DOS Command Shell keyboard shortcuts

Over the several generations of DOS, commands were added for the additional functions of the operating system. In the current Microsoft Windows operating system, a text-mode command prompt window, cmd.exe, can still be used.

 

Shortcut	Command
F1	Repeats the letters of the last command line, one by one
F2	Displays a dialog asking user to enter the char to copy up to of the last command line
F3	Repeats the last command line (Similar to DOSKEY)
F4	Displays a dialog asking user to enter the char to delete up to of the last command line
F5	Goes back one command line
F6	Enters the traditional CTRL+Z (^z) (End-Of-File)
F7	Displays a menu with the command line history (Similar to DOSKEY)
F8	Cycles back through previous command lines (beginning with most recent). If first typing the beginning letters of a command, then it will cycle through the previous commands matching that prefix when pressing F8.
F9	Displays a dialog asking user to enter a command number, where 0 is for first command line entered
Esc	Erase command line
Tab	Filename completion - cycles through all file names in current directory matching typed prefix
Up arrow	Cycles previous command line entries in backwards direction
Down arrow	Cycles previous command line entries in forwards direction
Right arrow	Repeats letter at a time from previous command line