Microsoft DOS attrib command

Quick links

About attrib
Availability
Attrib syntax
Examples
Extended Information

About attrib

Attrib allows a user to change the properties of a specified file. Using attrib, the user has the capability of changing the file to have any of the below attributes. Note if you're wanting to change the ACL's of a file see the CACLS command.

Read-only - allowing the file to be only viewed and not written to.

Archived - allowing Microsoft backup and other backup programs to know what files to backup.

Hidden - making the file invisible to standard users.

System - making the file an important system file.

Availability

The attrib.exe command is an external command that is available in the below Microsoft operating systems.

MS-DOS 3.0 and above
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows ME
Windows NT
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows 7

Syntax

Microsoft Windows 95, 98, and ME syntax

Displays or changes file attributes.

ATTRIB [+R | -R] [+A | -A] [+S | -S] [+H | -H] [[drive:][path]filename] [/S]

Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP syntax

Displays or changes file attributes.

ATTRIB [+R | -R] [+A | -A ] [+S | -S] [+H | -H] [[drive:] [path] filename] [/S [/D]]

Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP recovery console syntax

Note: The below options are the available options in the Windows recovery console.

Changes attributes on one file or directory.

ATTRIB -R | +R | -S | +S | -H | +H | -C | +C filename

Examples

attrib

Typing attrib by itself will display all files in the current directory and each of their attributes. If any file is hidden it will also display those files.

attrib +r autoexec.bat

Add the read-only attribute to the autoexec.bat file so it cannot be modified until the read only attribute is taken off. This is helpful for important system files or any other file that you do not want to have mistakenly edited or changed by another program.

attrib +h config.sys

Add the hidden attribute to the config.sys file causing it to be not be seen by the average user.

attrib -h config.sys

This command will do the opposite of the above command. Instead of hiding the file it will unhide the file if hidden.

Extended information

DOS directory file attribute bit position and Hex Value with bit positions (7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0). See the file attributes computer dictionary definition for further information about file attributes.