| ASSOC | Displays or modifies file extension associations. | |
|---|---|---|
| AT | Schedules commands and programs to run on a computer. | |
| ATTRIB | Displays or changes file attributes. | |
| BREAK | Sets or clears extended CTRL+C checking. | |
| CACLS | Displays or modifies access control lists (ACLs) of files. | |
| CALL | Calls one batch program from another. | |
| CD | Displays the name of or changes the current directory. | |
| CHCP | Displays or sets the active code page number. | |
| CHDIR | Displays the name of or changes the current directory. | |
| CHKDSK | Checks a disk and displays a status report. | |
| CHKNTFS | Displays or modifies the checking of disk at boot time. | |
| CLS | Clears the screen. | |
| CMD | Starts a new instance of the Windows command interpreter. | |
| COLOR | Sets the default console foreground and background colors. | |
| COMP | Compares the contents of two files or sets of files. | |
| COMPACT | Displays or alters the compression of files on NTFS partitions. | |
| CONVERT | Converts FAT volumes to NTFS. You cannot convert the current drive. | |
| COPY | Copies one or more files to another location. | |
| DATE | Displays or sets the date. | |
| DEL | Deletes one or more files. | |
| DIR | Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory. | |
| DISKCOMP | Compares the contents of two floppy disks. | |
| DISKCOPY | Copies the contents of one floppy disk to another. | |
| DOSKEY | Edits command lines, recalls Windows commands, and creates macros. | |
| ECHO | Displays messages, or turns command echoing on or off. | |
| ENDLOCAL | Ends localization of environment changes in a batch file. | |
| ERASE | Deletes one or more files. | |
| EXIT | Quits the CMD.EXE program (command interpreter). | |
| FC | Compares two files or sets of files, and displays the differences between them. | |
| FIND | Searches for a text string in a file or files. | |
| FINDSTR | Searches for strings in files. | |
| FOR | Runs a specified command for each file in a set of files. | |
| FORMAT | Formats a disk for use with Windows. | |
| FTYPE | Displays or modifies file types used in file extension associations. | |
| GOTO | Directs the Windows command interpreter to a labeled line in a batch program. | |
| GRAFTABL | Enables Windows to display an extended character set in graphics mode. | |
| HELP | Provides Help information for Windows commands. | |
| IF | Performs conditional processing in batch programs. | |
| LABEL | Creates, changes, or deletes the volume label of a disk. | |
| MD | Creates a directory. | |
| MKDIR | Creates a directory. | |
| MODE | Configures a system device. | |
| MORE | Displays output one screen at a time. | |
| MOVE | Moves one or more files from one directory to another directory. | |
| PATH | Displays or sets a search path for executable files. | |
| PAUSE | Suspends processing of a batch file and displays a message. | |
| POPD | Restores the previous value of the current directory saved by PUSHD. | |
| Prints a text file. | ||
| PROMPT | Changes the Windows command prompt. | |
| PUSHD | Saves the current directory then changes it. | |
| RD | Removes a directory. | |
| RECOVER | Recovers readable information from a bad or defective disk. | |
| REM | Records comments (remarks) in batch files or CONFIG.SYS. | |
| REN | Renames a file or files. | |
| RENAME | Renames a file or files. | |
| REPLACE | Replaces files. | |
| RMDIR | Removes a directory. | |
| SET | Displays, sets, or removes Windows environment variables. | |
| SETLOCAL | Begins localization of environment changes in a batch file. | |
| SHIFT | Shifts the position of replaceable parameters in batch files. | |
| SORT | Sorts input. | |
| START | Starts a separate window to run a specified program or command. | |
| SUBST | Associates a path with a drive letter. | |
| TIME | Displays or sets the system time. | |
| TITLE | Sets the window title for a CMD.EXE session. | |
| TREE | Graphically displays the directory structure of a drive or path. | |
| TYPE | Displays the contents of a text file. | |
| VER | Displays the Windows version. | |
| VERIFY | Tells Windows whether to verify that your files are written correctly to a disk. | |
| VOL | Displays a disk volume label and serial number. | |
| XCOPY | Copies files and directory trees. |
Displays or modifies file extension associations ASSOC [.ext[=[fileType]]] .ext Specifies the file extension to associate the file type with fileType Specifies the file type to associate with the file extension Type ASSOC without parameters to display the current file associations. If ASSOC is invoked with just a file extension, it displays the current file association for that file extension. Specify nothing for the file type and the command will delete the association for the file extension.Back to the top of this page
The AT command schedules commands and programs to run on a computer at
a specified time and date. The Schedule service must be running to use
the AT command.
AT [\\computername] [ [id] [/DELETE] | /DELETE [/YES]]
AT [\\computername] time [/INTERACTIVE]
[ /EVERY:date[,...] | /NEXT:date[,...]] "command"
\\computername Specifies a remote computer. Commands are scheduled on the
local computer if this parameter is omitted.
id Is an identification number assigned to a scheduled
command.
/delete Cancels a scheduled command. If id is omitted, all the
scheduled commands on the computer are canceled.
/yes Used with cancel all jobs command when no further
confirmation is desired.
time Specifies the time when command is to run.
/interactive Allows the job to interact with the desktop of the user
who is logged on at the time the job runs.
/every:date[,...] Runs the command on each specified day(s) of the week or
month. If date is omitted, the current day of the month
is assumed.
/next:date[,...] Runs the specified command on the next occurrence of the
day (for example, next Thursday). If date is omitted, the
current day of the month is assumed.
"command" Is the Windows NT command, or batch program to be run.
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Displays or changes file attributes.
ATTRIB [+R | -R] [+A | -A ] [+S | -S] [+H | -H] [drive:][path][filename]
[/S [/D]]
+ Sets an attribute.
- Clears an attribute.
R Read-only file attribute.
A Archive file attribute.
S System file attribute.
H Hidden file attribute.
[drive:][path][filename]
Specifies a file or files for attrib to process.
/S Processes matching files in the current folder
and all subfolders.
/D Processes folders as well.
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Sets or Clears Extended CTRL+C checking on DOS system This is present for Compatibility with DOS systems. It has no effect under Windows XP. If Command Extensions are enabled, and running on the Windows XP platform, then the BREAK command will enter a hard coded breakpoint if being debugged by a debugger.Back to the top of this page
Displays or modifies access control lists (ACLs) of filesCACLS filename [/T] [/E] [/C] [/G user:perm] [/R user [...]] [/P user:perm [...]] [/D user [...]] filename Displays ACLs. /T Changes ACLs of specified files in the current directory and all subdirectories. /E Edit ACL instead of replacing it. /C Continue on access denied errors. /G user:perm Grant specified user access rights. Perm can be: R Read W Write C Change (write) F Full control /R user Revoke specified user's access rights (only valid with /E). /P user:perm Replace specified user's access rights. Perm can be: N None R Read W Write C Change (write) F Full control /D user Deny specified user access.Wildcards can be used to specify more that one file in a command.You can specify more than one user in a command.Abbreviations: CI - Container Inherit. The ACE will be inherited by directories. OI - Object Inherit. The ACE will be inherited by files. IO - Inherit Only. The ACE does not apply to the current file/directory.Back to the top of this page
Calls one batch program from another.
CALL [drive:][path]filename [batch-parameters]
batch-parameters Specifies any command-line information required by the
batch program.
If Command Extensions are enabled CALL changes as follows:
CALL command now accepts labels as the target of the CALL. The syntax
is:
CALL :label arguments
A new batch file context is created with the specified arguments and
control is passed to the statement after the label specified. You must
"exit" twice by reaching the end of the batch script file twice. The
first time you read the end, control will return to just after the CALL
statement. The second time will exit the batch script. Type GOTO /?
for a description of the GOTO :EOF extension that will allow you to
"return" from a batch script.
In addition, expansion of batch script argument references (%0, %1,
etc.) have been changed as follows:
%* in a batch script refers to all the arguments (e.g. %1 %2 %3
%4 %5 ...)
