Change Default Sorting Order of 'dir' Command in Windows

Question

By default, Windows' dir command sorts files and directories alphabetically without grouping. The result is files and directories appear interleaved with one another. Sample output:

F:\Dev Kits>dir
 Volume in drive F is Buffer II
 Volume Serial Number is E039-C389

 Directory of F:\Dev Kits

07/26/2011  05:02 AM    <DIR>          .
07/26/2011  05:02 AM    <DIR>          ..
10/08/2009  05:41 PM           408,330 Bat To Exe Converter 1.5.zip
07/26/2011  04:53 AM    <DIR>          Boost
10/27/2009  09:37 PM        20,248,963 CodeBlocks 8.02 Mingw.exe
02/20/2010  12:26 AM         1,251,993 CodeBlocks Manual.pdf
04/18/2010  05:39 PM           610,769 Dependency Walker 2.2.6000 x86.zip
05/29/2010  04:37 PM             4,387 Dev Kits.sha2
07/26/2011  04:59 AM    <JUNCTION>     iOS SDK
01/31/2011  09:40 PM        35,213,765 MinGW GCC 4.4.0_1.zip
11/17/2009  01:41 AM         2,834,808 Notepad++ Portable 5.5.1.exe
01/07/2010  06:04 PM         3,860,528 Notepad++ Portable 5.6.4.exe
11/17/2009  12:31 AM           261,563 Notepad2 4.0.23.zip
03/08/2011  07:07 PM         9,932,872 Opera Mobile 10.1 Emulator.exe
05/25/2010  08:46 AM           162,506 PC-Police.zip
04/05/2010  10:37 PM    <DIR>          Python
07/26/2011  05:02 AM    <DIR>          Qt Framework and SDK
04/05/2010  10:35 PM    <DIR>          Series 80 SDK
07/26/2011  04:52 AM    <DIR>          Symbian SDK
07/26/2011  05:00 AM    <DIR>          Unit Testing
07/26/2011  04:51 AM    <JUNCTION>     Visual Studio Tools
04/07/2011  04:51 PM        17,349,072 Win32 OpenSSL 1.0.0d.exe
02/19/2010  11:05 PM           397,056 Win32pp Compiled Samples.zip
07/26/2011  04:53 AM    <DIR>          Windows Phone SDK
07/26/2011  04:52 AM    <DIR>          Windows Platform SDK
11/14/2009  07:49 PM        12,811,696 wxMSW 2.8.10 Setup.exe
11/15/2009  01:34 AM             2,808 wxMSW Installation.txt
              15 File(s)    105,351,116 bytes
              12 Dir(s)   1,346,224,128 bytes free

Adding the /OGN switch makes the output much more organized:

F:\Dev Kits>dir /ogn
 Volume in drive F is Buffer II
 Volume Serial Number is E039-C389

 Directory of F:\Dev Kits

07/26/2011  05:02 AM    <DIR>          .
07/26/2011  05:02 AM    <DIR>          ..
07/26/2011  04:53 AM    <DIR>          Boost
07/26/2011  04:59 AM    <JUNCTION>     iOS SDK
04/05/2010  10:37 PM    <DIR>          Python
07/26/2011  05:02 AM    <DIR>          Qt Framework and SDK
04/05/2010  10:35 PM    <DIR>          Series 80 SDK
07/26/2011  04:52 AM    <DIR>          Symbian SDK
07/26/2011  05:00 AM    <DIR>          Unit Testing
07/26/2011  04:51 AM    <JUNCTION>     Visual Studio Tools
07/26/2011  04:53 AM    <DIR>          Windows Phone SDK
07/26/2011  04:52 AM    <DIR>          Windows Platform SDK
10/08/2009  05:41 PM           408,330 Bat To Exe Converter 1.5.zip
10/27/2009  09:37 PM        20,248,963 CodeBlocks 8.02 Mingw.exe
02/20/2010  12:26 AM         1,251,993 CodeBlocks Manual.pdf
04/18/2010  05:39 PM           610,769 Dependency Walker 2.2.6000 x86.zip
05/29/2010  04:37 PM             4,387 Dev Kits.sha2
01/31/2011  09:40 PM        35,213,765 MinGW GCC 4.4.0_1.zip
11/17/2009  01:41 AM         2,834,808 Notepad++ Portable 5.5.1.exe
01/07/2010  06:04 PM         3,860,528 Notepad++ Portable 5.6.4.exe
11/17/2009  12:31 AM           261,563 Notepad2 4.0.23.zip
03/08/2011  07:07 PM         9,932,872 Opera Mobile 10.1 Emulator.exe
05/25/2010  08:46 AM           162,506 PC-Police.zip
04/07/2011  04:51 PM        17,349,072 Win32 OpenSSL 1.0.0d.exe
02/19/2010  11:05 PM           397,056 Win32pp Compiled Samples.zip
11/14/2009  07:49 PM        12,811,696 wxMSW 2.8.10 Setup.exe
11/15/2009  01:34 AM             2,808 wxMSW Installation.txt
              15 File(s)    105,351,116 bytes
              12 Dir(s)   1,346,224,128 bytes free

Question: Is it possible to make dir use the /ogn switch by default?

Solution 1

The %DIRCMD% environment variable can be used to specify defaults for dir.

Solution 2

Try opening Control Panel > System > Advanced tab > Environment Variables.

Create the system variable DIRCMD and assign the value /a /c /p /x /o:gen

Comments

[Larssend]

I added DIRCMD environment variable with /ogn as value via System Properties but it doesn't seem to have effect. Setting it using 'set dircmd=/ogn' works, but it's reset every time I open a new CMD. Any ideas?

[Naidim]

@Larssend: If you are using Vista onwards (or add the command on XP and earlier), you can set it persistently for all users with setx DIRCMD "/ogn" /m.

[Larssend]

@all: The DIRCMD took effect immediately on new command prompt session after I closed System Properties on my laptop, but my desktop still refuses to recognize the new variable. So I think there's something wrong with the desktop setup. That's a different problem, so I'm marking this one solved. Thank you all.

[surfasb]

Ahh, the old school %dircmd%.