Command Prompt, also known as cmd.exe or cmd, is the default

command-line interpreter A command-line interpreter or command-line processor uses a command-line interface (CLI) to receive commands from a user in the form of lines of text. This provides a means of setting parameters for the environment, invoking executables and pro ...

for the

OS/2 OS/2 (Operating System/2) is a series of computer operating systems, initially created by Microsoft and IBM under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci. As a result of a feud between the two companies over how to position OS/2 r ...

eComStation eComStation or eCS is an operating system based on OS/2 Warp for the 32-bit x86 architecture. It was originally developed by Serenity Systems and Mensys BV under license from IBM. It includes additional applications, and support for new hard ...

, ArcaOS, Microsoft Windows (

Windows NT family Windows NT is a proprietary graphical operating system produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released on July 27, 1993. It is a processor-independent, multiprocessing and multi-user operating system. The first version of Wind ...

and Windows CE family), and ReactOS operating systems. On

Windows CE .NET 4.2 Windows Embedded Compact, formerly Windows Embedded CE, Windows Powered and Windows CE, is an operating system subfamily developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows Embedded family of products. Unlike Windows Embedded Standard, which is base ...

, Windows CE 5.0 and Windows Embedded CE 6.0 it is referred to as the Command Processor Shell. Its implementations differ between operating systems, but the behavior and basic set of commands are consistent. is the counterpart of in

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

and Windows 9x systems, and analogous to the Unix shells used on Unix-like systems. The initial version of for Windows NT was developed by Therese Stowell. Windows CE 2.11 was the first embedded Windows release to support a console and a Windows CE version of . The ReactOS implementation of is derived from FreeCOM, the FreeDOS command line interpreter.

Operation

interacts with the user through a command-line interface. On Windows, this interface is implemented through the Win32 console. may take advantage of features available to native programs of its own platform. For example, on OS/2 and Windows, it can use real Pipeline (Unix), pipes in command pipelines, allowing both sides of the pipeline to run concurrently. As a result, it is possible to redirect the standard error stream. ( uses temporary files, and runs the two sides serially, one after the other.) Multiple commands can be processed in a single command line using the command separator . When using this separator in the Windows , each command must complete successfully for the following commands to execute. For example: C:\>CommandA && CommandB && CommandC In the above example, will only execute if completes successfully, and the execution of depends on the successful completion of . To process subsequent commands even if the previous command produces an error, the command separator should be used. For example: C:\>CommandA & CommandB & CommandC On Windows XP or later, the maximum length of the string that can be used at the command prompt is 8191 characters. On earlier versions, such as Windows 2000 or Windows NT 4.0, the maximum length of the string is 2047 characters. This limit includes the command line, individual environment variables that are inherited by other process (computing), processes, and all environment variable expansions. Quotation marks are required for the following special characters: & < > [ ] ^ = ; ! ' + , ` ~ [white space]

Internal commands

OS/2

The following is a list of the Microsoft OS/2 Shell builtin, internal command (computing), commands: * break (command), break * chcp (command), chcp * cd (command), cd * cd (command), chdir * cls (command), cls * copy (command), copy * date (command), date * del (command), del * detach (command), detach * dir (command), dir * dpath * echo (command), echo * del (command), erase * exit (command), exit * FOR (DOS command), for * GOTO (DOS command), goto * IF (DOS command), if * mkdir, md * mkdir * path (command), path * pause (command), pause * prompt (command), prompt * rmdir, rd * rem (command), rem * ren (command), ren * ren (command), rename * rmdir * set (command), set * shift (command), shift * start (command), start * TIME (command), time * TYPE (DOS command), type * ver (command), ver * verify (command), verify * vol (command), vol

Windows NT family

The following list of internal commands is supported by on Windows NT and later: * assoc * break (command), break * call (command), call * cd (command), cd * cd (command), chdir * cls (command), cls * color (command), color * copy (command), copy * date (command), date * del (command), del * dir (command), dir * dpath * echo (command), echo * endlocal * del (command), erase * exit (command), exit * FOR (DOS command), for * ftype * GOTO (DOS command), goto * IF (DOS command), if * keys (command), keys * mkdir, md * mkdir * mklink (introduced in Windows Vista) * move (command), move * path (command), path * pause (command), pause * pushd and popd, popd * prompt (command), prompt * pushd and popd, pushd * rmdir, rd * rem (command), rem * ren (command), ren * ren (command), rename * rmdir * set (command), set * setlocal * shift (command), shift * start (command), start * TIME (command), time * title (command), title * TYPE (DOS command), type * ver (command), ver * verify (command), verify * vol (command), vol

Windows CE

The following list of commands is supported by on Windows CE .NET 4.2, Windows CE 5.0 and Windows Embedded CE 6.0: * attrib * call * cd * chdir * cls * copy * date * del * dir * echo * erase * exit * goto * help (command), help * if * md * mkdir * move * path * pause * prompt * pwd * rd * rem * ren * rename * rmdir * set * shift * start * time * title * type In addition, the command is available as an external command stored in .

ReactOS

The ReactOS implementation includes the following internal commands: * ? * alias (command), alias * assoc * beep (command), beep * call * cd * chdir * choice (command), choice * cls * color * copy * ctty * date * del * delete * delay * dir * dirs * echo * echos * echoerr * echoserr * endlocal * erase * exit * for * free * goto * history (command), history * if * memory * md * mkdir * mklink * move * path * pause * popd * prompt * pushd * rd * rmdir * rem * ren * rename * replace * screen * set * setlocal * shift * start * time * timer * title * type * ver * verify * vol

Comparison with COMMAND.COM

On Windows, is mostly compatible with but provides the following extensions over it: * More detailed error messages than the blanket "Bad command or file name" (in the case of malformed commands) of . In OS/2, errors are reported in the chosen language of the system, their text being taken from the system message files. The command can then be issued with the error message number to obtain further information. * Supports using of arrow keys to scroll through command history. (Under DOS this function was only available under DR DOS (through HISTORY (CONFIG.SYS directive), HISTORY) and later via an external component called .) * Adds Command-line_completion#Rotating_completion, rotating command-line completion for file and folder paths, where the user can cycle through results for the prefix using the , and for reverse direction. * Treats the caret character () as the escape character; the character following it is to be taken literally. There are special characters in and (e.g. "", "" and ", ") that are meant to alter the behavior of the command line processor. The caret character forces the command line processor to interpret them literally. * Supports delayed variable expansion with , allowing values of variables to be calculated at runtime instead of during parsing of script before execution (Windows 2000 and later), fixing DOS idioms that made using control structures hard and complex. The extensions can be disabled, providing a stricter compatibility mode. Internal commands have also been improved: * The command was merged into the command, as part of its Switch (command line), switch. * and commands limit the scope of changes to the environment. Changes made to the command line environment after commands are local to the batch file. command restores the previous settings. * The command allows subroutines within batch file. The command in only supports calling external batch files. * File name parser extensions to the command are comparable with C shell. * The command can perform Expression Evaluation, expression evaluation. * An expansion of the command supports parsing files and arbitrary sets in addition to file names. * The new and commands provide access past navigated paths similar to "forward" and "back" buttons in a web browser or File Explorer. * The conditional command can perform Case sensitivity, case-insensitive comparisons and numeric equality and inequality comparisons in addition to case-sensitive string comparisons. (This was available in DR-DOS, but not in PC DOS or MS-DOS.)

References

External links

* * * * * {{Windows commands Command shells OS/2 command shells Windows command shells OS/2 commands OS/2 files Windows commands Windows files Windows components