Introduction

This book describes Windows scripting as implemented by cmd.exe command interpreter.

This book first describes using the Windows NT command interpreter, how it receives, parses, and processes commands from users.

Then it describes various commands available.

To obtain an extensive list of Windows commands and their short summaries, open the command prompt on any Windows computer, and type help. To find out about a particular command, type the name of the command followed by /?.

The subject of this book is also known as "batch programming", even though "batch" refers not only to batch files for MS DOS and Windows command interpreter.

Other subject terms include "batch file programming", "batch file scripting", "Windows batch command", "Windows batch file", "Windows command line", "Windows command prompt", and "Windows shell scripting".