Substitution of batch parameters (%n) has been enhanced. You can
now use the following optional syntax:
%~1 - expands %1 removing any surrounding quotes (")
%~f1 - expands %1 to a fully qualified path name
%~d1 - expands %1 to a drive letter only
%~p1 - expands %1 to a path only
%~n1 - expands %1 to a file name only
%~x1 - expands %1 to a file extension only
%~s1 - expanded path contains short names only
%~a1 - expands %1 to file attributes
%~t1 - expands %1 to date/time of file
%~z1 - expands %1 to size of file
%~$PATH:1 - searches the directories listed in the PATH
environment variable and expands %1 to the fully
qualified name of the first one found. If the
environment variable name is not defined or the
file is not found by the search, then this
modifier expands to the empty string
The modifiers can be combined to get compound results:
%~dp1 - expands %1 to a drive letter and path only
%~nx1 - expands %1 to a file name and extension only
%~dp$PATH:1 - searches the directories listed in the PATH
environment variable for %1 and expands to the
drive letter and path of the first one found.
%~ftza1 - expands %1 to a DIR like output line
In the above examples %1 and PATH can be replaced by other
valid values. The %~ syntax is terminated by a valid argument
number. The %~ modifiers may not be used with %*
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Displays the name of or changes the current directory.
CHDIR [/D] [drive:][path]
CHDIR [..]
CD [/D] [drive:][path]
CD [..]
.. Specifies that you want to change to the parent directory.
Type CD drive: to display the current directory in the specified drive.
Type CD without parameters to display the current drive and directory.
Use the /D switch to change current drive in addition to changing current
directory for a drive.
If Command Extensions are enabled CHDIR changes as follows:
The current directory string is converted to use the same case as
the on disk names. So CD C:\TEMP would actually set the current
directory to C:\Temp if that is the case on disk.
CHDIR command does not treat spaces as delimiters, so it is possible to
CD into a subdirectory name that contains a space without surrounding
the name with quotes. For example:
cd \winnt\profiles\username\programs\start menu
is the same as:
cd "\winnt\profiles\username\programs\start menu"
which is what you would have to type if extensions were disabled.
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Displays or sets the active code page number. CHCP [nnn] nnn Specifies a code page number. Type CHCP without a parameter to display the active code page number.Back to the top of this page
Displays the name of or changes the current directory.
CHDIR [/D] [drive:][path]
CHDIR [..]
CD [/D] [drive:][path]
CD [..]
.. Specifies that you want to change to the parent directory.
Type CD drive: to display the current directory in the specified drive.
Type CD without parameters to display the current drive and directory.
Use the /D switch to change current drive in addition to changing current
directory for a drive.
If Command Extensions are enabled CHDIR changes as follows:
The current directory string is converted to use the same case as
the on disk names. So CD C:\TEMP would actually set the current
directory to C:\Temp if that is the case on disk.
CHDIR command does not treat spaces as delimiters, so it is possible to
CD into a subdirectory name that contains a space without surrounding
the name with quotes. For example:
cd \winnt\profiles\username\programs\start menu
is the same as:
cd "\winnt\profiles\username\programs\start menu"
which is what you would have to type if extensions were disabled.
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Checks a disk and displays a status report.
CHKDSK [volume[[path]filename]]] [/F] [/V] [/R] [/X] [/I] [/C] [/L[:size]]
volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
filename FAT/FAT32 only: Specifies the files to check for fragmentation.
/F Fixes errors on the disk.
/V On FAT/FAT32: Displays the full path and name of every file
on the disk.
On NTFS: Displays cleanup messages if any.
/R Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information
(implies /F).
/L:size NTFS only: Changes the log file size to the specified number
of kilobytes. If size is not specified, displays current
size.
/X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary.
All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid
(implies /F).
/I NTFS only: Performs a less vigorous check of index entries.
/C NTFS only: Skips checking of cycles within the folder
structure.
The /I or /C switch reduces the amount of time required to run Chkdsk by
skipping certain checks of the volume.
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Displays or modifies the checking of disk at boot time.
CHKNTFS volume [...]
CHKNTFS /D
CHKNTFS /T[:time]
CHKNTFS /X volume [...]
CHKNTFS /C volume [...]
volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
/D Restores the machine to the default behavior; all drives are
checked at boot time and chkdsk is run on those that are
dirty.
/T:time Changes the AUTOCHK initiation countdown time to the
specified amount of time in seconds. If time is not
specified, displays the current setting.
/X Excludes a drive from the default boot-time check. Excluded
drives are not accumulated between command invocations.
/C Schedules a drive to be checked at boot time; chkdsk will run
if the drive is dirty.
If no switches are specified, CHKNTFS will display if the specified drive is
dirty or scheduled to be checked on next reboot.
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Clears the screen. CLSBack to the top of this page
Starts a new instance of the Windows XP command interpreter
CMD [/A | /U] [/Q] [/D] [/E:ON | /E:OFF] [/F:ON | /F:OFF] [/V:ON | /V:OFF]
[[/S] [/C | /K] string]
/C Carries out the command specified by string and then terminates
/K Carries out the command specified by string but remains
/S Modifies the treatment of string after /C or /K (see below)
/Q Turns echo off
/D Disable execution of AutoRun commands from registry (see below)
/A Causes the output of internal commands to a pipe or file to be ANSI
/U Causes the output of internal commands to a pipe or file to be
Unicode
/T:fg Sets the foreground/background colors (see COLOR /? for more info)
/E:ON Enable command extensions (see below)
/E:OFF Disable command extensions (see below)
/F:ON Enable file and directory name completion characters (see below)
/F:OFF Disable file and directory name completion characters (see below)
/V:ON Enable delayed environment variable expansion using ! as the
delimiter. For example, /V:ON would allow !var! to expand the
variable var at execution time. The var syntax expands variables
at input time, which is quite a different thing when inside of a FOR
loop.
/V:OFF Disable delayed environment expansion.
Note that multiple commands separated by the command separator '&&'
are accepted for string if surrounded by quotes. Also, for compatibility
reasons, /X is the same as /E:ON, /Y is the same as /E:OFF and /R is the
same as /C. Any other switches are ignored.
If /C or /K is specified, then the remainder of the command line after
the switch is processed as a command line, where the following logic is
used to process quote (") characters:
1. If all of the following conditions are met, then quote characters
on the command line are preserved:
- no /S switch
- exactly two quote characters
- no special characters between the two quote characters,
where special is one of: &<>()@^|
- there are one or more whitespace characters between the
the two quote characters
- the string between the two quote characters is the name
of an executable file.
2. Otherwise, old behavior is to see if the first character is
a quote character and if so, strip the leading character and
remove the last quote character on the command line, preserving
any text after the last quote character.
If /D was NOT specified on the command line, then when CMD.EXE starts, it
looks for the following REG_SZ/REG_EXPAND_SZ registry variables, and if
either or both are present, they are executed first.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun
and/or
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun
Command Extensions are enabled by default. You may also disable
extensions for a particular invocation by using the /E:OFF switch. You
can enable or disable extensions for all invocations of CMD.EXE on a
machine and/or user logon session by setting either or both of the
following REG_DWORD values in the registry using REGEDT32.EXE:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\EnableExtensions
and/or
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\EnableExtensions
to either 0x1 or 0x0. The user specific setting takes precedence over
the machine setting. The command line switches take precedence over the
registry settings.
The command extensions involve changes and/or additions to the following
commands:
DEL or ERASE
COLOR
CD or CHDIR
MD or MKDIR
PROMPT
PUSHD
POPD
SET
SETLOCAL
ENDLOCAL
IF
FOR
CALL
SHIFT
GOTO
START (also includes changes to external command invocation)
ASSOC
FTYPE
To get specific details, type commandname /? to view the specifics.
Delayed environment variable expansion is NOT enabled by default. You
can enable or disable delayed environment variable expansion for a
particular invocation of CMD.EXE with the /V:ON or /V:OFF switch. You
can enable or disable completion for all invocations of CMD.EXE on a
machine and/or user logon session by setting either or both of the
following REG_DWORD values in the registry using REGEDT32.EXE:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\DelayedExpansion
and/or
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\DelayedExpansion
to either 0x1 or 0x0. The user specific setting takes precedence over
the machine setting. The command line switches take precedence over the
registry settings.
If delayed environment variable expansion is enabled, then the exclamation
character can be used to substitute the value of an environment variable
at execution time.
