Guide to Windows commands

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Guide to Windows commands

This book aims to introduce users of Microsoft Windows to
command interpreters on that operating system and to the wide range of
command-line tools that are available, which may come as a surprise to those who
think of it as purely a graphical user
interface operating system.

The Microsoft-supplied command interpreter on Windows NT is cmd.exe. There
are other command interpreters available, such as 4NT from JP Software and CMD
from the ReactOS project. This book
covers them all. First, it describes using command interpreters — how they
receive, parse, and process commands from users. Then it describes the various
commands available.

[edit]

Guides to DOS commands

This book addresses Win32 command interpreters and commands applicable to the
Win32 environment. It does not address commands that are specific to DOS
environments and to DOS-based operating systems, such as Windows 95, Windows 98,
and Windows Me (whose Microsoft-supplied command interpreters are in fact DOS
programs, not Win32 programs).

There are several guides to DOS commands available that are licenced under
the GNU Free
Documentation License:

The FreeDOS HTML
Help at fdos.org is a fully hypertext help
system for FreeDOS commands, written in 2003/2004

The
FreeDOS Spec at SourceForge is a plaintext specification, written in 1999,
for how DOS commands should work in FreeDOS

Contents

1 Guides to DOS
commands

2 Using command
interpreters

2.1 How a command line is
interpreted

2.1.1 Variable
substitution

2.1.1.1 Special names
in 4NT

2.1.2 Quoting

2.1.3 Syntax

2.1.4 Redirection

2.2 How a command is
executed

2.3 Environment
variables

2.3.1 COMSPEC

2.3.2 PATH

2.3.3 PATHEXT

2.3.4 PROMPT

2.4 Invoking command
interpreters

3 Built-in
commands

3.1 ?

