CMD: Explore from the Current Directory

Contributed by AlexTheBeast  
Tagged: Windows  

The easy way to explore from the current directory in your command window.

You are navigating directories and enjoying the pleasures of text commands via your CMD window. You realize that you would like to bring up an explorer window from your current location:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\AlexTheBeast>d:

D:\>explorer

D:\>

At this point, explorer opens to its default location instead of your current directory–usually your My Documents folder.

To open explorer from your current directory just conclude explorer with a space and a period:

explorer .

So this example would prevent you a lot of extra navigation…

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\AlexTheBeast>cd C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\Reader\plug_ins\Movie

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\Reader\plug_ins\Movie>explorer .

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\Reader\plug_ins\Movie>

In the example above, the explorer window opens directly into the C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\Reader\plug_ins\Movie folder.

By using “explorer .” your explorer window opens up directly in your current directory and saves you a lot of extra work.