File and Directory name completion is NOT enabled by default. You can
enable or disable file name completion for a particular invocation of
CMD.EXE with the /F:ON or /F:OFF switch. You can enable or disable
completion for all invocations of CMD.EXE on a machine and/or user logon
session by setting either or both of the following REG_DWORD values in
the registry using REGEDT32.EXE:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\CompletionChar
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\PathCompletionChar
and/or
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\CompletionChar
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\PathCompletionChar
with the hex value of a control character to use for a particular
function (e.g. 0x4 is Ctrl-D and 0x6 is Ctrl-F). The user specific
settings take precedence over the machine settings. The command line
switches take precedence over the registry settings.
If completion is enabled with the /F:ON switch, the two control
characters used are Ctrl-D for directory name completion and Ctrl-F for
file name completion. To disable a particular completion character in
the registry, use the value for space (0x20) as it is not a valid
control character.
Completion is invoked when you type either of the two control
characters. The completion function takes the path string to the left
of the cursor appends a wild card character to it if none is already
present and builds up a list of paths that match. It then displays the
first matching path. If no paths match, it just beeps and leaves the
display alone. Thereafter, repeated pressing of the same control
character will cycle through the list of matching paths. Pressing the
Shift key with the control character will move through the list
backwards. If you edit the line in any way and press the control
character again, the saved list of matching paths is discarded and a new
one generated. The same occurs if you switch between file and directory
name completion. The only difference between the two control characters
is the file completion character matches both file and directory names,
while the directory completion character only matches directory names.
If file completion is used on any of the built in directory commands
(CD, MD or RD) then directory completion is assumed.
The completion code deals correctly with file names that contain spaces
or other special characters by placing quotes around the matching path.
Also, if you back up, then invoke completion from within a line, the
text to the right of the cursor at the point completion was invoked is
discarded.
The special characters that require quotes are:
&()[]{}^=;!'+,`~
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Sets the default console foreground and background colors.
COLOR [attr]
attr Specifies color attribute of console output
Color attributes are specified by TWO hex digits -- the first
corresponds to the background; the second the foreground. Each digit
can be any of the following values:
0 = Black 8 = Gray
1 = Blue 9 = Light Blue
2 = Green A = Light Green
3 = Aqua B = Light Aqua
4 = Red C = Light Red
5 = Purple D = Light Purple
6 = Yellow E = Light Yellow
7 = White F = Bright White
If no argument is given, this command restores the color to what it was
when CMD.EXE started. This value either comes from the current console
window, the /T command line switch or from the DefaultColor registry
value.
The COLOR command sets ERRORLEVEL to 1 if an attempt is made to execute
the COLOR command with a foreground and background color that are the
same.
Example: "COLOR fc" produces light red on bright white
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Compares the contents of two files or sets of files. COMP [data1] [data2] [/D] [/A] [/L] [/N=number] [/C] [/OFF[LINE]] data1 Specifies location and name(s) of first file(s) to compare. data2 Specifies location and name(s) of second files to compare. /D Displays differences in decimal format. /A Displays differences in ASCII characters. /L Displays line numbers for differences. /N=number Compares only the first specified number of lines in each file. /C Disregards case of ASCII letters when comparing files. /OFF[LINE] Do not skip files with offline attribute set. To compare sets of files, use wildcards in data1 and data2 parameters.Back to the top of this page
Displays or alters the compression of files on NTFS partitions.
COMPACT [/C | /U] [/S[:dir]] [/A] [/I] [/F] [/Q] [filename [...]]
/C Compresses the specified files. Directories will be marked
so that files added afterward will be compressed.
/U Uncompresses the specified files. Directories will be marked
so that files added afterward will not be compressed.
/S Performs the specified operation on files in the given
directory and all subdirectories. Default "dir" is the
current directory.
/A Displays files with the hidden or system attributes. These
files are omitted by default.
/I Continues performing the specified operation even after errors
have occurred. By default, COMPACT stops when an error is
encountered.
/F Forces the compress operation on all specified files, even
those which are already compressed. Already-compressed files
are skipped by default.
/Q Reports only the most essential information.
filename Specifies a pattern, file, or directory.
Used without parameters, COMPACT displays the compression state of
the current directory and any files it contains. You may use multiple
filenames and wildcards. You must put spaces between multiple
parameters.
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Converts FAT volumes to NTFS.
CONVERT volume /FS:NTFS [/V] [/CvtArea:filename] [/NoSecurity] [/X]
volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
/FS:NTFS Specifies that the volume is to be converted to NTFS.
/V Specifies that Convert should be run in verbose mode.
/CvtArea:filename
Specifies a contiguous file in the root directory to be
the place holder for NTFS system files.
/NoSecurity Specifies the converted files and directories security
settings to be accessible by everyone.
/X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary.
All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid.
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Copies one or more files to another location.
COPY [/D] [/V] [/N] [/Y | /-Y] [/Z] [/A | /B ] source [/A | /B]
[+ source [/A | /B] [+ ...]] [destination [/A | /B]]
source Specifies the file or files to be copied.
/A Indicates an ASCII text file.
/B Indicates a binary file.
/D Allow the destination file to be created decrypted
destination Specifies the directory and/or filename for the new file(s).
/V Verifies that new files are written correctly.
/N Uses short filename, if available, when copying a file with a
non-8dot3 name.
/Y Suppresses prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an
existing destination file.
/-Y Causes prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an
existing destination file.
/Z Copies networked files in restartable mode.
The switch /Y may be preset in the COPYCMD environment variable.
This may be overridden with /-Y on the command line. Default is
to prompt on overwrites unless COPY command is being executed from
within a batch script.
To append files, specify a single file for destination, but multiple files
for source (using wildcards or file1+file2+file3 format).
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Displays or sets the date. DATE [/T | date] Type DATE without parameters to display the current date setting and a prompt for a new one. Press ENTER to keep the same date. If Command Extensions are enabled the DATE command supports the /T switch which tells the command to just output the current date, without prompting for a new date.Back to the top of this page
Deletes one or more files.
DEL [/P] [/F] [/S] [/Q] [/A[[:]attributes]] names
ERASE [/P] [/F] [/S] [/Q] [/A[[:]attributes]] names
names Specifies a list of one or more files or directories.
Wildcards may be used to delete multiple files. If a
directory is specified, all files within the directory
will be deleted.
/P Prompts for confirmation before deleting each file.
/F Force deleting of read-only files.
/S Delete specified files from all subdirectories.
/Q Quiet mode, do not ask if ok to delete on global wildcard
/A Selects files to delete based on attributes
attributes R Read-only files S System files
H Hidden files A Files ready for archiving
- Prefix meaning not
If Command Extensions are enabled DEL and ERASE change as follows:
The display semantics of the /S switch are reversed in that it shows
you only the files that are deleted, not the ones it could not find.
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Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory.
DIR [drive:][path][filename] [/A[[:]attributes]] [/B] [/C] [/D] [/L] [/N]
[/O[[:]sortorder]] [/P] [/Q] [/S] [/T[[:]timefield]] [/W] [/X] [/4]
[drive:][path][filename]
Specifies drive, directory, and/or files to list.
/A Displays files with specified attributes.
attributes D Directories R Read-only files
H Hidden files A Files ready for archiving
S System files - Prefix meaning not
/B Uses bare format (no heading information or summary).
/C Display the thousand separator in file sizes. This is the
default. Use /-C to disable display of separator.
/D Same as wide but files are list sorted by column.
/L Uses lowercase.
/N New long list format where filenames are on the far right.
/O List by files in sorted order.
sortorder N By name (alphabetic) S By size (smallest first)
E By extension (alphabetic) D By date/time (oldest first)
G Group directories first - Prefix to reverse order
/P Pauses after each screenful of information.
/Q Display the owner of the file.
/S Displays files in specified directory and all subdirectories.
/T Controls which time field displayed or used for sorting
timefield C Creation
A Last Access
W Last Written
/W Uses wide list format.
/X This displays the short names generated for non-8dot3 file
names. The format is that of /N with the short name inserted
before the long name. If no short name is present, blanks are
displayed in its place.
/4 Displays four-digit years
Switches may be preset in the DIRCMD environment variable. Override
preset switches by prefixing any switch with - (hyphen)--for example, /-W.
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Compares the contents of two floppy disks. DISKCOMP [drive1: [drive2:]]Back to the top of this page
Copies the contents of one floppy disk to another. DISKCOPY [drive1: [drive2:]] [/V] /V Verifies that the information is copied correctly. The two floppy disks must be the same type. You may specify the same drive for drive1 and drive2.Back to the top of this page
Edits command lines, recalls Windows XP commands, and creates macros.
