DIR reinvented – faster, colorful, smarter.
One tiny tool, no installation hassle, works instantly – and shows your files in vivid color. It’s faster, cleaner, and fully customizable.
Once you try it, you’ll never go back to the old DIR.
The new DIR for Windows.
Faster, more colorful, easier
Forget the dull, grey lists of the standard DIR command. Our free replacement displays your files and folders lightning-fast, in full color, and completely customizable. No complicated software – just a simple command line tool, just like ls or eza in Linux. Download now and make working in the terminal enjoyable again.
CODIR works in the Windows Command prompt as well as in Powershell.
Why this tool?
The classic DIR command in Windows hasn’t changed in decades: black and white, hard to read, and limited. While Linux users have long enjoyed colorful commands like ls or eza, Windows has been stuck with basic output. That needed to change.
Our tool is a fast, colorful, and highly configurable replacement for DIR, designed for anyone who uses the command line.
Benefits
Color-coded output for instant visual clarity.
- Lightning-fast performance – even with large directories.
- Fully customizable through a clear and simple INI file.
- No heavy installation – runs directly from the command line.
- Familiar behavior for Windows users.
Whether you work in the terminal every day or only occasionally, you'll notice how much more pleasant and efficient it is to browse your files.
Download
CODIR doesn't contain any spyware, malware, viruses, or anything else. Unfortunately, some antiviruses and firewalls consider CODIR a virus. This is because the small program uses many Windows API calls to read directories, request disk information, or retrieve disk space. Unfortunately, some antiviruses find this suspicious.
If you find CODIR useful, please consider supporting the project with a donation.
Your donation funds the development of new features and programs and contributes to the ongoing maintenance of the programs. This ensures that CODIR remains up-to-date. More information about donations can be found on the homepage.
CODIR is in full development. There's even a chance I might change the name to CDIR or something. I'll have to sleep on that for a few more nights ;-)
Quick & Easy Installation
Unzip CODIR.ZIP.
Copy D.EXE and the accompanying CODIR.INI files into a folder that’s already in your system’s PATH.
💡 Not sure what your PATH is?
Open a Windows Command Prompt and type:
SET PATH
That’s it — no further setup needed.
This lightweight, lightning-fast command-line tool is ready to use immediately!
Command-line options
| Switches required for scanning folders and files | |
|---|---|
| /A | Shows everything, so directories, system, hidden and readonly files |
| /AD | Shows only directories |
| /AF | Only shows files |
| /Fx | /Fx lets you select a filter. Each filter has one or more extensions and a color. This allows you to configure up to 26 filters (A to Z). These filters are stored in the INI file, which you can edit yourself. |
| /Qx | /Qx allows you to specify 10 file locations. These range from /Q0 through /Q9 and are set in the INI file. There are some fixed locations, which are shown below. |
| /QD - Displays the "My Documents" directory | |
| /QL - Downloads | |
| /QV - My Videos | |
| /QM - My Music | |
| /QP - My Pictures | |
| /QX - Program Files | |
| /S | Also shows everything in Subdirectories |
| Switches needed on how to place the data on the screen | |
|---|---|
| /B | Shows the list in bare format |
| /BS | Shows the list in bare format, including the size of the file |
| /CX | Don't use ansi colors, characters or emojis |
| /D | Shows all additional date and time fields, such as Date Update, Creation, and Reading |
| /I | Displays all information such as the header, disk summary, and column titles. This information can also be displayed individually using the switches below. This /I is therefore equivalent to /IH /IS /IT |
| /IH - Show Header Info (Volume name and Serial Number) | |
| /IS - Show File and Disk Summary | |
| /IT - Show column titles | |
| /LL | Show output in lowercase |
| /LU | Show in UPPERCASE |
| /LM | Mix: shows everything in lowercase, directories in uppercase |
| /LD | Shows directories in upper case, the files as they are on disk |
| /LO | Shows all directories and files as they are on disk (= default switch) |
| /N | New long list format where filenames are on the far right |
| /ON | Sort by Name (default switch) |
| /OE | Sort by Extension |
| /OS | Sort by Size |
| /OD | Sort by Date |
| - Prefix to reverse order (like /O-N to sort from Z to A) | |
| /P | Pause after screen is full |
| /PR | Shows the File Properties (attributes) |
| /T | Displays directories and files in a tree structure |
| /TD | Only shows directories in a tree structure |
| /W | Use Wide format (with columns) |
| /- | This switch always returns you to the normal view. So, this switch bypasses the /B, /N, /W, and /T switches. |
| /INFO | Shows additional info |
| /? | Shows help |
Extra configuration and colors
The configuration file CODIR.INI is also located in the same directory as D.EXE. You can open this file with an ASCII editor such as Notepad, Notepad++, EditPad Lite, etc. The INI file CODIR.INI contains four sections: [Colors], [Defaults], [Filters] and [QuickDIRs]. I'll discuss them below I discuss them below in a possibly existing INI file.
