Attrib command ( Change attributes of a file or folder)

July 20, 2009

Displays, sets, or removes attributes assigned to files or directories. If used without parameters, attrib displays attributes of all files in the current directory.


Syntax

attrib [{+|-}r] [{+|-}a] [{+|-}s] [{+|-}h] [{+|-}i] [:][][] [/s [/d] [/l]]

Parameters

Parameter Description

{+|-}r

Sets (+) or clears (-) the Read-only file attribute.

{+|-}a

Sets (+) or clears (-) the Archive file attribute.

{+|-}s

Sets (+) or clears (-) the System file attribute.

{+|-}h

Sets (+) or clears (-) the Hidden file attribute.

{+|-}i

Sets (+) or clears (-) the Not Content Indexed file attribute.

[:][][]

Specifies the location and name of the directory, file, or group of files for which you want to display or change attributes. You can use the ? and * wildcard characters in the FileName parameter to display or change the attributes for a group of files.

/s

Applies attrib and any command-line options to matching files in the current directory and all of its subdirectories.

/d

Applies attrib and any command-line options to directories.

/l

Applies attrib and any command-line options to the Symbolic Link, rather than the target of the Symbolic Link.

/?

Displays help at the command prompt.

Remarks

  • You can use wildcard characters (? and *) with the FileName parameter to display or change the attributes for a group of files.
  • If a file has the System (s) or Hidden (h) attribute set, you must clear the attribute before you can change any other attributes for that file.
  • The Archive attribute (a) marks files that have changed since the last time they were backed up. Note that the xcopycommand uses archive attributes.

Examples

To display the attributes of a file named News86 that is located in the current directory, type:

attrib news86 

To assign the Read-only attribute to the file named Report.txt, type:

attrib +r report.txt 

To remove the Read-only attribute from files in the Public directory and its subdirectories on a disk in drive B, type:

attrib -r b:\public\*.* /s 

To set the Archive attribute for all files on drive A, and then clear the Archive attribute for files with the .bak extension, type:

attrib +a a:*.* & attrib -a a:*.bak 

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