DOSKEY [/REINSTALL] [/LISTSIZE=size] [/MACROS[:ALL | :exename]]
[/HISTORY] [/INSERT | /OVERSTRIKE] [/EXENAME=exename] [/MACROFILE=filename]
[macroname=[text]]
/REINSTALL Installs a new copy of Doskey.
/LISTSIZE=size Sets size of command history buffer.
/MACROS Displays all Doskey macros.
/MACROS:ALL Displays all Doskey macros for all executables which have
Doskey macros.
/MACROS:exename Displays all Doskey macros for the given executable.
/HISTORY Displays all commands stored in memory.
/INSERT Specifies that new text you type is inserted in old text.
/OVERSTRIKE Specifies that new text overwrites old text.
/EXENAME=exename Specifies the executable.
/MACROFILE=filename Specifies a file of macros to install.
macroname Specifies a name for a macro you create.
text Specifies commands you want to record.
UP and DOWN ARROWS recall commands; ESC clears command line; F7 displays
command history; ALT+F7 clears command history; F8 searches command
history; F9 selects a command by number; ALT+F10 clears macro definitions.
The following are some special codes in Doskey macro definitions:
$T Command separator. Allows multiple commands in a macro.
$1-$9 Batch parameters. Equivalent to %1-%9 in batch programs.
$* Symbol replaced by everything following macro name on command line.
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Displays messages, or turns command-echoing on or off. ECHO [ON | OFF] ECHO [message] Type ECHO without parameters to display the current echo setting.Back to the top of this page
Ends localization of environment changes in a batch file. Environment changes made after ENDLOCAL has been issued are not local to the batch file; the previous settings are not restored on termination of the batch file. ENDLOCAL If Command Extensions are enabled ENDLOCAL changes as follows: If the corresponding SETLOCAL enable or disabled command extensions using the new ENABLEEXTENSIONS or DISABLEEXTENSIONS options, then after the ENDLOCAL, the enabled/disabled state of command extensions will be restored to what it was prior to the matching SETLOCAL command execution.Back to the top of this page
Deletes one or more files.
DEL [/P] [/F] [/S] [/Q] [/A[[:]attributes]] names
ERASE [/P] [/F] [/S] [/Q] [/A[[:]attributes]] names
names Specifies a list of one or more files or directories.
Wildcards may be used to delete multiple files. If a
directory is specified, all files within the directory
will be deleted.
/P Prompts for confirmation before deleting each file.
/F Force deleting of read-only files.
/S Delete specified files from all subdirectories.
/Q Quiet mode, do not ask if ok to delete on global wildcard
/A Selects files to delete based on attributes
attributes R Read-only files S System files
H Hidden files A Files ready for archiving
- Prefix meaning not
If Command Extensions are enabled DEL and ERASE change as follows:
The display semantics of the /S switch are reversed in that it shows
you only the files that are deleted, not the ones it could not find.
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Quits the CMD.EXE program (command interpreter) or the current batch
script.
EXIT [/B] [exitCode]
/B specifies to exit the current batch script instead of
CMD.EXE. If executed from outside a batch script, it
will quit CMD.EXE
exitCode specifies a numeric number. if /B is specified, sets
ERRORLEVEL that number. If quitting CMD.EXE, sets the process
exit code with that number.
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Compares two files or sets of files and displays the differences between
them
FC [/A] [/C] [/L] [/LBn] [/N] [/OFF[LINE]] [/T] [/U] [/W] [/nnnn]
[drive1:][path1]filename1 [drive2:][path2]filename2
FC /B [drive1:][path1]filename1 [drive2:][path2]filename2
/A Displays only first and last lines for each set of differences.
/B Performs a binary comparison.
/C Disregards the case of letters.
/L Compares files as ASCII text.
/LBn Sets the maximum consecutive mismatches to the specified
number of lines.
/N Displays the line numbers on an ASCII comparison.
/OFF[LINE] Do not skip files with offline attribute set.
/T Does not expand tabs to spaces.
/U Compare files as UNICODE text files.
/W Compresses white space (tabs and spaces) for comparison.
/nnnn Specifies the number of consecutive lines that must match
after a mismatch.
[drive1:][path1]filename1
Specifies the first file or set of files to compare.
[drive2:][path2]filename2
Specifies the second file or set of files to compare.
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Searches for a text string in a file or files.
FIND [/V] [/C] [/N] [/I] [/OFF[LINE]] "string" [[drive:][path]filename[ ...]]
/V Displays all lines NOT containing the specified string.
/C Displays only the count of lines containing the string.
/N Displays line numbers with the displayed lines.
/I Ignores the case of characters when searching for the string.
/OFF[LINE] Do not skip files with offline attribute set.
"string" Specifies the text string to find.
[drive:][path]filename
Specifies a file or files to search.
If a path is not specified, FIND searches the text typed at the prompt
or piped from another command.
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Searches for strings in files.
FINDSTR [/B] [/E] [/L] [/R] [/S] [/I] [/X] [/V] [/N] [/M] [/O] [/P] [/F:file]
[/C:string] [/G:file] [/D:dir list] [/A:color attributes] [/OFF[LINE]]
strings [[drive:][path]filename[ ...]]
/B Matches pattern if at the beginning of a line.
/E Matches pattern if at the end of a line.
/L Uses search strings literally.
/R Uses search strings as regular expressions.
/S Searches for matching files in the current directory and all
subdirectories.
/I Specifies that the search is not to be case-sensitive.
/X Prints lines that match exactly.
/V Prints only lines that do not contain a match.
/N Prints the line number before each line that matches.
/M Prints only the filename if a file contains a match.
/O Prints character offset before each matching line.
/P Skip files with non-printable characters.
/OFF[LINE] Do not skip files with offline attribute set.
/A:attr Specifies color attribute with two hex digits. See "color /?"
/F:file Reads file list from the specified file(/ stands for console).
/C:string Uses specified string as a literal search string.
/G:file Gets search strings from the specified file(/ stands for console).
/D:dir Search a semicolon delimited list of directories
strings Text to be searched for.
[drive:][path]filename
Specifies a file or files to search.
Use spaces to separate multiple search strings unless the argument is prefixed
with /C. For example, 'FINDSTR "hello there" x.y' searches for "hello" or
"there" in file x.y. 'FINDSTR /C:"hello there" x.y' searches for
"hello there" in file x.y.
Regular expression quick reference:
. Wildcard: any character
* Repeat: zero or more occurances of previous character or class
^ Line position: beginning of line
$ Line position: end of line
[class] Character class: any one character in set
[^class] Inverse class: any one character not in set
[x-y] Range: any characters within the specified range
\x Escape: literal use of metacharacter x
\ Word position: end of word
For full information on FINDSTR regular expressions refer to the online Command
Reference.
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Runs a specified command for each file in a set of files.
FOR %variable IN (set) DO command [command-parameters]
%variable Specifies a single letter replaceable parameter.
(set) Specifies a set of one or more files. Wildcards may be used.
command Specifies the command to carry out for each file.
command-parameters
Specifies parameters or switches for the specified command.
To use the FOR command in a batch program, specify %%variable instead
of %variable. Variable names are case sensitive, so %i is different
from %I.
If Command Extensions are enabled, the following additional
forms of the FOR command are supported:
FOR /D %variable IN (set) DO command [command-parameters]
If set contains wildcards, then specifies to match against directory
names instead of file names.
FOR /R [[drive:]path] %variable IN (set) DO command [command-parameters]
Walks the directory tree rooted at [drive:]path, executing the FOR
statement in each directory of the tree. If no directory
specification is specified after /R then the current directory is
assumed. If set is just a single period (.) character then it
will just enumerate the directory tree.
FOR /L %variable IN (start,step,end) DO command [command-parameters]
The set is a sequence of numbers from start to end, by step amount.
So (1,1,5) would generate the sequence 1 2 3 4 5 and (5,-1,1) would
generate the sequence (5 4 3 2 1)
FOR /F ["options"] %variable IN (file-set) DO command [command-parameters]
FOR /F ["options"] %variable IN ("string") DO command [command-parameters]
FOR /F ["options"] %variable IN ('command') DO command [command-parameters]
or, if usebackq option present:
FOR /F ["options"] %variable IN (file-set) DO command [command-parameters]
FOR /F ["options"] %variable IN ('string') DO command [command-parameters]
FOR /F ["options"] %variable IN (`command`) DO command [command-parameters]
filenameset is one or more file names. Each file is opened, read
and processed before going on to the next file in filenameset.
Processing consists of reading in the file, breaking it up into
individual lines of text and then parsing each line into zero or
more tokens. The body of the for loop is then called with the
variable value(s) set to the found token string(s). By default, /F
passes the first blank separated token from each line of each file.
Blank lines are skipped. You can override the default parsing
behavior by specifying the optional "options" parameter. This
is a quoted string which contains one or more keywords to specify
different parsing options. The keywords are:
eol=c - specifies an end of line comment character
(just one)
skip=n - specifies the number of lines to skip at the
beginning of the file.
delims=xxx - specifies a delimiter set. This replaces the
default delimiter set of space and tab.
tokens=x,y,m-n - specifies which tokens from each line are to
be passed to the for body for each iteration.
This will cause additional variable names to
be allocated. The m-n form is a range,
specifying the mth through the nth tokens. If
the last character in the tokens= string is an
asterisk, then an additional variable is
allocated and receives the remaining text on
the line after the last token parsed.
usebackq - specifies that the new semantics are in force,
where a back quoted string is executed as a
command and a single quoted string is a
literal string command and allows the use of
double quotes to quote file names in
filenameset.
Some examples might help:
FOR /F "eol=; tokens=2,3* delims=, " %i in (myfile.txt) do @echo %i %j %k
would parse each line in myfile.txt, ignoring lines that begin with
a semicolon, passing the 2nd and 3rd token from each line to the for
body, with tokens delimited by commas and/or spaces. Notice the for
body statements reference %i to get the 2nd token, %j to get the
3rd token, and %k to get all remaining tokens after the 3rd. For
file names that contain spaces, you need to quote the filenames with
double quotes. In order to use double quotes in this manner, you also
need to use the usebackq option, otherwise the double quotes will be
interpreted as defining a literal string to parse.
%i is explicitly declared in the for statement and the %j and %k
are implicitly declared via the tokens= option. You can specify up
to 26 tokens via the tokens= line, provided it does not cause an
attempt to declare a variable higher than the letter 'z' or 'Z'.
Remember, FOR variables are single-letter, case sensitive, global,
and you can't have more than 52 total active at any one time.
You can also use the FOR /F parsing logic on an immediate string, by
making the filenameset between the parenthesis a quoted string,
using single quote characters. It will be treated as a single line
of input from a file and parsed.
Finally, you can use the FOR /F command to parse the output of a
command. You do this by making the filenameset between the
parenthesis a back quoted string. It will be treated as a command
line, which is passed to a child CMD.EXE and the output is captured
into memory and parsed as if it was a file. So the following
example:
FOR /F "usebackq delims==" %i IN (`set`) DO @echo %i
would enumerate the environment variable names in the current
environment.
In addition, substitution of FOR variable references has been enhanced.
You can now use the following optional syntax:
%~I - expands %I removing any surrounding quotes (")
%~fI - expands %I to a fully qualified path name
%~dI - expands %I to a drive letter only
%~pI - expands %I to a path only
%~nI - expands %I to a file name only
%~xI - expands %I to a file extension only
%~sI - expanded path contains short names only
%~aI - expands %I to file attributes of file
%~tI - expands %I to date/time of file
%~zI - expands %I to size of file
%~$PATH:I - searches the directories listed in the PATH
environment variable and expands %I to the
fully qualified name of the first one found.
If the environment variable name is not
defined or the file is not found by the
search, then this modifier expands to the
empty string
The modifiers can be combined to get compound results:
%~dpI - expands %I to a drive letter and path only
%~nxI - expands %I to a file name and extension only
%~fsI - expands %I to a full path name with short names only
%~dp$PATH:I - searches the directories listed in the PATH
environment variable for %I and expands to the
drive letter and path of the first one found.
%~ftzaI - expands %I to a DIR like output line
In the above examples %I and PATH can be replaced by other valid
values. The %~ syntax is terminated by a valid FOR variable name.
Picking upper case variable names like %I makes it more readable and
avoids confusion with the modifiers, which are not case sensitive.
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Formats a disk for use with Windows XP.
FORMAT volume [/FS:file-system] [/V:label] [/Q] [/A:size] [/C] [/X]
FORMAT volume [/V:label] [/Q] [/F:size]
FORMAT volume [/V:label] [/Q] [/T:tracks /N:sectors]
FORMAT volume [/V:label] [/Q]
FORMAT volume [/Q]
volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
/FS:filesystem Specifies the type of the file system (FAT, FAT32, or NTFS).
/V:label Specifies the volume label.
/Q Performs a quick format.
/C NTFS only: Files created on the new volume will be compressed
by default.
/X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary. All opened
handles to the volume would no longer be valid.
/A:size Overrides the default allocation unit size. Default settings
are strongly recommended for general use.
NTFS supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K.
FAT supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K,
(128K, 256K for sector size > 512 bytes).
FAT32 supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K,
(128K, 256K for sector size > 512 bytes).
Note that the FAT and FAT32 files systems impose the
following restrictions on the number of clusters on a volume:
FAT: Number of clusters <= 65526
FAT32: 65526 < Number of clusters < 4177918
Format will immediately stop processing if it decides that
the above requirements cannot be met using the specified
cluster size.
NTFS compression is not supported for allocation unit sizes
above 4096.
/F:size Specifies the size of the floppy disk to format (1.44)
/T:tracks Specifies the number of tracks per disk side.
/N:sectors Specifies the number of sectors per track.
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Displays or modifies file types used in file extension associations
FTYPE [fileType[=[openCommandString]]]
fileType Specifies the file type to examine or change
openCommandString Specifies the open command to use when launching files
of this type.
Type FTYPE without parameters to display the current file types that
have open command strings defined. FTYPE is invoked with just a file
type, it displays the current open command string for that file type.
Specify nothing for the open command string and the FTYPE command will
delete the open command string for the file type. Within an open
command string %0 or %1 are substituted with the file name being
launched through the assocation. %* gets all the parameters and %2
gets the 1st parameter, %3 the second, etc. %~n gets all the remaining
parameters starting with the nth parameter, where n may be between 2 and 9,
inclusive. For example:
ASSOC .pl=PerlScript
FTYPE PerlScript=perl.exe %1 %*
would allow you to invoke a Perl script as follows:
script.pl 1 2 3
If you want to eliminate the need to type the extensions, then do the
following:
set PATHEXT=.pl;%PATHEXT%
and the script could be invoked as follows:
script 1 2 3
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Directs cmd.exe to a labeled line in a batch program. GOTO label label Specifies a text string used in the batch program as a label. You type a label on a line by itself, beginning with a colon. If Command Extensions are enabled GOTO changes as follows: GOTO command now accepts a target label of :EOF which transfers control to the end of the current batch script file. This is an easy way to exit a batch script file without defining a label. Type CALL /? for a description of extensions to the CALL command that make this feature useful.Back to the top of this page
Enable Windows to display an extended character set in graphics mode. GRAFTABL [xxx] GRAFTABL /STATUS xxx Specifies a code page number. /STATUS Displays the current code page selected for use with GRAFTABL.Back to the top of this page
Provides help information for Windows XP commands.
HELP [command]
command - displays help information on that command.
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Performs conditional processing in batch programs.
IF [NOT] ERRORLEVEL number command
IF [NOT] string1==string2 command
IF [NOT] EXIST filename command
NOT Specifies that Windows XP should carry out
the command only if the condition is false.
ERRORLEVEL number Specifies a true condition if the last program run
returned an exit code equal to or greater than the number
specified.
string1==string2 Specifies a true condition if the specified text strings
match.
EXIST filename Specifies a true condition if the specified filename
exists.
command Specifies the command to carry out if the condition is
met. Command can be followed by ELSE command which
will execute the command after the ELSE keyword if the
specified condition is FALSE
The ELSE clause must occur on the same line as the command after the IF. For
example:
IF EXIST filename. (
del filename.
) ELSE (
echo filename. missing.
)
The following would NOT work because the del command needs to be terminated
by a newline:
IF EXIST filename. del filename. ELSE echo filename. missing
Nor would the following work, since the ELSE command must be on the same line
as the end of the IF command:
IF EXIST filename. del filename.
