DOS Batch Programming

General Rules

Named parameters are enclosed in percentage signs, as in %name% while input parameters are numeric and use only one percentage sign, as in %1.

WAIT

In command prompt there is no direct support for timed wait command. However, there is Choice command that has a time parameter that indicates how long it should wait for selection. This can be used for timing.

In Windows 7 this can be done in the following way (in this example we wait for 5 seconds):

CHOICE /N /C Y /T 5 /D Y >NUL

Calling another batch file

call anotherfile.bat

link

Directories

Current Directory

%CD%

Changing Directories

Use PUSHD/POPD to switch directories.

IF Command

Example of conditional branching:

@ECHO OFF

:TOP

   IF (%1)==() GOTO END

   ECHO Value is "%1" and still running...

   SHIFT

GOTO TOP

:END

See attached if.cmd.txt file for example.

Date and Time

See attached script.

Parameters

References:

parameters (link)