Windows Tips and Tricks
in Coding on Windows
Windows Commands
Here is a handy list of DOS commands.
Basics
| CMD command | Description | Version |
|---|---|---|
| call | Calls a batch file within another batch file. The command has no effect if entered directly into CMD instead of in a batch file. | All |
| cd (chdir) | Displays the current directory and lets you switch to other directories. With the parameter /D plus drive and path specification, you can also switch drives. Use cd.. to switch to a higher directory (has the same function as the chdir command). | All |
| cls | Clears the content of the screen. | All |
| date | Displays the current date and allows you to change it. With the parameter /T the date is shown without the option to change. | All |
| dir | Displays all folders and files within the current directory. You can restrict the output by attributes (/A), simplify the list (/B), or display all subdirectories and their files (/S). | All |
| echo | Displays a message and is mainly used within scripts and batch files. | All |
| find | Searches through a file or multiple files for a particular character sequence. If you only want to know how frequently the word or phrase occurs, use the /C parameter. With the extension /I the command ignores upper- and lower-case in the search. | All |
| findstr | Finds character sequences in one or multiple files. It gives you more options when compared to the find command: you can search for files that contain various terms or with /C search for an exact word order. | 10/8/7/Vista/XP |
| md (mkdir) | Creates a new directory on the specified path. If directories don’t already exist on the path, md creates them automatically (you can also use the mkdir command). | All |
| more | Outputs the content of a file (for example, a text file) by the page. You can also use the command to split the output of another command into pages. | All |
| path | Creates and displays the path for searching executable files. | All |
| pause | Pauses execution in batch files and scripts. The user is then prompted in a message to continue by pressing a key. | All |
| popd | Changes to the folder saved by the pushd command. The command is mainly part of batch files and scripts. | All |
| pushd | Saves a specific path into a script or batch file. You can change to this directory with popd. | All |
| rd (rmdir) | Deletes a directory. This must not contain any files, even hidden ones. You can delete an entire directory tree with the /S parameter (you can also use the rmdir command). | All |
| rem | Writes comments in batch and script files that aren’t taken into account when executing. | All |
| runas | Allows a user to run commands with the rights of another user. For example, you can run a command as an administrator from a normal user account as long as you know the password. | All |
| set | Displays environmental variables of CMD.EXE and lets you configure them. | All |
| shift | Moves variables within batch files and scripts. | All |
| shutdown | Shuts down the computer (/s), triggers a restart (/r), or logs the user out (/l). A graphical user interface is displayed if you enter the parameter /I as the first option in the command. | 10/8/7/Vista/XP |
| start | Opens a new command prompt window in which you can run a specific program or command. | All |
| taskkill | Ends one or more running tasks. You either have to specify the process ID (PID) or image name. | 10/8/7/Vista |
| tasklist | Lists all running processes – also on remote computers, if desired. The process ID also has to be specified, which is required for the taskkill command, for example. | 10/8/7/Vista/XP |
| time | Displays the current time and allows it to be changed. If the parameter /T is entered, the command prompt only shows the time and offers no option to directly change it. | All |
| tree | Graphically displays the directory structure of a drive or path. With the /F parameter, all files in the folders are also listed out. /A also ensures that only ASCII characters are used for the graphical representation. The command takes into account all subdirectories starting from the given path. If you don’t enter a path, the current folder is used as the output. | All |
| type | Displays the content of a text file. | All |
| ver | Displays the current version number of Windows or MS-DOS. | All |
Files
| CMD command | Description | Version |
|---|---|---|
| copy | Copies a file or multiple files to another location. It’s also possible to connect several files to one. You can use the asterisk as a wild card. | All |
| del (erase) | Deletes a file or multiple files. If you also want to delete all files from subfolders, you can do this with the /S parameter. Read-only files can be deleted with /F (you can also use the erase command). | All |
| for | Sets a specific command that should be run for each individual file in a file set. This command is usually used in batch and script files. | All |
| forfiles | Selects one or more files and runs a command that refers to these files. Usually used for batch and script files. | 10/8/7/Vista |
| goto | Skips the execution within a batch program to a specific line (marker). | All |
| if | Represents a conditional statement and executes expressions within batch files only under certain conditions. Can be extended by not if commands are only not to be executed under certain conditions. | All |
| move | Moves a file or multiple files from one directory to another. The command can also change the names of directories. By default, the command overwrites other files with the same name when moving files to the destination. To prevent this use the /-Y parameter. | All |
| ren (rename) | Changes the name of a particular file. Directory and drive cannot be changed this way (or use the rename command). | All |
| robocopy | Allows so-called robust file copying. This is an extended version of copy and xcopy. With robocopy it’s possible to successfully transfer data even if there are interruptions in the network. There are a total of 72 parameters with which the copy command can be modified. | 10/8/7/Vista |
| where | Finds files that match a particular search topic. The placeholders * and ? can be used within the topic. | All |
| xcopy | Copies files and entire directory structures. In this way, the command offers various additional options. For example, it can be specified that only files younger than a specific date (/D) should be copied. It can also be specified that read-only files are overwritten (/R). | All |
Batch Files
FOR cmd
Syntax
FOR /F ["options"] %%parameter IN ('command_to_process') DO command
Key
options:
delims=xxx The delimiter character(s)
(default = a space or TAB)
skip=n A number of lines to skip at the beginning.
(default = 0)
eol=; Character at the start of each line to indicate a comment
The default is a semicolon ;
tokens=n The numbered items to read from each line
(default = 1)
usebackq Use the alternate quoting style:
- Use double quotes for long file names in "filenameset".
- Use single quotes for 'Text string to process'
- Use back quotes for `command_to_process`
command_to_process : The output of the 'command_to_process' is
passed into the FOR parameter.
command : The command to carry out, including any parameters.
This can be a single command, or if you enclose it
in (brackets), several commands, one per line.
%%parameter : A replaceable parameter:
in a batch file use %%G (on the command line %G)
To parse a csv file
Create sample1.csv file with the following content:
0,1,2,4
1,1,2,3
2,2,4,6
3,3,6,9
for /f "usebackq tokens=1-4 delims=," %%a in ("sample1.csv") do (
echo %%a %%b %%c %%d )
- How to show contents of all files in a folder
for /f %%a in (%1\*.*) do (type %%a)
FORFILES
@echo off
IF "%1" == "" goto :HELP
forfiles /P %1 /M "*.*" /c "cmd /C echo video2images: @path & mkdir @fname & ffmpeg -i @path -start_number 0 -b:v 10000k -an -y -q:v 16 -r %2 @fname\%%4d.jpg"
echo DONE
goto :EOF
:HELP
echo video2images.bat [input folder] [fps]
echo video2images.bat C:\test 0.01
:EOF
Windows Tools
These builtin windows tools can be run by pressing Windows key and type the name of the program.
winver
To check Windows version
dxdiag
To see detailed info about DirectX components including the graphics driver.
Additional tools
SysInternal Tools
Windows SysInternals is a collection of useful utilities for Windows. The most useful is probably ZoomIt which is a very handy tool for presentations.