ELSE echo filename. missing
The following would work if you want it all on one line:
IF EXIST filename. (del filename.) ELSE echo filename. missing
If Command Extensions are enabled IF changes as follows:
IF [/I] string1 compare-op string2 command
IF CMDEXTVERSION number command
IF DEFINED variable command
where compare-op may be one of:
EQU - equal
NEQ - not equal
LSS - less than
LEQ - less than or equal
GTR - greater than
GEQ - greater than or equal
and the /I switch, if specified, says to do case insensitive string
compares. The /I switch can also be used on the string1==string2 form
of IF. These comparisons are generic, in that if both string1 and
string2 are both comprised of all numeric digits, then the strings are
converted to numbers and a numeric comparison is performed.
The CMDEXTVERSION conditional works just like ERRORLEVEL, except it is
comparing against an internal version number associated with the Command
Extensions. The first version is 1. It will be incremented by one when
significant enhancements are added to the Command Extensions.
CMDEXTVERSION conditional is never true when Command Extensions are
disabled.
The DEFINED conditional works just like EXISTS except it takes an
environment variable name and returns true if the environment variable
is defined.
%ERRORLEVEL% will expand into a string representation of
the current value of ERRORLEVEL, provided that there is not already
an environment variable with the name ERRORLEVEL, in which case you
will get its value instead. After running a program, the following
illustrates ERRORLEVEL use:
goto answer%ERRORLEVEL%
:answer0
echo Program had return code 0
:answer1
echo Program had return code 1
You can also using the numerical comparisons above:
IF %ERRORLEVEL% LEQ 1 goto okay
%CMDCMDLINE% will expand into the original command line passed to
CMD.EXE prior to any processing by CMD.EXE, provided that there is not
already an environment variable with the name CMDCMDLINE, in which case
you will get its value instead.
%CMDEXTVERSION% will expand into a string representation of the
current value of CMDEXTVERSION, provided that there is not already
an environment variable with the name CMDEXTVERSION, in which case you
will get its value instead.
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Creates, changes, or deletes the volume label of a disk.
LABEL [drive:][label]
LABEL [/MP] [volume] [label]
drive: Specifies the drive letter of a drive.
label Specifies the label of the volume.
/MP Specifies that the volume should be treated as a
mount point or volume name.
volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name. If volume name is specified,
the /MP flag is unnecessary.
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Creates a directory.
MKDIR [drive:]path
MD [drive:]path
If Command Extensions are enabled MKDIR changes as follows:
MKDIR creates any intermediate directories in the path, if needed.
For example, assume \a does not exist then:
mkdir \a\b\c\d
is the same as:
mkdir \a
chdir \a
mkdir b
chdir b
mkdir c
chdir c
mkdir d
which is what you would have to type if extensions were disabled.
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Creates a directory.
MKDIR [drive:]path
MD [drive:]path
If Command Extensions are enabled MKDIR changes as follows:
MKDIR creates any intermediate directories in the path, if needed.
For example, assume \a does not exist then:
mkdir \a\b\c\d
is the same as:
mkdir \a
chdir \a
mkdir b
chdir b
mkdir c
chdir c
mkdir d
which is what you would have to type if extensions were disabled.
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Configures system devices.
Serial port: MODE COMm[:] [BAUD=b] [PARITY=p] [DATA=d] [STOP=s]
[to=on|off] [xon=on|off] [odsr=on|off]
[octs=on|off] [dtr=on|off|hs]
[rts=on|off|hs|tg] [idsr=on|off]
Device Status: MODE [device] [/STATUS]
Redirect printing: MODE LPTn[:]=COMm[:]
Select code page: MODE CON[:] CP SELECT=yyy
Code page status: MODE CON[:] CP [/STATUS]
Display mode: MODE CON[:] [COLS=c] [LINES=n]
Typematic rate: MODE CON[:] [RATE=r DELAY=d]
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Displays output one screen at a time.
MORE [/E [/C] [/P] [/S] [/Tn] [+n]] < [drive:][path]filename
command-name | MORE [/E [/C] [/P] [/S] [/Tn] [+n]]
MORE /E [/C] [/P] [/S] [/Tn] [+n] [files]
[drive:][path]filename Specifies a file to display one
screen at a time.
command-name Specifies a command whose output
will be displayed.
/E Enable extended features
/C Clear screen before displaying page
/P Expand FormFeed characters
/S Squeeze multiple blank lines into a single line
/Tn Expand tabs to n spaces (default 8)
Switches can be present in the MORE environment
variable.
+n Start displaying the first file at line n
files List of files to be displayed. Files in the list
are separated by blanks.
If extended features are enabled, the following commands
are accepted at the -- More -- prompt:
P n Display next n lines
S n Skip next n lines
F Display next file
Q Quit
= Show line number
? Show help line
Display next page
Display next line
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Moves files and renames files and directories.
To move one or more files:
MOVE [/Y | /-Y] [drive:][path]filename1[,...] destination
To rename a directory:
MOVE [/Y | /-Y] [drive:][path]dirname1 dirname2
[drive:][path]filename1 Specifies the location and name of the file
or files you want to move.
destination Specifies the new location of the file. Destination
can consist of a drive letter and colon, a
directory name, or a combination. If you are moving
only one file, you can also include a filename if
you want to rename the file when you move it.
[drive:][path]dirname1 Specifies the directory you want to rename.
dirname2 Specifies the new name of the directory.
/Y Suppresses prompting to confirm you want to
overwrite an existing destination file.
/-Y Causes prompting to confirm you want to overwrite
an existing destination file.
The switch /Y may be present in the COPYCMD environment variable.
This may be overridden with /-Y on the command line. Default is
to prompt on overwrites unless MOVE command is being executed from
within a batch script.
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Displays or sets a search path for executable files. PATH [[drive:]path[;...][;%PATH%] PATH ; Type PATH ; to clear all search-path settings and direct cmd.exe to search only in the current directory. Type PATH without parameters to display the current path. Including %PATH% in the new path setting causes the old path to be appended to the new setting.Back to the top of this page
Suspends processing of a batch program and displays the message
Press any key to continue . . .
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Changes to the directory stored by the PUSHD command. POPD If Command Extensions are enabled the POPD command will delete any temporary drive letter created by PUSHD when you POPD that drive off the pushed directory stack.Back to the top of this page
Prints a text file. PRINT [/D:device] [[drive:][path]filename[...]] /D:device Specifies a print device.Back to the top of this page
Changes the cmd.exe command prompt.
PROMPT [text]
text Specifies a new command prompt.
Prompt can be made up of normal characters and the following special codes:
$A & (Ampersand)
$B | (pipe)
$C ( (Left parenthesis)
$D Current date
$E Escape code (ASCII code 27)
$F ) (Right parenthesis)
$G > (greater-than sign)
$H Backspace (erases previous character)
$L < (less-than sign)
$N Current drive
$P Current drive and path
$Q = (equal sign)
$S (space)
$T Current time
$V Windows XP version number
$_ Carriage return and linefeed
$$ $ (dollar sign)
If Command Extensions are enabled the PROMPT command supports
the following additional formatting characters:
$+ zero or more plus sign (+) characters depending upon the
depth of the PUSHD directory stack, one character for each
level pushed.
$M Displays the remote name associated with the current drive
letter or the empty string if current drive is not a network
drive.
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Stores the current directory for use by the POPD command, then changes to the specified directory. PUSHD [path | ..] path Specifies the directory to make the current directory. If Command Extensions are enabled the PUSHD command accepts network paths in addition to the normal drive letter and path. If a network path is specified, PUSHD will create a temporary drive letter that points to that specified network resource and then change the current drive and directory, using the newly defined drive letter. Temporary drive letters are allocated from Z: on down, using the first unused drive letter found.Back to the top of this page
Removes (deletes) a directory.
RMDIR [/S] [/Q] [drive:]path
RD [/S] [/Q] [drive:]path
/S Removes all directories and files in the specified directory
in addition to the directory itself. Used to remove a directory
tree.
