The more command shows the contents of one or more files, one page at a time, but it’s rarely used this way. The type command duplicates this functionality and is more commonly used for this particular task.
More Command Availability
The more command is available from within the Command Prompt in all Windows operating systems including Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. It’s available from Advanced Startup Options and System Recovery Options as well. Recovery Console in Windows XP also includes the more command.
Syntax for the More Command
This is the syntax required when using the command to paginate the results of a different command: command-name | more [/c] [/p] [/s] [/tn] [+n] [/?] Here is the syntax for using the command to show the contents of one or more files: more [/c] [/p] [/s] [/tn] [+n] [drive:][path]filename [[drive:][path]filename] …
Shorten DIR Command Results
In the above example, the more command is used with the dir command, paginating the often lengthy results of this command, the first page of which would look something like this: At the bottom of that page, all of which you see in the Command Prompt window, you’ll notice a More prompt. Here you have additional options, all of which are outlined in the section below. Typically, however, you’d press the spacebar to advance to the next page, and so on and so on.
Show Text File Contents
In this example, the command displays the contents of the list.txt file in the Command Prompt window: Since the more command has full access to the file that you’re displaying, it knows from the start how much it’s displaying on the screen, showing a percentage indication as to how complete the output is. We could adjust this example to start at the 10th line by slightly modifying the command: The printout in Command Prompt would display Spinach, then Cherries, and so on.
Options at the ‘More’ Prompt
Use one of these options when you encounter a More prompt:
