MS DOS Command: CALL

Reference from Microsoft WinXP cmd help

Description

Calls one batch program from another.

Syntax

CALL [drive:][path]filename [batch-parameters]

Parameters

batch-parameters

Specifies any command-line information required by the batch program.

Remarks

If command Extensions are enabled CALL changes as follows:

CALL command now accepts labels as the target of the CALL. The syntax is:

CALL :label arguments

A new batch file context is created with the specified arguments and control is passed to the statement after the label specified. You must "exit" twice by reaching the end of the batch script file twice. The first time you read the end, control will return to just after the CALL statement. The second time will exit the batch script. Type GOTO /? for a description of the GOTO :EOF extension that will allow you to "return" from a batch script.

In addition, expansion of batch script argument references (%0, %1, etc.) have been changed as follow:

%* in a batch script refers to all the arguments (e.g. %1 %2 %3 %4 $5 ...)

Substitution of batch parameters (%n) has been enhanced. You can now use the following optional syntax:

%~1	expands %1 removing any surrounding quotes (")
%~f1	expands %1 to a fully qualified path name
%~d1	expands %1 to a drive letter only
%~p1	expands %1 to a path only
%~n1	expands %1 to a file name only
%~x1	expands %1 to a file extension only
%~s1	expanded path contains short names only
%~a1	expanded %1 to file attributes
%~t1	expands %1 to date/time of file
%~z1	expands %1 to size of file
%~$PATH:1	searches the directories listed in the PATH environment variable and expands %1 to the fully qualified name of the first one found. If the environment variable name is not defined or the file is not found by the search, then this modifier expands to the empty string.

The modifiers can be combined to get compound results:

%~dp1	expands %1 to a drive letter and path only
%~nx1	expands %1 to a file name and extension only
%~dp$PATH:1	searches the directories listed in the PATH environment
%~ftza1	expands %1 to a DIR like output line

In the above examples %1 and PATH can be replace by other valid values. The %~ syntax is terminated by a valid argument number. The %~ modifiers may not be used with %*.

MS DOS Command: CMD

Reference from Microsoft WinXP cmd help

Description

Starts a new instance of the Windows XP command interpreter

Syntax

CMD [/A | /U] [/Q] [/D] [/E:ON | /E:OFF] [/F:ON | /F:OFF] [/V:ON | /V:OFF] [[/S] [/C | /K] string]

Parameters

/C	Carries out the command specified by string and then terminates
/K	Carries out the command specified by string but remains
/S	Modifies the treatment of string after /C or /K (see below)
/Q	Turns echo off
/D	Disable execution of AutoRun commands from registry (see below)
/A	Causes the output of internal commands to a pipe or file to be ANSI
/U	Causes the output of internal commands to a pipe or file to be Unicode
/T:fg	Sets the foreground/background colors (see COLOR /? for more info)
/E:ON	Enable command extensions (see below)
/E:OFF	Disable command extensions (see below)
/F:ON	Enable file and directory name completion characters (see below)
/F:OFF	Disable file and directory name completion characters (see below)
/V:ON	Enable delayed environment variable expansion using ! as the delimiter. For example, /V:ON would allow !var! to expand the variable var at execution time. The var syntax expands variables at input time, which is quite a different thing when inside of a FOR loop.
/V:OFF	Disable delayed environment expansion.

Remarks

Note that multiple commands separated by the command separator '&&' are accepted for string if surrounded by quotes. Also, for compatibility reasons, /X is the same as /E:ON, /Y is the same as /E:OFF and /R is the same as /C. Any other switches are ignored.

If /C or /K is specified, then the remainder of the command line after the switch is processed as a command line, where the following logic is used to process quote (") characters:

1. If all of the following conditions are met, then quote characters on the command line are preserved:

   • no /S switch
   • exactly two quote characters
   • no special characters between the two quote characters, where special is one of: &<>()@^|
   • there are one or more whitespace characters between the the two quote characters
   • the string between the two quote characters is the name of an executable file.

