Command Prompt (cmd.exe)
Other namesWindows Command Processor
Developer(s)Microsoft, IBM, ReactOS contributors
Initial releaseDecember 1987; 36 years ago (1987-12)
Operating system
PlatformIA-32, x86-64, ARM (and historically DEC Alpha, MIPS, PowerPC, and Itanium)
PredecessorCOMMAND.COM
TypeCommand-line interpreter

Command Prompt, also known as cmd.exe or cmd, is the default command-line interpreter for the OS/2,[1] eComStation, ArcaOS, Microsoft Windows (Windows NT family and Windows CE family), and ReactOS[2] operating systems. On Windows CE .NET 4.2,[3] Windows CE 5.0[4] and Windows Embedded CE 6.0[5] 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. cmd.exe is the counterpart of COMMAND.COM in DOS and Windows 9x systems, and analogous to the Unix shells used on Unix-like systems. The initial version of cmd.exe for Windows NT was developed by Therese Stowell.[6] Windows CE 2.11 was the first embedded Windows release to support a console and a Windows CE version of cmd.exe.[7] The ReactOS implementation of cmd.exe is derived from FreeCOM, the FreeDOS command line interpreter.[2]

Operation

cmd.exe interacts with the user through a command-line interface. On Windows, this interface is implemented through the Win32 console. cmd.exe may take advantage of features available to native programs of its own platform. For example, on OS/2 and Windows, 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 stream. (COMMAND.COM 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 &&.[8]

When using this separator in the Windows cmd.exe, each command must complete successfully for the following commands to execute. For example: 

C:\>CommandA && CommandB && CommandC

In the above example, CommandB will only execute if CommandA completes successfully, and the execution of CommandC depends on the successful completion of CommandB. To process subsequent commands even if the previous command produces an error, the command separator & should be used.[9] 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 (213-1) characters. On earlier versions, such as Windows 2000 or Windows NT 4.0, the maximum length of the string is 2047 (211-1) characters. This limit includes the command line, individual environment variables that are inherited by other processes, and all environment variable expansions.[10]

Quotation marks are required for the following special characters:[8] 

& < > [ ] { } ^ = ; ! ' + , ` ~

and white space.

Internal commands

OS/2

OS/2 Window (cmd.exe) on Microsoft OS/2 Version 1.3

The following is a list of the Microsoft OS/2 internal cmd.exe commands:[11]

Windows NT family

cmd.exe on Windows 11

The following list of internal commands is supported by cmd.exe on Windows NT and later:[12]

Windows CE

Pocket CMD v 3.0 (cmd.exe) on Windows CE 3.0

The following list of commands is supported by cmd.exe on Windows CE .NET 4.2,[13] Windows CE 5.0[14] and Windows Embedded CE 6.0:[15]

In addition, the net command is available as an external command stored in \Windows\net.exe.

ReactOS

Command Prompt (cmd.exe) on ReactOS

The ReactOS implementation includes the following internal commands:[2]

Comparison with COMMAND.COM

On Windows, cmd.exe is mostly compatible with COMMAND.COM but provides the following extensions over it:

Internal commands have also been improved:

See also

References

  1. ^ "Notes on using the default OS/2 command processor (CMD.EXE)". www.tavi.co.uk.
  2. ^ a b c "reactos/reactos". GitHub. December 4, 2021.
  3. ^ "Command Processor Shell (Windows CE .NET 4.2)". Microsoft Docs. June 30, 2006. Archived from the original on August 31, 2022.
  4. ^ "Command Processor Shell (Windows CE 5.0)". Microsoft Docs. September 14, 2012. Archived from the original on August 28, 2022.
  5. ^ "Command Processor Shell (Windows Embedded CE 6.0)". Microsoft Docs. 2012. Archived from the original on September 5, 2022.
  6. ^ Zachary, G. Pascal (1994). Showstopper! The Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and the Next Generation at Microsoft. The Free Press. ISBN 0-02-935671-7.
  7. ^ Douglas McConnaughey Boling (2001). Programming Microsoft Windows CE (2nd ed.). Microsoft Press. ISBN 978-0735614437.
  8. ^ a b "cmd". Microsoft Learn. September 12, 2023. Archived from the original on November 21, 2023.
  9. ^ "Command Redirection, Pipes - Windows CMD - SS64.com". ss64.com. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  10. ^ Command prompt (Cmd.exe) command-line string limitation
  11. ^ Microsoft Operating System/2 User's Reference (PDF). Microsoft. 1987.
  12. ^ Hill, Tim (1998). Windows NT Shell Scripting. Macmillan Technical Publishing. ISBN 978-1578700479.
  13. ^ "Command Processor Commands (Windows CE .NET 4.2)". Microsoft Docs. June 30, 2006. Archived from the original on August 31, 2022.
  14. ^ "Command Processor Commands (Windows CE 5.0)". Microsoft Docs. September 14, 2012. Archived from the original on August 31, 2022.
  15. ^ "Command Processor Commands (Windows Embedded CE 6.0)". Microsoft Docs. January 5, 2012. Archived from the original on September 6, 2022.
  16. ^ "Windows 2000 delayed environment variable expansion". Windows IT Pro. Archived from the original on July 13, 2015. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
  17. ^ "Setlocal". TechNet. Microsoft. September 11, 2009. Retrieved January 13, 2015.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Windows Command Prompt.
Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Windows Batch Scripting
Microsoft Windows components
Windows command-line programs and shell builtins
Categories