3.1.1 Description

3.2 ACTIVATE

3.2.1 Description

3.3 ALIAS

3.3.1 Synopsys

3.3.2 Description

3.4 ASSOC

3.4.1 Description

3.5 ATTRIB

3.5.1 Synopsys

3.5.2 Description

3.6 BATCOMP

3.6.1 Description

3.7 BDEBUGGER

3.7.1 Description

3.8 BEEP

3.8.1 Description

3.9 BREAK

3.10 CALL

3.10.1 Description

3.11 CANCEL

3.11.1 Description

3.12 CD

3.12.1 Synopsys

3.12.2 Description

3.13 CDD

3.13.1 Synopsys

3.13.2 Description

3.14 CHCP

3.14.1 Description

3.15 CHDIR

3.15.1 Description

3.16 CLS

3.16.1 Synopsys

3.16.2 Description

3.17 COLOR

3.17.1 Description

3.18 COPY

3.18.1 Synopsys

3.18.2 Description

3.19 DATE

3.19.1 Description

3.20 DDEEXEC

3.21 DEL

3.21.1 Description

3.22 DELAY

3.22.1 Description

3.23 DESCRIBE

3.23.1 Description

3.24 DETACH

3.25 DIR

3.25.1 Description

3.26 DIRHISTORY

3.27 DIRS

3.27.1 Description

3.28 DO

3.28.1 Description

3.29 DRAWBOX

3.29.1 Description

3.30 DRAWHLINE

3.30.1 Description

3.31 DRAWVLINE

3.31.1 Description

3.32 ECHO

3.32.1 Synopsys

3.32.2 Description

3.33 ECHOERR

3.33.1 Description

3.34 ECHOS

3.34.1 Description

3.35 ECHOSERR

3.35.1 Description

3.36 ENDLOCAL

3.37 ERASE

3.37.1 Description

3.38 ESET

3.38.1 Description

3.39 EVENTLOG

3.39.1 Description

3.40 EXCEPT

3.41 EXIT

3.41.1 Description

3.42 FFIND

3.42.1 Description

3.43 FOR

3.43.1 Description

3.44 FREE

3.44.1 Description

3.45 FTYPE

3.45.1 Description

3.46 FUNCTION

3.47 GLOBAL

3.47.1 Description

3.48 GOSUB

3.48.1 Description

3.49 GOTO

3.49.1 Description

3.50 HEAD

3.51 HELP

3.51.1 Description

3.52 HISTORY

3.53 IF

3.53.1 Description

3.54 IFF

3.54.1 Description

3.55 IFTP

3.56 INKEY

3.56.1 Description

3.57 INPUT

3.57.1 Description

3.58 KEYBD

3.59 KEYS

3.60 KEYSTACK

3.60.1 Description

3.61 LIST

3.61.1 Description

3.62 LOADBTM

3.62.1 Description

3.63 LOG

3.63.1 Description

3.64 MD

3.64.1 Description

3.65 MEMORY

3.65.1 Description

3.66 MKDIR

3.66.1 Description

3.67 MKLNK

3.67.1 Description

3.68 MOVE

3.68.1 Description

3.69 MSGBOX

3.69.1 Description

3.70 ON

3.71 OPTION

3.71.1 Description

3.72 PATH

3.72.1 Description

3.73 PAUSE

3.73.1 Description

3.74 PDIR

3.74.1 Description

3.75 PLAYAVI

3.76 PLAYSOUND

3.77 POPD

3.77.1 Description

3.78 PRINT

3.79 PROMPT

3.79.1 Description

3.80 PUSHD

3.80.1 Description

3.81 QUERYBOX

3.81.1 Description

3.82 QUIT

3.82.1 Description

3.83 RD

3.83.1 Description

3.84 REBOOT

3.84.1 Description

3.85 RECYCLE

3.85.1 Description

3.86 REN

3.86.1 Description

3.87 RENAME

3.87.1 Description

3.88 REM

3.88.1 Description

3.89 RETURN

3.89.1 Description

3.90 RMDIR

3.90.1 Description

3.91 SCREEN

3.91.1 Description

3.92 SCRPUT

3.92.1 Description

3.93 SELECT

3.93.1 Description

3.94 SENDMAIL

3.94.1 Description

3.95 SET

3.95.1 Description

3.96 SETDOS

3.96.1 Description

3.97 SETLOCAL

3.98 SHIFT

3.98.1 Description

3.99 SHORTCUT

3.99.1 Description

3.100 SHRALIAS

3.100.1 Description

3.101 SMPP

3.102 SNPP

3.103 START

3.104 SWITCH

3.105 TAIL

3.106 TASKEND

3.107 TASKLIST

3.107.1 Description

3.108 TCTOOLBAR

3.109 TEE

3.109.1 Description

3.110 TEXT

3.110.1 Description

3.111 TIME

3.111.1 Description

3.112 TIMER

3.112.1 Description

3.113 TITLE

3.113.1 Description

3.114 TOUCH

3.114.1 Description

3.115 TREE

3.115.1 Description

3.116 TRUENAME

3.116.1 Description

3.117 TYPE

3.117.1 Description

3.118 UNALIAS

3.118.1 Description

3.119 UNFUNCTION

3.119.1 Description

3.120 UNSET

3.120.1 Description

3.121 VER

3.121.1 Description

3.122 VERIFY

3.123 VOL

3.123.1 Description

3.124 VSCRPUT

3.124.1 Description

3.125 WHICH

3.125.1 Description

3.126 WINDOW

3.126.1 Description

3.127 Y

3.127.1 Description

4 External
commands

4.1 4NT

4.1.1 Synopsys

4.1.2 Description

4.2 CMD

4.2.1 Synopsys

4.2.2 Description

4.3 FIND

4.4 IPCONFIG

4.4.1 Synopsys

4.4.2 Description

4.5 MORE

4.5.1 Synopsys

4.5.2 Description

4.6 NET

4.6.1 Synopsys

4.6.2 Description

4.7 PING

4.7.1 Synopsys

4.7.2 Description

4.8 XCOPY

[edit]

Using command interpreters

(...)

[edit]

How a command line is interpreted

The parsing of a command line into a sequence of commands is complex, and
varies subtly from command interpreter to command interpreter. There are,
however, four main components:

Variable substitution

A command line is scanned for variable specifications, and any found are
replaced with the contents of those variables.

Quoting

Special characters can be quoted, to remove their special meanings.

Syntax

Command lines are devolved into a sequence of commands according to a
syntax.

Redirection

Redirection specifications are applied, and removed from the command line,
before an individual command in a sequence is executed.

[edit]

Variable substitution

Command lines can contain variable specifications. These comprise a
% character followed by a name.

