ize         (/C unless '!')
18
19Wildcards work like they do in UNIX, ie: '.' has so special meaning:
20    use '*' for ALL files, '*.*' means name must contain '.'
21
22Dave Dunfield - 2026/2/8

I originally wrote this to replace/supplement the limited DIR command in DosBox, but I use it on "read DOS" systems very often - It's nice to be able to list a complete subdirectory tree sorted by timestamp is compact format!

You can get it from my site downloads in DBUTIL.ZIP

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

Reply 2 of 2, by DaveDDS

Posted on 2026-02-08, 15:45

DaveDDS Offline

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Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1216
Joined: 2021-05-09, 23:07
Location: Canada

I should also point out that XDIR list entries are in a different order than DOS "DIR"
-> DIR shows: name(with spaces instead of '.'), size, timestamp
-> XDIR shows: timestamp, size, name(iwth '.')
Makes more sense to me as names can be longer (and can incl dir)

Timestamps are also shown differently:
-> DIR: dd-mm-yyyy
-> XDIR: yyyy-mm-dd
Makes more as it sorts properly.

> dir

1 Directory of R:\TST\.
2.              <DIR>            08-02-2026 10:23
3..             <DIR>            01-01-1980  0:00
4FILE1    A                  650 08-02-2026 10:24
5FILE2    B              310,717 08-02-2026 10:24
6FILE3    C            1,448,373 08-02-2026 10:25
7    3 File(s)         1,759,740 Bytes.
8    2 Dir(s)        262,111,744 Bytes free.

> xdir

1 Directory of R:\tst\*
2
32026-02-08  10:23 Am    <DIR>           .
41980-01-01  12:00 Am    <DIR>           ..
52026-02-08  10:24 Am                650 FILE1.A
62026-02-08  10:24 Am            310,717 FILE2.B
72026-02-08  10:25 Am          1,448,373 FILE3.C
8             3 Files(s)     1,759,740 bytes.

> xdir /cfu

126-02-08 10:24a          650 R:\tst\FILE1.A
226-02-08 10:24a      310,717 R:\tst\FILE2.B
326-02-08 10:25a    1,448,373 R:\tst\FILE3.C

[this can make listings of larger trees much easier to work with]

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

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