2. Otherwise, old behavior is to see if the first character is a quote character and if so, strip the leading character and remove the last quote character on the command line, preserving any text after the last quote character.

If /D was NOT specified on the command line, then when CMD.EXE starts, it looks for the following REG_SZ/REG_EXPAND_SZ registry variables, and if either or both are present, they are executed first.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun

and/or

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun

Command Extensions are enabled by default. You may also disable extensions for a particular invocation by using the /E:OFF switch. You can enable or disable extensions for all invocations of CMD.EXE on a machine and/or user logon session by setting either or both of the following REG_DWORD values in the registry using REGEDT32.EXE:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\EnableExtensions

and/or

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\EnableExtensions

to either 0x1 or 0x0. The user specific setting takes precedence over the machine setting. The command line switches take precedence over the registry settings..

The command extensions involve changes and/or additions to the following commands:

• DEL or ERASE
• COLOR
• CD or CHDIR
• MD or MKDIR
• PROMPT
• PUSHD
• POPD
• SET
• SETLOCAL
• ENDLOCAL
• IF
• FOR
• CALL
• SHIFT
• GOTO
• START (also includes changes to external command invocation)
• ASSOC
• FTYPE

To get specific details, type commandname /? to view the specifics.s.

Delayed environment variable expansion is NOT enabled by default. You can enable or disable delayed environment variable expansion for a particular invocation of CMD.EXE with the /V:ON or /V:OFF switch. You can enable or disable completion for all invocations of CMD.EXE on a machine and/or user logon session by setting either or both of the following REG_DWORD values in the registry using REGEDT32.EXE:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\DelayedExpansion

and/or

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\DelayedExpansion

to either 0x1 or 0x0. The user specific setting takes precedence over the machine setting. The command line switches take precedence over the registry settings.s.

If delayed environment variable expansion is enabled, then the exclamation character can be used to substitute the value of an environment variable at execution time.

File and Directory name completion is NOT enabled by default. You can enable or disable file name completion for a particular invocation of CMD.EXE with the /F:ON or /F:OFF switch. You can enable or disable completion for all invocations of CMD.EXE on a machine and/or user logon session by setting either or both of the following REG_DWORD values in the registry using REGEDT32.EXE:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\CompletionChar

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\PathCompletionChar

and/or

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\CompletionChar

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\PathCompletionChar

with the hex value of a control character to use for a particular function (e.g. 0x4 is Ctrl-D and 0x6 is Ctrl-F). The user specific settings take precedence over the machine settings. The command line switches take precedence over the registry settings.s.

If completion is enabled with the /F:ON switch, the two control characters used are Ctrl-D for directory name completion and Ctrl-F for file name completion. To disable a particular completion character in the registry, use the value for space (0x20) as it is not a valid control character.

Completion is invoked when you type either of the two control characters. The completion function takes the path string to the left of the cursor appends a wild card character to it if none is already present and builds up a list of paths that match. It then displays the first matching path. If no paths match, it just beeps and leaves the display alone. Thereafter, repeated pressing of the same control character will cycle through the list of matching paths. Pressing the Shift key with the control character will move through the list backwards. If you edit the line in any way and press the control character again, the saved list of matching paths is discarded and a new one generated. The same occurs if you switch between file and directory name completion. The only difference between the two control characters is the file completion character matches both file and directory names, while the directory completion character only matches directory names. If file completion is used on any of the built in directory commands (CD, MD or RD) then directory completion is assumed.

The completion code deals correctly with file names that contain spaces or other special characters by placing quotes around the matching path. Also, if you back up, then invoke completion from within a line, the text to the right of the cursor at the point completion was invoked is discarded.

The special characters that require quotes are:

• <space>
• &()[]{}^=;!'+,`~

MS DOS Command: CLS

Reference from Microsoft WinXP cmd help

Description

Clears the screen.

Syntax

CLS