In Microsoft's CMD, the name is ended by a second % character,
except in special cases such as the batch file parameters %1,
%2, and so forth.

In 4NT, the name is ended either by a second % character or a
"pseudo-whitespace" character (i.e. any character that the old COMMAND
interpreter for MS-DOS version 2 considered to be "whitespace" for the
purposes of parsing), with special cases for batch file parameters and for
platform-neutral metacharacters.

Variable specifications are replaced with values. The value used to replace a
variable specification is as follows:

(4NT only) For the variable specifications %+ and %=,
the expansion is the current value of a particular metacharacter, for
%+ being the metacharacter for command separator and for %=
being the metacharacter for quoting. The reason for this is that 4NT allows
the metacharacters to be changed with the SETDOS and OPTION
commands. The special %+ and %= specifications allow batch
file writers to write batch files that will work irrespective of what the
current metacharacters may actually have been set to by the user; whereas a
batch file written assuming that & is the command separator
metacharacter will not work correctly if the command separator metacharacter
is changed.

For variable specification names that match the names of environment
variables, the replacement is the value of the named environment variable. For
example: %PATH% is replaced by the value of the PATH environment
variable.

For variable specifications that name batch file parameters (i.e. that are
non-negative decimal numbers), the replacement is the value of the parameter
taken from the arguments with which the batch file was invoked (subject to any
subsequent modifications by the SHIFT command). For example:
%2 is replaced by the value of the second batch file parameter.

(4NT only) For variable specification names that do not match the names of
environment variables, but that do match various "special" names, the
replacement is a special value (usually constructed on the fly) that the name
represents.

[edit]

Special names in 4NT

This is a list of the special names in 4NT and what they expand to:

name

replacement value used

_CWD

the current working directory, not ending in a slash character if it
is not the root directory of the current drive

_CWDS

the current working directory, guaranteed to end in a slash
character

This table is incomplete. You can help Wikibooks by expanding it.

[edit]

Quoting

To prevent the metacharacters that control command syntax and redirection
from having their special meanings, quoting is used. This takes two forms:

Although they don't process quotation marks, in command arguments,
specially themselves, but simply pass them along as-is to the commands
executed, command interpreters do recognise when quotation marks (")
surround metacharacters. The & metacharacter does not have its usual
effect on command syntax if it is within a pair of quotation marks.

e.g. The command line echo "&" will invoke the ECHO
command passing it the three characters "&" as its command
tail, rather than split the command line in twain at the & character as
would occur if the character were not within quotation marks.

The "escape" character (always a ^ in Microsoft's CMD, by default
a ^ unless changed in 4NT) used in front of a metacharacter also
prevents that metacharacter from having its usual effect on command syntax.
The "escape" character itself is stripped from the command line before it is
passed to the command actually being invoked.

e.g. The command line echo ^& will invoke the ECHO
command passing it the character & as its command tail, rather
than split the command line in twain at the & character as would
otherwise occur.

[edit]

Syntax

Command lines are devolved into a sequence of commands according to a syntax.
In that syntax, simple commands may be combined to form pipelines,
which may in turn be combined to form compound commands, which finally
may be turned into parenthesized commands.

A simple command is just a command name, a command tail, and some redirection
specifications. An example of a simple command is dir *.txt >
somefile.

A pipeline is several simple commands joined together with the "pipe"
metacharacter (properly known as the "vertical bar"). The
standard output of the simple command preceding each vertical bar is connected
to the standard input of the simple command following it, via a pipe.
The command interpreter runs all of the simple commands in the pipeline in
parallel. An example of a pipeline (comprising two simple commands) is dir
*.txt | more.

A compound command is a set of pipelines separated by conjunctions. The
pipelines are executed sequentially, one after the other, and the conjunction
controls whether the command interpreter executes the next pipeline or not. An
example of a compound command (comprising two pipelines, which themselves are
just simple commands) is move file.txt file.bak && dir >
file.txt.

The conjunctions are:

&

The simplest conjunction. The next pipeline is always executed after the
current one has completed executing.

&&

A positive conditional conjunction. The next pipeline is executed if the
current one completes executing with a zero exit status.

||

A negative conditional conjunction. The next pipeline is executed if the
current one completes executing with a non-zero exit status.

