Command Prompt

Cmd.exe ( officially known as Windows command prompt ) is an executable file and the command line interpreter of the operating system OS / 2 and Microsoft's Windows NT line.

Operation

Cmd.exe opens a window with command line prompt, where you instructions not graphically transmitted by the mouse, but this enters directly from the keyboard. With this example, files can be copied, moved or removed. The syntax of the commands corresponding to the principle of MS-DOS/PC under DOS with the command interpreter COMMAND.COM, but this was expanded to include numerous features. Some internal commands have been improved, such as for, and if. In addition to the internal commands available to the user are numerous other programs as executable files or shell scripts.

If cmd.exe is started by a file link, the window is titled with the name of the shortcut. The name provided for in the start menu shortcut is the command prompt.

Innovations

It is in cmd.exe to a native Win32 application, therefore, the name " DOS prompt " is misleading: it is indeed found a command line for MS -DOS commands available that even though not under MS- DOS as the operating system is running.

Cmd.exe has a number of advantages over COMMAND.COM, so generates the character | in a command and a pipe between two processes (such as on a Unix operating system), and no temporary file in the first, the entire output of the command to the left of the pipe is redirected.

With Windows 2000, the so-called command extensions were introduced, which adds many new features to the command line:

  • The integration of the functionality of the originally separate program DOSKEY.COM as a command history, as well as macros.
  • A tab-completion with Tab ( ​​for Windows 2000 disabled by default since Windows XP by default).
  • Characters that have a special meaning (such as the | ) can now be passed as parameters, by preceding the escape character ^.
  • The Set command supports certain terms, such as simple arithmetic operators, and logical operators AND, OR, and XOR.
  • The For command supports a number of new parameters, such directories are processed recursively, and the contents of files are used as input parameters.
  • The If command supports a number of new comparison operators. The existence of a variable can be checked.
  • The Md command supports the creation of an entire directory branch.

These innovations can be disabled by parameter, if compatibility problems with older batch files occur.

Resource Kit Tools

The functionality of cmd.exe is not enough for many practical cases, especially when compared to its competitors from the UNIX environment. Microsoft responded with a free extension called Resource Kit tools currently in the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools version. Even if the name Windows Server 2003 lists, so most extensions are also run in earlier operating systems. The associated documents explicitly list here also Windows 2000 and Windows XP. One of many enhancements for example robocopy.exe, a program for cmd.exe to copy, synchronize and monitor changes to files or whole directories ( in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 Resource Kit without already integrated).

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