/Q Quiet mode, do not ask if ok to remove a directory tree with /S
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Recovers readable information from a bad or defective disk. RECOVER [drive:][path]filename Consult the online Command Reference in Windows XP Help before using the RECOVER command.Back to the top of this page
Records comments (remarks) in a batch file or CONFIG.SYS. REM [comment]Back to the top of this page
Renames a file or files. RENAME [drive:][path]filename1 filename2. REN [drive:][path]filename1 filename2. Note that you cannot specify a new drive or path for your destination file.Back to the top of this page
Renames a file or files. RENAME [drive:][path]filename1 filename2. REN [drive:][path]filename1 filename2. Note that you cannot specify a new drive or path for your destination file.Back to the top of this page
Replaces files.
REPLACE [drive1:][path1]filename [drive2:][path2] [/A] [/P] [/R] [/W]
REPLACE [drive1:][path1]filename [drive2:][path2] [/P] [/R] [/S] [/W] [/U]
[drive1:][path1]filename Specifies the source file or files.
[drive2:][path2] Specifies the directory where files are to be
replaced.
/A Adds new files to destination directory. Cannot
use with /S or /U switches.
/P Prompts for confirmation before replacing a file or
adding a source file.
/R Replaces read-only files as well as unprotected
files.
/S Replaces files in all subdirectories of the
destination directory. Cannot use with the /A
switch.
/W Waits for you to insert a disk before beginning.
/U Replaces (updates) only files that are older than
source files. Cannot use with the /A switch.
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Removes (deletes) a directory.
RMDIR [/S] [/Q] [drive:]path
RD [/S] [/Q] [drive:]path
/S Removes all directories and files in the specified directory
in addition to the directory itself. Used to remove a directory
tree.
/Q Quiet mode, do not ask if ok to remove a directory tree with /S
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Displays, sets, or removes cmd.exe environment variables.
SET [variable=[string]]
variable Specifies the environment-variable name.
string Specifies a series of characters to assign to the variable.
Type SET without parameters to display the current environment variables.
If Command Extensions are enabled SET changes as follows:
SET command invoked with just a variable name, no equal sign or value
will display the value of all variables whose prefix matches the name
given to the SET command. For example:
SET P
would display all variables that begin with the letter 'P'
SET command will set the ERRORLEVEL to 1 if the variable name is not
found in the current environment.
SET command will not allow an equal sign to be part of the name of
a variable.
Two new switches have been added to the SET command:
SET /A expression
SET /P variable=[promptString]
The /A switch specifies that the string to the right of the equal sign
is a numerical expression that is evaluated. The expression evaluator
is pretty simple and supports the following operations, in decreasing
order of precedence:
() - grouping
! ~ - - unary operators
* / % - arithmetic operators
+ - - arithmetic operators
<< >> - logical shift
& - bitwise and
^ - bitwise exclusive or
| - bitwise or
= *= /= %= += -= - assignment
&= ^= |= <<= >>=
, - expression separator
If you use any of the logical or modulus operators, you will need to
enclose the expression string in quotes. Any non-numeric strings in the
expression are treated as environment variable names whose values are
converted to numbers before using them. If an environment variable name
is specified but is not defined in the current environment, then a value
of zero is used. This allows you to do arithmetic with environment
variable values without having to type all those % signs to get their
values. If SET /A is executed from the command line outside of a
command script, then it displays the final value of the expression. The
assignment operator requires an environment variable name to the left of
the assignment operator. Numeric values are decimal numbers, unless
prefixed by 0x for hexadecimal numbers, and 0 for octal numbers.
So 0x12 is the same as 18 is the same as 022. Please note that the octal
notation can be confusing: 08 and 09 are not valid numbers because 8 and
9 are not valid octal digits.
The /P switch allows you to set the value of a variable to a line of input
entered by the user. Displays the specified promptString before reading
the line of input. The promptString can be empty.
Environment variable substitution has been enhanced as follows:
%PATH:str1=str2%
would expand the PATH environment variable, substituting each occurrence
of "str1" in the expanded result with "str2". "str2" can be the empty
string to effectively delete all occurrences of "str1" from the expanded
output. "str1" can begin with an asterisk, in which case it will match
everything from the beginning of the expanded output to the first
occurrence of the remaining portion of str1.
May also specify substrings for an expansion.
%PATH:~10,5%
would expand the PATH environment variable, and then use only the 5
characters that begin at the 11th (offset 10) character of the expanded
result. If the length is not specified, then it defaults to the
remainder of the variable value. If either number (offset or length) is
negative, then the number used is the length of the environment variable
value added to the offset or length specified.
%PATH:~-10%
would extract the last 10 characters of the PATH variable.
%PATH:~0,-2%
would extract all but the last 2 characters of the PATH variable.
Finally, support for delayed environment variable expansion has been
added. This support is always disabled by default, but may be
enabled/disabled via the /V command line switch to CMD.EXE. See CMD /?
Delayed environment variable expansion is useful for getting around
the limitations of the current expansion which happens when a line
of text is read, not when it is executed. The following example
demonstrates the problem with immediate variable expansion:
set VAR=before
if "%VAR%" == "before" (
set VAR=after
if "%VAR%" == "after" @echo If you see this, it worked
)
would never display the message, since the %VAR% in BOTH IF statements
is substituted when the first IF statement is read, since it logically
includes the body of the IF, which is a compound statement. So the
IF inside the compound statement is really comparing "before" with
"after" which will never be equal. Similarly, the following example
will not work as expected:
set LIST=
for %i in (*) do set LIST=%LIST% %i
echo %LIST%
in that it will NOT build up a list of files in the current directory,
but instead will just set the LIST variable to the last file found.
Again, this is because the %LIST% is expanded just once when the
FOR statement is read, and at that time the LIST variable is empty.
So the actual FOR loop we are executing is:
for %i in (*) do set LIST= %i
which just keeps setting LIST to the last file found.
Delayed environment variable expansion allows you to use a different
character (the exclamation mark) to expand environment variables at
execution time. If delayed variable expansion is enabled, the above
examples could be written as follows to work as intended:
set VAR=before
if "%VAR%" == "before" (
set VAR=after
if "!VAR!" == "after" @echo If you see this, it worked
)
set LIST=
for %i in (*) do set LIST=!LIST! %i
echo %LIST%
If Command Extensions are enabled, then there are several dynamic
environment variables that can be expanded but which don't show up in
the list of variables displayed by SET. These variable values are
computed dynamically each time the value of the variable is expanded.
If the user explicitly defines a variable with one of these names, then
that definition will override the dynamic one described below:
%CD% - expands to the current directory string.
%DATE% - expands to current date using same format as DATE command.
%TIME% - expands to current time using same format as TIME command.
%RANDOM% - expands to a random decimal number between 0 and 32767.
%ERRORLEVEL% - expands to the current ERRORLEVEL value
%CMDEXTVERSION% - expands to the current Command Processor Extensions
version number.
%CMDCMDLINE% - expands to the original command line that invoked the
Command Processor.
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Begins localization of environment changes in a batch file. Environment
changes made after SETLOCAL has been issued are local to the batch file.
ENDLOCAL must be issued to restore the previous settings. When the end
of a batch script is reached, an implied ENDLOCAL is executed for any
outstanding SETLOCAL commands issued by that batch script.
SETLOCAL
If Command Extensions are enabled SETLOCAL changes as follows:
SETLOCAL batch command now accepts optional arguments:
ENABLEEXTENSIONS / DISABLEEXTENSIONS
enable or disable command processor extensions. See
CMD /? for details.
ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION / DISABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
enable or disable delayed environment variable
expansion. See SET /? for details.
These modifications last until the matching ENDLOCAL command,
regardless of their setting prior to the SETLOCAL command.
The SETLOCAL command will set the ERRORLEVEL value if given
an argument. It will be zero if one of the two valid arguments
is given and one otherwise. You can use this in batch scripts
to determine if the extensions are available, using the following
technique:
VERIFY OTHER 2>nul
SETLOCAL ENABLEEXTENSIONS
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 echo Unable to enable extensions
This works because on old versions of CMD.EXE, SETLOCAL does NOT
set the ERRORLEVEL value. The VERIFY command with a bad argument
initializes the ERRORLEVEL value to a non-zero value.
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Changes the position of replaceable parameters in a batch file.
SHIFT [/n]
If Command Extensions are enabled the SHIFT command supports
the /n switch which tells the command to start shifting at the
nth argument, where n may be between zero and eight. For example:
SHIFT /2
would shift %3 to %2, %4 to %3, etc. and leave %0 and %1 unaffected.
