Batch files

for DOS, OS/2, Windows 95/98, NT 4,

2000 and XP
Technically, DOS provides just eight basic batch file commands CALL,
ECHO, FOR, GOTO, IF, PAUSE, REM, and SHIFT plus a tiny assortment
of miscellaneous doodads: replaceable parameters, environment
variables, labels, double == signs, and @ signs. That's it! Not too much to
learn, even for the most fervent DOS-hater. But the tools these few
commands can create will astonish you.

The quickest way to learn the "doings" and syntax for each of the
commands is too use MS-DOS's HELP program. Want to check out CALL?
Type either

CALL /? or HELP CALL

at the prompt and DOS will display either a few lines of help (CALL /?) or
open up its reference database (HELP CALL) with examples and usage
syntax.

PC Computing - DOS Power Tools by Paul Somerson

Limited though it may seem to some, other people perform magic using
DOS' batch language without "extensions".

Take a look at the tips and examples presented on these pages and in the
links to other sites, and see for yourself that batch files are more powerful
and versatile than you had ever thought possible.

Wherever "DOS" is referred to, MS-DOS 5 or any later version, including

the COMMAND sessions of Windows NT and OS/2, is meant.
When "NT" is referred to, Windows NT 4 is meant, unless specifically
stated otherwise. As far as I know most NT 4 commands work in Windows
2000. Where Windows 2000 has some additional functionality, the added
options will be shown in magenta.
When "OS/2" is referred to, OS/2 Warp 3 or later is meant.

Windows NT 4 / 2000 / XP users, you can use AllHelp.bat or AllHelp.vbs to

generate a list of commands available in your operating system (and in
the language of your OS), as is explained on my AllHelp page.
The main focus of this site will be on COMMAND.COM's and CMD.EXE's
internal commands and on undocumented features and unusual use of
features.
On magic, more or less.

I'm always open to new tips and suggestions.

If you see a DOS version mentioned as a minimum requirement,
remember that I do not have access to every DOS version, so I cannot
and did not test every feature in every DOS version.
If you do find an error here, or if you know of any useful "hidden feature"
of any Intel based operating system that you would like to share, please
send a message to my e-mail address.

Enjoy

(DOS) commands and their usage in

batch files
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
...plus, of course, some answers...

Batch file How Tos

Batch file examples in alphabetical order

Search the batch file examples by function

Solutions found on alt.msdos.batch

More clever tricks

Third Party batch files

Useful commands for Windows administrators

Ports of some UNIX shell commands to Rexx scripts and batch files

The Poor Man's Administrator Tools (use native commands only)

Terminal Server commands

Short Command Line Tips ("Shorts")

Undocumented commands
 Useless tips?

Batch file related links

Batch file utilities

Debugging your batch files

Using ANSI sequences to enhance batch files

Using Arrays in batch files

The AT scheduler

Strange behavior of ATTRIB

AUTOEXEC.BAT

OS/2's AUTOFAIL command (a little off topic but very useful)

How to use CHOICE

Using CALL

NT's COLOR command

Command line parameters

COMMAND.COM parameters, SHELL and COMSPEC

Comments in batch files

Conditional execution

DATE and TIME

(Ab)using DEBUG in batch files

 DEL

DOS Devices

DEVCON, Microsoft's command line device manager

Tips on using DIR

Windows Server 2003's Directory Service command line tools

Batch generated e-mail

ENDLOCAL (OS/2, Windows NT 4 and later)

Errorlevels

Display error messages in the local system language

Escape characters

EXIT batch code

FDISK

The FIND command

Use FINDRAMD to find the RAM drive letter (Windows 9x)

The FINDSTR command (Windows 2000 and later)

Basic FOR loops in DOS

FOR loops in NT

o Hands-on variable expansion in FOR loops with exercises

o NT's FOR /F tokens & delimiters explained step by step

FORMAT diskettes
 Unattended FTP

GOTO, or: "How To Avoid 'Spaghetti Code'"

IF statements

Using the MEM command

NET.EXE

Notepad tips & tricks

Abuse of the PATH command

Generate popup messages

Print files from the command line

Control printers (Windows 2000)

Managing Windows processes

Using the PROMPT

RAS and DUN (Dial-Up Networking)

READLINE (internal command for OS/2's COMMAND.COM)

Redirection

How to read, add or modify Windows registry entries with REGEDIT

RUNDLL and RUNDLL32

XP's SCHTASKS command

The SET command

SETLOCAL (OS/2, Windows NT 4, Windows 2000)

CONFIG.SYS' SHELL command

Use SHIFT for command line parsing



Shutdown and reboot for several OSs

Use START to start other programs from within a batch file (OS/2
and NT)

Display a file's or directory's TRUENAME

The TYPE command

User input, or: "How To Make Your Batch Files Interactive"

Mount and access VHD files as virtual disk drives with VHDMount

WMI queries with WMIC

NT's XCOPY