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  • When: 19 Jul 2012 6:05 AM
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Wiki  >  TechNet Articles  >  How to View the Attributes of Files and Folders by Using "attrib" Command

How to View the Attributes of Files and Folders by Using "attrib" Command

How to View the Attributes of Files and Folders by Using "attrib" Command


Every file and folder has several different attributes assigned that you can view and change from the command line with attrib command. You can view all of the existing attributes for files or folders by entering the following command:

attrib

You can also view and configure most of these attributes in Windows Explorer, as shown in the following figure:



Note: The extended attributes (compressed and encrypted) are not viewable using the attrib command, but you can view them using the compact and cipher commands, respectively.

The different attributes that you can see with attrib are identified by single capital letters, such as R and H.

Attribute
Description
R
 Indicates the file is read-only.
H Indicates the file is hidden.
A
 When set, indicates the file has not been backed up or has been modified since it was last backed up. When this attribute is set, it identifies that The File Is Ready For Archiving option is enables. Look at the following figure:



When a file does not have A attribute, it indicates the file has been backed up (not changed after the later backup operation). The File Is Ready For Archiving check box will be unchecked.
I   
S
 Indicates that the file is a system file.

Attributes can be modified with the attrib command using the + or - character and the associated letter. Additionally, the attrib command has three switches:

Switches
Description 
   
   
   



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  • 26 Jun 2013 3:49 PM

    Richard Mueller edited Revision 5. Comment: Replaced RGB values with color names in HTML to restore colors

  • 26 Jun 2013 3:46 PM

    Richard Mueller edited Revision 4. Comment: Removed (en-US) from title, added tags

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  • Posted by
    on 26 Jun 2013 3:46 PM

    Richard Mueller edited Revision 4. Comment: Removed (en-US) from title, added tags

  • Posted by
    on 26 Jun 2013 3:49 PM

    Richard Mueller edited Revision 5. Comment: Replaced RGB values with color names in HTML to restore colors

Page 1 of 1 (2 items)