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SORT [/R] [/+n] [/M kilobytes] [/L locale] [/REC recordbytes] [[drive1:][path1]filename1] [/T [drive2:][path2]] [/O [drive3:][path3]filename3] /+n Specifies the character number, n, to begin each comparison. /+3 indicates that each comparison should begin at the 3rd character in each line. Lines with fewer than n characters collate before other lines. By default comparisons start at the first character in each line. /L[OCALE] locale Overrides the system default locale with the specified one. The ""C"" locale yields the fastest collating sequence and is currently the only alternative. The sort is always case insensitive. /M[EMORY] kilobytes Specifies amount of main memory to use for the sort, in kilobytes. The memory size is always constrained to be a minimum of 160 kilobytes. If the memory size is specified the exact amount will be used for the sort, regardless of how much main memory is available. The best performance is usually achieved by not specifying a memory size. By default the sort will be done with one pass (no temporary file) if it fits in the default maximum memory size, otherwise the sort will be done in two passes (with the partially sorted data being stored in a temporary file) such that the amounts of memory used for both the sort and merge passes are equal. The default maximum memory size is 90% of available main memory if both the input and output are files, and 45% of main memory otherwise. /REC[ORD_MAXIMUM] characters Specifies the maximum number of characters in a record (default 4096, maximum 65535). /R[EVERSE] Reverses the sort order; that is, sorts Z to A, then 9 to 0. [drive1:][path1]filename1 Specifies the file to be sorted. If not specified, the standard input is sorted. Specifying the input file is faster than redirecting the same file as standard input. /T[EMPORARY] [drive2:][path2] Specifies the path of the directory to hold the sort's working storage, in case the data does not fit in main memory. The default is to use the system temporary directory. /O[UTPUT] [drive3:][path3]filename3 Specifies the file where the sorted input is to be stored. If not specified, the data is written to the standard output. Specifying the output file is faster than redirecting standard output to the same file.Back to the top of this page
Starts a separate window to run a specified program or command.
START ["title"] [/Dpath] [/I] [/MIN] [/MAX] [/SEPARATE | /SHARED]
[/LOW | /NORMAL | /HIGH | /REALTIME | /ABOVENORMAL | /BELOWNORMAL]
[/WAIT] [/B] [command/program]
[parameters]
"title" Title to display in window title bar.
path Starting directory
B Start application without creating a new window. The
application has ^C handling ignored. Unless the application
enables ^C processing, ^Break is the only way to interrupt
the application
I The new environment will be the original environment passed
to the cmd.exe and not the current environment.
MIN Start window minimized
MAX Start window maximized
SEPARATE Start 16-bit Windows program in separate memory space
SHARED Start 16-bit Windows program in shared memory space
LOW Start application in the IDLE priority class
NORMAL Start application in the NORMAL priority class
HIGH Start application in the HIGH priority class
REALTIME Start application in the REALTIME priority class
ABOVENORMAL Start application in the ABOVENORMAL priority class
BELOWNORMAL Start application in the BELOWNORMAL priority class
WAIT Start application and wait for it to terminate
command/program
If it is an internal cmd command or a batch file then
the command processor is run with the /K switch to cmd.exe.
This means that the window will remain after the command
has been run.
If it is not an internal cmd command or batch file then
it is a program and will run as either a windowed application
or a console application.
parameters These are the parameters passed to the command/program
If Command Extensions are enabled, external command invocation
through the command line or the START command changes as follows:
non-executable files may be invoked through their file association just
by typing the name of the file as a command. (e.g. WORD.DOC would
launch the application associated with the .DOC file extension).
See the ASSOC and FTYPE commands for how to create these
associations from within a command script.
When executing an application that is a 32-bit GUI application, CMD.EXE
does not wait for the application to terminate before returning to
the command prompt. This new behavior does NOT occur if executing
within a command script.
When executing a command line whose first token is the string "CMD "
without an extension or path qualifier, then "CMD" is replaced with
the value of the COMSPEC variable. This prevents picking up CMD.EXE
from the current directory.
When executing a command line whose first token does NOT contain an
extension, then CMD.EXE uses the value of the PATHEXT
environment variable to determine which extensions to look for
and in what order. The default value for the PATHEXT variable
is:
.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD
Notice the syntax is the same as the PATH variable, with
semicolons separating the different elements.
When searching for an executable, if there is no match on any extension,
then looks to see if the name matches a directory name. If it does, the
START command launches the Explorer on that path. If done from the
command line, it is the equivalent to doing a CD /D to that path.
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Associates a path with a drive letter.
SUBST [drive1: [drive2:]path]
SUBST drive1: /D
drive1: Specifies a virtual drive to which you want to assign a path.
[drive2:]path Specifies a physical drive and path you want to assign to
a virtual drive.
/D Deletes a substituted (virtual) drive.
Type SUBST with no parameters to display a list of current virtual drives.
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Displays or sets the system time. TIME [/T | time] Type TIME with no parameters to display the current time setting and a prompt for a new one. Press ENTER to keep the same time. If Command Extensions are enabled the TIME command supports the /T switch which tells the command to just output the current time, without prompting for a new time.Back to the top of this page
Sets the window title for the command prompt window. TITLE [string] string Specifies the title for the command prompt window.Back to the top of this page
Graphically displays the folder structure of a drive or path. TREE [drive:][path] [/F] [/A] /F Display the names of the files in each folder. /A Use ASCII instead of extended characters.Back to the top of this page
Displays the contents of a text file or files. TYPE [drive:][path]filenameBack to the top of this page
Displays the Windows XP version. VERBack to the top of this page
Tells cmd.exe whether to verify that your files are written correctly to a disk. VERIFY [ON | OFF] Type VERIFY without a parameter to display the current VERIFY setting.Back to the top of this page
Displays the disk volume label and serial number, if they exist. VOL [drive:]Back to the top of this page
Copies files and directory trees.
XCOPY source [destination] [/A | /M] [/D[:date]] [/P] [/S [/E]] [/V] [/W]
[/C] [/I] [/Q] [/F] [/L] [/G] [/H] [/R] [/T] [/U]
[/K] [/N] [/O] [/X] [/Y] [/-Y] [/Z]
[/EXCLUDE:file1[+file2][+file3]...]
source Specifies the file(s) to copy.
destination Specifies the location and/or name of new files.
/A Copies only files with the archive attribute set,
doesn't change the attribute.
/M Copies only files with the archive attribute set,
turns off the archive attribute.
/D:m-d-y Copies files changed on or after the specified date.
If no date is given, copies only those files whose
source time is newer than the destination time.
/EXCLUDE:file1[+file2][+file3]...
Specifies a list of files containing strings. Each string
should be in a separate line in the files. When any of the
strings match any part of the absolute path of the file to be
copied, that file will be excluded from being copied. For
example, specifying a string like \obj\ or .obj will exclude
all files underneath the directory obj or all files with the
.obj extension respectively.
/P Prompts you before creating each destination file.
/S Copies directories and subdirectories except empty ones.
/E Copies directories and subdirectories, including empty ones.
Same as /S /E. May be used to modify /T.
/V Verifies each new file.
/W Prompts you to press a key before copying.
/C Continues copying even if errors occur.
/I If destination does not exist and copying more than one file,
assumes that destination must be a directory.
/Q Does not display file names while copying.
/F Displays full source and destination file names while copying.
/L Displays files that would be copied.
/G Allows the copying of encrypted files to destination that does
not support encryption.
/H Copies hidden and system files also.
/R Overwrites read-only files.
/T Creates directory structure, but does not copy files. Does not
include empty directories or subdirectories. /T /E includes
empty directories and subdirectories.
/U Copies only files that already exist in destination.
/K Copies attributes. Normal Xcopy will reset read-only attributes.
/N Copies using the generated short names.
/O Copies file ownership and ACL information.
/X Copies file audit settings (implies /O).
/Y Suppresses prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an
existing destination file.
/-Y Causes prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an
existing destination file.
/Z Copies networked files in restartable mode.
The switch /Y may be preset in the COPYCMD environment variable.
This may be overridden with /-Y on the command line.
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This HTML help file was generated by:
AllHelp.bat, Version 1.30
for Windows NT 4 / 2000 / XP
Written by Rob van der Woude
http://www.robvanderwoude.com