A parenthesized command is a compound command enclosed in parentheses (i.e.
( and )). From the point of view of syntax, this turns a
compound command into a simple command, whose overall output can be
redirected.

For example: The command line ( pushd temp & dir & popd ) >
somefile causes the standard output of the entire compound command (
pushd temp & dir & popd ) to be redirected to somefile.

[edit]

Redirection

Redirection specifications are applied, and removed from the command line,
before an individual command in a sequence is executed. Redirection
specifications control where the standard input, standard output, and standard
error file handles for a simple command point. They override any effects to
those file handles that may have resulted from pipelining. (See the preceding
section on command syntax.)

The redirection specifications are:

< filename

Redirect standard input to read from the named file.

> filename

Redirect standard output to write to the named file, overwriting its
previous contents.

>& filename

Join standard output and standard error together and redirect them to
write to the named file, overwriting its previous contents.

>> filename

Redirect standard output to write to the named file, appending to the end
of its previous contents.

>>& filename

Join standard output and standard error together and redirect them to
write to the named file, appending to the end of its previous contents.

[edit]

How a command is executed

(...)

[edit]

Environment variables

The environment variables of the command interpreter process are inherted by
the processes of any (external) commands that it executes. A few environment
variables are used by the command interpreter itself. Changing them changes its
operation.

Environment variables are affected by the SET, UNSET,
ESET, PATH, and PROMPT commands.

The special variable names in 4NT are not environment variables. They
merely have the appearance of them when it comes to variable substitution. They
cannot be effected by the aforementioned commands. However, it is possible to
create environment variables with the same names as the special
variables. In which case the environment variables take precedence during
variable substitution. (Creating such environment variables is not recommended.
An environment variable named %_CWD% is likely to cause confusion and
unexpected behaviour in batch files, for example.)

The command interpreter inherits its initial set of environment variables
from the process that created it. In the case of command interpreters invoked
from desktop shortcuts this will be Windows Explorer, for example.

Command interpreters generally have textual user interfaces, not graphical
ones, and so do not recognize the Windows message that informs applications that
the environment variable template in the Registry has been changed. Changing the
environment variables in Control Panel will cause Windows Explorer to update its
own environment variables from the template in the Registry, and thus change the
environment variables that any subsequently invoked command interpreters
will inherit. However, it will not cause command interpreters that are
already running to update their environment variables from the template in
the Registry.

[edit]

COMSPEC

The COMSPEC environment variable contains the full pathname of the command
interpreter program file.

In the case of Microsoft's CMD, this is just inherited from the parent
process, and is thus indirectly derived from the setting of COMSPEC in the
environment variable template in the Registry.

In the case of 4NT, each command interpreter process explicitly sets
COMSPEC to name its own program file at startup. So even if the COMSPEC
environment variable derived from the template in the Registry names the
program file of another command interpreter, from within 4NT, and from within
any external commands that it invokes, COMSPEC will always name the program
file of 4NT.

[edit]

PATH

The value of the PATH environment variable comprises a list of directory
names, separated by semi-colon characters. This is the list of directories that
are searched, in order, when locating the program file of an external command to
execute.

[edit]

PATHEXT

The value of the PATHEXT environment variable comprises a list of filename
extensions, separated by semi-colon characters. This is the list of filename
extensions that are applied, in order, when locating the program file of an
external command to execute.

[edit]

PROMPT

The value of the PROMPT environment variable controls the text that is
emitted whenever the command interpreter displays the prompt (i.e. whenever
prompting for a new command line in interactive mode, or whenever echoing a
batch file line in batch file mode).

Various special character sequences in the value of the PROMPT environment
variable cause varios special effects when the prompt is displayed, as in the
following table:

Characters

Microsoft's CMD

4NT

Effect

$$

Yes

Yes

causes the $ character itself to be written out

$A

Yes

Yes

causes a & symbol to be written out (This is a
convenience measure, since it is difficult, because it involves quoting,
to place a literal & in the value of the PROMPT environment
variable using the SET command.)

