attrib

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] [{+|-}o] [{+|-}i] [{+|-}x] [{+|-}p] [{+|-}u] [{+|-}b] [<drive>:][<path>][<filename>] [/s [/d] [/l]]

Parameters

Parameter Description
{+\|-}r Sets (+) or clears (-) the Read-only file attribute.
{+\|-}a Sets (+) or clears (-) the Archive file attribute. This attribute set marks files that have changed since the last time they were backed up. The xcopy command uses archive attributes.
{+\|-}s Sets (+) or clears (-) the System file attribute. If a file uses this attribute set, you must clear the attribute before you can change any other attributes for the file.
{+\|-}h Sets (+) or clears (-) the Hidden file attribute. If a file uses this attribute set, you must clear the attribute before you can change any other attributes for the file.
{+\|-}o Sets (+) or clears (-) the Offline file attribute.
{+\|-}i Sets (+) or clears (-) the Not Content Indexed file attribute.
{+\|-}x Sets (+) or clears (-) the Scrub file attribute.
{+\|-}p Sets (+) or clears (-) the Pinned file attribute.
{+\|-}u Sets (+) or clears (-) the Unpinned file attribute.
{+\|-}b Sets (+) or clears (-) the SMR Blob file attribute.
[<drive>:][<path>][<filename>] Specifies the location and name of the directory, file, or group of files that you want to view 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.

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