Command Prompt (executable name cmd.exe
) is the Microsoft-supplied command-line interpreter on OS/2, Windows CE and on Windows NT-based operating systems (including Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, Server 2003, Server 2008, Server 2008 R2 and Server 2012). It is the analog of COMMAND.COM
in MS-DOS and Windows 9x systems (where it is called MS-DOS Prompt), or of the Unix shells used on Unix-like systems.
Versions
Therese Stowell developed the initial version of cmd.exe
for Windows NT.[1] Although some old DOS commands are unsupported or have been changed (e.g. the functionality of deltree
was rolled into rd
in the form of the /s parameter), cmd.exe
still has a greater number of built-in commands.
The OS/2 and the Windows NT versions of cmd.exe
have more detailed error messages than the blanket "Bad command or file name" (in the case of malformed commands) of command.com
. In the OS/2 version of cmd.exe
, errors are reported in the current language of the system, their text being taken from the system message files. The "help" command can then be issued with the error message number to obtain further information.
cmd.exe
remains part of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows 8.
Technical information
Unlike COMMAND.COM
, which is a DOS program, cmd.exe
is a native Windows application usually running in Win32 console. This allows it to take advantage of features available to native programs on the platform that are otherwise unavailable to DOS programs. For example, since cmd.exe
is a native text mode application on OS/2, it can use real pipes in command pipelines, allowing both sides of the pipeline to run concurrently. As a result, it is possible to redirect the standard error in cmd.exe
, unlike COMMAND.COM
. (COMMAND.COM
uses temporary files, and runs the two sides serially, one after the other.)
In reality, cmd.exe
is a Windows program that acts as a DOS-like command line interpreter. It is generally compatible, but provides extensions which address some of the limitations of COMMAND.COM
:
SETLOCAL
/ENDLOCAL
commands limit the scope of changes to the environment - internal
CALL
and GOTO
allow for more complex subroutines to be included in a single file - filename-parsing extensions to the
SET
command are comparable to C shell - expression-evaluation extensions are also provided in the
SET
command. - an expansion of the
FOR
command to support parsing files and arbitrary sets in addition to filenames. - use of arrow keys to scroll through command history (
DOSKey
in COMMAND.COM
) - off-by-default path completion capabilities similar to
bash
tab completion - a directory stack accessible with the
PUSHD
and POPD
commands IF
can perform case-insensitive comparisons and numeric equality and inequality comparisons in addition to case-sensitive string comparisons - the ability to escape reserved characters by using the caret character (
^
) - delayed variable expansion, fixing DOS idioms that made using Control structures hard and complex (cmd.exe of Windows 2000 and higher)
The extensions can be disabled, providing a stricter compatibility mode.
See also
References
- ^ Zachary, G. Pascal (1994). Showstopper! The Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and the Next Generation at Microsoft. Warner Books. ISBN 0-02-935671-7.
External links
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