$B

Yes

Yes

vertical bar (pipe symbol) to be written out

$C

Yes

Yes

Left parenthesis '('

$D

Yes

Yes

Prints current date

$E

Yes

Yes

ESC (ASCII code 27)

$F

Yes

Yes

Right parenthesis ')'

$G

Yes

Yes

Prints greater-than symbol '>'

$H

Yes

Yes

Backspace... useless

$L

Yes

Yes

Prints less-than symbol '<'

$N

Yes

Yes

Prints current drive letter

$P

Yes

Yes

Prints current drive letter and full path

$Q

Yes

Yes

Prints '=' (equals sign)

$S

Yes

Yes

Prints ' ' (space character)

$T

Yes

Yes

Prints current system time

$V

Yes

Yes

Prints Windows XP version number

$_

Prints <CR> (carriage return character)

$+

Yes*

If command extensions are enabled, prints a number of '+' characters
to represent the number of levels pushed on the PUSHD directory
stack

$

This table is incomplete. You can help Wikibooks by expanding it.

[edit]

Invoking command interpreters

[edit]

Built-in commands

These commands are all built in to the command interpreter itself, and cannot
be changed. Sometimes this is because they require access to internal command
interpreter data structures, or modify properties of the command interpreter
process itself.

[edit]

?

ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays the list of built-in commands.

[edit]

ACTIVATE

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command activates a given window.

[edit]

ALIAS

4NT

[edit]

Synopsys

ALIAS /?

ALIAS

ALIAS name

ALIAS name=value

[edit]

Description

This command displays or sets aliases. In the second form, it writes the
current list of aliases (in "name=value" form) to standard output. In the third
form, it writes the value (only) of the named alias to standard output. In the
fourth form, it modifies or creates the alias name assigning it the value
value.

[edit]

ASSOC

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays or sets Windows associations between file types and
commands.

[edit]

ATTRIB

4NT

[edit]

Synopsys

ATTRIB /?

ATTRIB

ATTRIB search-wildcards

ATTRIB modifications search-wildcards

Modification instructions:

To add an attribute attach a '+' in front of it.

To remove an attribute attach a '-' in front of it

Attributes include

A - Archived

H - Hidden

S - System

R - Read-only

[edit]

Description

This command displays or sets file attributes. With no arguments, it displays
the attributes of all files in the current directory. With no attribute
modification instructions, it displays the attributes of the files and
directories that match the given search wildcard specifications.

Compare chmod.

[edit]

BATCOMP

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command compresses batch files into a pre-tokenized form.

[edit]

BDEBUGGER

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command invokes the batch-file debugger.

[edit]

BEEP

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command generates a beep on the PC speaker.

[edit]

BREAK

4NT

[edit]

CALL

CMD 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command invokes a nested batch file from within a batch file.

[edit]

CANCEL

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command cancels the execution of all batch files.

[edit]

CD

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Synopsys

CD /?

CD

CD drive

CD path

CD drive:path

CD /D drive:path

[edit]

Description

This command displays or sets the current directory (and thus the current
directory that all external commands will inherit). In the second form, it
writes the current directory of the current drive to standard output. In the
third form, it writes the current directory of the specified drive to standard
output. In the fourth form, it changes the current directory on the current
drive to path. In the fifth form, it changes the current directory on the
specified drive to path. In the sixth form, it changes the current
directory on the specified drive to path, and changes the current drive
to that drive.

[edit]

CDD

ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Synopsys

CDD /?

CDD path

CDD drive:path

[edit]

Description

This command sets the current drive and the current directory of the command
interpreter process (and thus the current directory that all external commands
will inherit). In the second form, it changes the current directory on the
current drive to path. In the third form, it changes the current
directory on the specified drive to path, and changes the current drive
to that drive.

[edit]

CHCP

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays or sets the current code page.

[edit]

CHDIR

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This is an alternative spelling of CD.

[edit]

CLS

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Synopsys

CLS /?

CLS

[edit]

Description

This command clears the screen.

[edit]

COLOR

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command sets the current screen colours.

[edit]

COPY

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Synopsys

COPY /?

COPY

COPY search-wildcard

COPY search-wildcards substitution-wildcard

[edit]

Description

This command copies files.

[edit]

DATE

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays or sets the current date.

[edit]

DDEEXEC

4NT

[edit]

DEL

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command deletes files and (in 4NT) directories.

[edit]

DELAY

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command pauses execution for a specified period.

[edit]

DESCRIBE

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays or sets file descriptions.

[edit]

DETACH

4NT

[edit]

DIR

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays the contents of directories.

[edit]

DIRHISTORY

4NT

[edit]

DIRS

ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays the directory stack, maintained by the PUSHD and
POPD commands.

[edit]

DO

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command causes execution to loop.

[edit]

DRAWBOX

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command draws a box on the screen.

[edit]

DRAWHLINE

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command draws a horizontal line on the screen. DRAWHLINE

[edit]

DRAWVLINE

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command draws a vertical line on the screen.

[edit]

ECHO

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Synopsys

ECHO /?

ECHO ON

ECHO OFF

ECHO message

[edit]

Description

This command turns the display of the prompt on and off, or writes a message
to standard output with a newline afterwards.

[edit]

ECHOERR

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command writes a message to standard error with a newline
afterwards.

[edit]

ECHOS

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command writes a message to standard output, without adding a newline
afterwards.

[edit]

ECHOSERR

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command writes a message to standard error, without adding a newline
afterwards.

[edit]

ENDLOCAL

4NT

[edit]

ERASE

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This is an alternative spelling of DEL.

[edit]

ESET

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command allows the user to interactively edit and set environment
variables.

[edit]

EVENTLOG

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command adds entries to the Windows event log.

[edit]

EXCEPT

4NT

[edit]

EXIT

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command terminates the command interpreter process.

[edit]

FFIND

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command finds files, or searches files for text strings.

[edit]

FOR

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command iterates over a series of values, executing a commamd.

[edit]

FREE

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays the free space on a drive.

[edit]

FTYPE

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays or sets Windows associations between filename
extensions and file types.

[edit]

FUNCTION

4NT

[edit]

GLOBAL

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command searches for directories and executes a command with the current
directory set to each directory.

[edit]

GOSUB

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command transfers control to a subroutine within a batch file, so that
control can later be transferred back by RETURN.

[edit]

GOTO

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command jumps to another point within a batch file.

[edit]

HEAD

4NT

[edit]

HELP

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command invokes the on-line help.

[edit]

HISTORY

ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

IF

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command conditionally executes a command.

[edit]

IFF

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command conditionally executes one or more commands, spread across
multiple lines.

[edit]

IFTP

4NT

[edit]

INKEY

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command waits for a key to be pressed.

[edit]

INPUT

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command prompts the user for input.

[edit]

KEYBD

4NT

[edit]

KEYS

4NT

[edit]

KEYSTACK

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command sends keyboard input to other processes on the same desktop.

[edit]

LIST

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays the contents of files using a full-screen interactive
text user interface.

[edit]

LOADBTM

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command controls whether batch files are completely loaded into memory
before execution.

[edit]

LOG

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command controls command logging.

[edit]

MD

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command creates directories.

[edit]

MEMORY

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays information about available memory.

[edit]

MKDIR

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This is an alternative spelling of MD.

[edit]

MKLNK

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command creates NTFS hard links.

[edit]

MOVE

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command moves files.

[edit]

MSGBOX

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays a message box to the user.

[edit]

ON

4NT

[edit]

OPTION

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command invokes the interactive configuration utility or allows
configuration options to be altered non-interactively.

[edit]

PATH

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays or sets the value of the PATH environment variable.

[edit]

PAUSE

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command prompts the user and waits for a line of input to be
entered.

[edit]

PDIR

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command lists directories in a user-controlled format.

[edit]

PLAYAVI

4NT

[edit]

PLAYSOUND

4NT

[edit]

POPD

ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command removes directories from the directory stack and changes
directory.

[edit]

PRINT

4NT

[edit]

PROMPT

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command sets the value of the PROMPT environment variable.

[edit]

PUSHD

ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command adds the current directory to the directly stack and changes
directory.

[edit]

QUERYBOX

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays a query box to the user, prompting for input.

[edit]

QUIT

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command terminates the execution of the current batch file.

[edit]

RD

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command removes directories.

[edit]

REBOOT

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command logs out the current user, and optionally then shuts down,
powers off, or reboots the machine.

[edit]

RECYCLE

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command empties the recycle bin.

[edit]

REN

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command renames files and directories.

[edit]

RENAME

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This is an alternative spelling of REN.

[edit]

REM

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command does nothing. It is used for remarks in batch files.

[edit]

RETURN

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command returns control from a subroutine in a batch file, returning to
the place whence the subroutine was called.