| [Colors] | |
|---|---|
| DIR=229 | ;This is the color number to show directories |
| Other=255 | ;Color for other files. Other files are files that cannot be found in the filters (see also /Fx) |
| Size_B=214 | ;Color for filessize between 0 and 1024 bytes |
| Size_KB=208 | ;Color for filesizes between 1 Kb and 1 Mb |
| Size_MB=202 | ;Color for filesizes between 1 Mb and 1 Gb |
| Size_GB=124 | ;Color for filesizes between 1 Gb and 1 TB |
| Size_TB=160 | ;Color for filesizes starting from 1 Tb |
| DateCreate=103 | ;Color for date Created < 3 months |
| DateCreate_3M=102 | ;Color for date Created > 3 months |
| DateCreate_6M=101 | ;Color for date Created > 6 months |
| DateCreate_12M=100 | ;Color for date Created > 1 year |
| DateModified=10 | ;Color for date Modified < 3 months |
| DateModified_3M=46 | ;Color for date Modified > 3 months |
| DateModified_6M=76 | ;Color for date Modified > 6 months |
| DateModified_12M=71 | ;Color for date Modified > 1 year |
| DateRead=171 | ;Color by Date Last Read < 3 months |
| DateRead_3M=177 | ;Color by Date Last Read > 3 months |
| DateRead_6M=183 | ;Color by Date Last Read > 6 months |
| DateRead_12M=189 | ;Color by Date Last Read > 1 year |
| Attrib_D=229 | ;COLOR for Attrib Dir |
| Attrib_A=255 | ;COLOR for Attrib Archive |
| Attrib_R=200 | ;COLOR for Attrib Readonly |
| Attrib_H=13 | ;COLOR for Attrib Hidden |
| Attrib_S=196 | ;COLOR for Attrib System |
| Attrib_C=226 | ;COLOR for Attrib Compressed |
| TreeLines=246 | ;COLOR for Treelines |
| ProgInfo1=15 | ;Color 1 for various texts and messages in the program |
| ProgInfo2=14 | ;Color 2 for various texts and messages in the program |
| ColorFile=file.ccf | ;You can cut and paste all the keys and values above into a separate file with the extension .CCF (Codir Color Format). You can paste the same keys and values into that file. This allows you to work with multiple color profiles. Note that the colors in the ColorFile (.CCF) override any colors contained in CODIR.INI. |
On this site, https://hexdocs.pm/color_palette/color_groups.html, you can see the 256 colors you can choose from. Colors 0 through 15 may vary depending on your Windows Command Prompt settings.
| [Defaults] | |
|---|---|
| Switches= | Here you can place some standard command line switches. The purpose of this is so you don't have to type certain switches repeatedly. For example, if you always want to see the Info and also sort by date, you can use Switches=/I /OD. This way, you don't have to type it again at the command prompt. If you later want to sort by name, you can enter /ON to overwrite it. You can also add a hyphen (-) before each switch to override it, for example, /P- You can leave this field blank. |
| DateFormat=1 | 0=Normal and 1=Short. Normal view is like 01/01/2000 12:34 and Short view is like 1 Jan 12:34 if this date falls in the current year. Otherwise, the time is replaced by the year. |
| DirText=2 | Displays the DIR word designation. 0=Empty, 1=[DIR] and 3=<<DIR>> |
| [Filters] |
|---|
| These filters allow you to filter files. To do this, use the /Fx switch when starting CODIR. However, the /Fx is configured in this INI file. |
| There are three keys: the name (Name), the extensions (EXT), and the color. The Name key is not actually used but serves as a hint. The extension (EXT) is a sequence of various extensions separated by a period. The color (Color) is the color for this filter, even if you don't use a filter. |
| You can use up to 26 filters. The example below shows the B filter. |
| Filter-B_Name=Bitmaps | We call Filter B Bitmaps |
| Filter-B_EXT=.jpg.jpeg.png.gif.bmp.webp.psd.raw | The extensions we want to use |
| Filter-B_Color=120 | The Color for this Filter B |
| [QuickDIRs] |
|---|
| CODIR allows you to use up to 10 QuickDIRS. You can start these by using the /Qx switch, where x is a number from 0 to 9. |
| In this INI file, the key is Qx=Drive\Path. For example, Q0=D:\My Paintings, Q1=C:\Windows, etc. When you start CODIR with the /Q0 switch, you will see the directory D:\My Paintings. |
| Q0=D:\My Paintings | /Q0 goes to D:\My Paintings |
| Q1= | You have 10 QuickDIRs available |
| Q9= |