Most Common Internal Commands for the Command Shell You Yet Don’t Know

You can execute two types of commands from within the command shell.The first type is an internal command—these commands are built in the command shell itself and do not appear as executable files anywhere in the system. Most of these commands are very similar to MS-DOS commands. Examples of internal commands are Dir for generating a directory listing, Cls for clearing the screen, and Del for deleting a specific file.

Internal Command for command shell

The second type of command you can execute from within the command shell is an external command. External commands are separate executable files located in the %SystemRoot\System32 folder. Although these are called external, they still run from within the command shell. Examples of external commands are XCOPY.exe for copying the entire directory tree, DISKPART.exe for managing disk partitions, and IPCONFIG.exe for displaying the computer’s Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) configuration.  External commands are more versatile and offer more advanced capabilities than internal commands. Here are list some of the more common internal commands:

Assoc Displays or modifies the current filename extension associations. When ou use this command without any parameters, it displays a list of all filename xtension associations. For example, if you type assoc .doc at the command rompt, the extension association will be displayed as .doc=Word.Document.8.

Call Used to call another batch program file or a procedure from within a batch ile. Control of the currently running batch file is then transferred to the called atch file.This command accepts labels as arguments. It has no effect if you use it outside a batch file.

CD (ChDir) Displays the name of the current working directory or changes the current working directory. If you use it without any parameters, the current working directory is displayed. For example, to change the working directory to C:\Adminfiles\ Support, assuming your current working drive is C:, type cd \adminfiles\ support at the command prompt.

Color Changes the foreground and background colors for the current session of the command shell.This command has the same effect as using the cmd /t:FB command discussed earlier.The parameters F and B are values of the colors, For example, the command color 17 will change the foreground color to blue and the background color to white.

Cls Clears the screen of the current command shell and erases the screen buffer, resulting in a blank command prompt window. 
 
Copy Copies the specified file from one location to another. If the source and destination locations are the same, an error is returned that says File cannot be copied on to itself.”

Date Displays or changes the current date on the computer.

Dir Displays the contents of the current working directory, including names of the subdirectories.You can specify a different directory and use wildcards to limit the results.This command also displays the total number of files and subdirectories, their size, total space used, and space remaining on the drive.

Del (Erase) Deletes the specified file, multiple files, or all files within a given directory. For example, the command Del C:\Reports will delete all files in the C:\Reports folder.You can use wildcards to specify certain types of files to delete; for example, Del C:\Reports\*.doc will delete all files with a .doc extension in the C:\Reports folder.

Echo Displays text strings used with the command line and sets the echo on or off.This command is similar to using the command Cmd.exe /e:on | off. You can also use this command to display a message.

Endlocal Ends localization of the environment variables in a batch file and  restores them to their values before the Setlocal command.This command works only in batch files and has no effect if you use it separately at the command prompt.

Exit Used to exit from the command shell window.

For Used to run a specified command for each file in a set of files.You can use it within a batch file or directly from the command prompt.

■ Ftype Displays current file types or modifies the file types used in filename extension associations. If you use it without any parameters, it displays the file types that have open command strings defined.The open command string specifies the open command used to open the file type.

Goto Used to direct the command interpreter to jump to a command specified with the label.You use it in batch files to direct the processing from the command identified by the label.

If Used in batch files to perform conditional processing of commands. If the condition is satisfied, the command following the If command is processed. Otherwise, the interpreter processes the command that follows the Else command.

■Md (Mkdir) Creates a directory or a subdirectory. For example, Md C:\Reports\MyFiles or Mkdir C:\Reports\MyFiles will create a Myfiles subdirectory within the Reports directory on the C: drive.

Move Moves one or more files from one directory to another.The source and target locations of the files are specified in the command. If the source is not specified, files are moved from the current working directory.

Path Displays or changes the command path for searching the executable files. When you use this without any parameters, it displays the current command path the operating system uses to search for executables.

Pause Suspends the processing of a batch file and prompts the user to press any key to continue processing. Using pause in a batch file is different from using the Ctrl + C key combination.This key combination stops the batch program from processing and asks the user whether she wants to terminate the procedure.

PopD Changes the directory stored by the PushD command as the current working directory in a batch file.The PushD command creates a virtual directory, and repeated use of the PushD command creates a stack of multiple directories. The PopD command changes the current directory to the one most recently stored by PushD.

Prompt Sets the display text for the command prompt.You use it to customize the command prompt to display any text, such as the current date and time.To reset the prompt to its default, use the Prompt command without any parameters. 
 
PushD Stores the name of the current directory for use by PopD before changing to another specified directory.The directories are stored in a stack with the last directory on top.

Rd (Rmdir) Removes or deletes the directory or directories and subdirectories specified in the command.This command cannot delete a directory that has hidden or system files.You must empty the directory before using this command, and you cannot delete the current working directory.You must first use the Cd command to change the current directory.

Rem Used to insert comments or remarks in a batch file.The text after the Rem command is not processed.

Set Displays, sets, or removes the environment variables. When you use this command without any parameters, it displays the current environment variables.The environment variables are used to control the behavior of batch files.You would commonly use this command in the Autoexec.nt file.

Setlocal Starts localization of environment variables in a batch file.The localization ends when the command interpreter encounters the Endlocal command.This command is effective only in batch files.

■ Shift Changes the position of a replaceable parameter in a batch file.

■ Start Opens a second command prompt window to run a specified program or an executable. If no program or command is specified, the command just opens another command prompt window.

■ Time Displays or changes the current time on the computer.

■ Title Used to change the title of the command prompt window during the processing of a batch file.You can reset the title to its default by using the Title command again.

■ Type Displays the contents of a text file.This command does not modify the text file.

■ Vol Displays the volume number and serial number of a disk.

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