[edit]

RMDIR

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This is an alternative spelling of RD.

[edit]

SCREEN

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command moves the cursor to a specified position on the screen,
optionally then writing text there.

[edit]

SCRPUT

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command writes text to the screen at a specified position without moving
the cursor.

[edit]

SELECT

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command allows the user to interactively select a set of files, and then
executes a command against those files.

[edit]

SENDMAIL

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command sends mail.

[edit]

SET

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays or sets environment variables.

[edit]

SETDOS

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command sets command interpreter control flags.

[edit]

SETLOCAL

4NT

[edit]

SHIFT

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command shifts the batch file arguments along.

[edit]

SHORTCUT

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command creates shortcuts for Windows Explorer.

[edit]

SHRALIAS

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command controls global alias sharing.

[edit]

SMPP

4NT

[edit]

SNPP

4NT

[edit]

START

4NT

[edit]

SWITCH

4NT

[edit]

TAIL

4NT

[edit]

TASKEND

4NT

[edit]

TASKLIST

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays the Windows task list.

[edit]

TCTOOLBAR

4NT

[edit]

TEE

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command copies what it receives on its standard input to a set of files
and to its standard output. It is a "T-piece" for a command pipeline.

[edit]

TEXT

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays in-line text contained in batch files.

[edit]

TIME

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays or sets the current time.

[edit]

TIMER

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command starts, stops, or displays the current value of one of several
stopwatches.

[edit]

TITLE

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command controls the console window title.

[edit]

TOUCH

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command alters the date and time stamps of files and directories.

[edit]

TREE

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays the tree structure of directories and files.

[edit]

TRUENAME

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays the true name of a file or directory.

[edit]

TYPE

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays the contents of files.

[edit]

UNALIAS

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command deletes aliases.

[edit]

UNFUNCTION

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command deletes functions.

[edit]

UNSET

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command deletes environment variables.

[edit]

VER

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays the version number of the command interpreter and the
version of Windows.

[edit]

VERIFY

4NT

[edit]

VOL

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays volume labels.

[edit]

VSCRPUT

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command writes text to the screen at a specified position without moving
the cursor.

[edit]

WHICH

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command displays the locations of other commands.

[edit]

WINDOW

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command alters the size of the console window.

[edit]

Y

4NT

[edit]

Description

This command reads its standard input and a set of files, writing what it
reads to its standard output. It is a "Y-piece" for a command pipeline.

[edit]

External commands

These commands are separate executable program files, supplied with the
operating system by Microsoft, or bundled as standard with the third-party
command interpreters. By replacing the program files, the meanings and functions
of these commands can be changed.

Many, but not all, external commands support the "/?" convention, causing
them to write on-line usage information to their standard output and then to
exit with a status code of 0.

[edit]

4NT

4NT

[edit]

Synopsys

4NT /?

4NT

4NT /C command

[edit]

Description

Invoke (another instance of) 4NT.

[edit]

CMD

Microsoft, ReactOS

[edit]

Synopsys

CMD /?

CMD

CMD /C command

[edit]

Description

Invoke (another instance of) either Microsoft's CMD or the ReactOS CMD.

[edit]

FIND

Microsoft

[edit]

IPCONFIG

Microsoft

[edit]

Synopsys

Displays Windows IP Configuration. Shows configuration by connection and the
name of that connection (i.e. Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection) Below that
the specific info pertaining to that connection is displayed such as DNS suffix
and ip address and subnet mask.

IPCONFIG /?

IPCONFIG

(...)

[edit]

Description

(...)

[edit]

MORE

Microsoft

[edit]

Synopsys

MORE /?

MORE [/E]

MORE [/E] filename

[edit]

Description

(...)

[edit]

NET

Microsoft

[edit]

Synopsys

NET /?

NET

(...)

[edit]

Description

(...)

[edit]

PING

Microsoft

[edit]

Synopsys

PING /?

PING address

PING hostname

[edit]

Description

Send ICMP/IP
"echo" packets over the network to the designated address (or the first IP
address that the designated hostname maps to via name lookup) and print all
responses received.

[edit]

XCOPY

Microsoft

Retrieved from "http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Guide_to_Windows_commands"

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This page was last modified 22:27, 30 January 2006.

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