Friday, November 9, 2012

MS-Dos - Internal commands/Batch file commands


Internal commands

All commands are run only after the Enter key is pressed at the end of the line. COMMAND.COM is not case-sensitive, meaning commands can be typed in either case and are all equivalent.
BREAK 
Controls the handling of program interruption with Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Break.
CHCP 
Displays or changes the current system code page.
CHDIR, CD 
Changes the current working directory or displays the current directory.
CLS 
Clears the screen.
COPY 
Copies one file to another (if the destination file already exists, MS-DOS asks whether to replace it). (See also XCOPY, an external command that could also copy directory trees).
CTTY 
Defines the device to use for input and output.
DATE 
Display and set the date of the system.
DEL, ERASE 
Deletes a file. When used on a directory, deletes all files.
DIR 
Lists the files in the specified directory.
ECHO 
Toggles whether text is displayed (ECHO ON) or not (ECHO OFF). Also displays text on the screen (ECHO text).
EXIT 
Exits from COMMAND.COM and returns to the program which launched it.
LFNFOR 
Enables or disables the return of long filenames by the FOR command. (Windows 95/98/Me only).
LOADHIGH, LH 
Loads a program into upper memory (HILOAD in DR DOS).
LOCK 
Enables external programs to perform low-level disk access to a volume. (Windows 95/98/Me only).
MKDIR, MD 
Creates a new directory.
PATH 
Displays or changes the value of the PATH environment variable which controls the places where COMMAND.COM will search for executable files.
PROMPT 
Displays or change the value of the PROMPT environment variable which controls the appearance of the prompt.
REN, RENAME 
Renames a file or directory.
RMDIR, RD 
Removes an empty directory.
SET 
Sets the value of an environment variable ; Without arguments, shows all defined environment variables.
TIME 
Display and set the time of the system.
TRUENAME 
Display the fully expanded physical name of a file, resolving ASSIGN, JOIN and SUBST logical filesystem mappings.
TYPE 
Display the content of a file on the console.
UNLOCK 
Disables low-level disk access. (Windows 95/98/Me only)
VER 
Displays the version of the operating system.
VERIFY 
Enable or disable verification of writing for files.
VOL 
Shows information about a volume.

[edit]Batch file commands

Control structures are mostly used inside batch files, although they can also be used interactively.
:label 
Defines a target for GOTO.
CALL 
Executes another batch file and returns to the old one and continues.
FOR 
Iteration: repeats a command for each out of a specified set of files.
GOTO 
Moves execution to a specified label. Labels are specified at the beginning of a line, with a colon (:likethis).
IF 
Conditional statement, allows to branch the program execution.
PAUSE 
Halts execution of the program and displays a message asking the user to press any key to continue.
REM 
comment: any text following this command is ignored.
SHIFT 
Replaces each of the command-line variables with the subsequent one (e.g. %0 with %1%1 with %2 etc.).

No comments: