Using the Windows Command Prompt (part 3) - A Sampling of Commands

7. A Sampling of Commands

The following sections provide an introduction to some of the things you can do at the command prompt. They are by no means all the commands that you'll come across. As you read through these, I strongly encourage you to try out each of the commands at the command prompt.

7.1. Dir

The DIR command provides a list of contents from the current directory. This is an easy way to view a list of files in this directory, and it also includes a list of directories in the current directory. Some commonly used switches are shown in Table 2.

7.2. Copy

The Copy command can be used to copy files from the command prompt. When the Copy command is used, the original file is not modified and a new file is created. It has the following format:

Copy sourceFile destinationFile

Both the sourceFile and the destinationFile can include a path statement. If the path is omitted, the current path is used. If the file is being copied to a different path, the destinationFile name can be omitted and the name will be the same.

As an example, you can copy a file named test.txt to a file named test2.txt in the current directory with this command:

Copy test.txt test2.txt

If the test.txt file exists in a folder named Docs on the C: drive and you want to copy it to the C:\Data folder keeping the original name, use this command:

Copy C:\docs\test.txt c:\data

You can also use wildcards with Copy commands. For example, if you wanted to copy all of the files from the C:\Data folder to the C:\Archive folder, you could use this command:

Copy C:\data\*.* c:\archive\

As explained earlier, the asterisk (*) wildcard can be used in place of zero or more characters. When you use *.*, it will include all files in the folder.

Similarly, if you were already in the C:\Archive folder, you could use the following command, omitting the destination. All of the files would be copied from the source folder and copied into the current folder.

Copy C:\data\*.*

7.3. XCopy

One of the problems with the Copy command is that it can't copy subdirectories. XCopy can copy subdirectories, and that's one of the primary reasons why it's used.

The format of the XCopy command is similar to that of the Copy command:

xCopy sourceFile destinationFile

Some of the common switches used with XCopy are listed in Table 3.

7.4. SET

The SET command was used earlier to show and modify the path, but it can be used to view and/or modify many of the environment variables. Entering SET with no parameters will show many of the system variables and their current value:

SET

Listing 3 shows the output of the Set command on my computer.

Example 3. Output of the Set command

ALLUSERSPROFILE=C:\ProgramData
APPDATA=C:\Users\Darril\AppData\Roaming
CommonProgramFiles=C:\Program Files\Common Files
CommonProgramFiles(x86)=C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files
CommonProgramW6432=C:\Program Files\Common Files
COMPUTERNAME=DRG
ComSpec=C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe
FP_NO_HOST_CHECK=NO
HOMEDRIVE=C:
HOMEPATH=\Users\Darril
LOCALAPPDATA=C:\Users\Darril\AppData\Local
LOGONSERVER=\\DRG
NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS=2
OS=Windows_NT
Path=C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;

c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\binn\;

C:\Windows\System32 \WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;

C:\Windows\System32\Windows System Resource Manager\bin;

C:\Windows\idmu\common
PATHEXT=.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC

PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE=AMD64
PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER=Intel64 Family 6 Model 23 Stepping 6, GenuineIntel
PROCESSOR_LEVEL=6
PROCESSOR_REVISION=1706
ProgramData=C:\ProgramData
ProgramFiles=C:\Program Files
ProgramFiles(x86)=C:\Program Files (x86)
ProgramW6432=C:\Program Files
PROMPT=$P$G
PSModulePath=C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\

					  

PUBLIC=C:\Users\Public
SESSIONNAME=Console
SystemDrive=C:
SystemRoot=C:\Windows
TEMP=C:\Users\Darril\AppData\Local\Temp
TMP=C:\Users\Darril\AppData\Local\Temp
USERDOMAIN=DRG
USERNAME=Darril
USERPROFILE=C:\Users\Darril
VS80COMNTOOLS=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\Tools\
windir=C:\Windows

					  

You can narrow the search by using the first letter of the variable in which you're interested. For example, to see all the variables that start with the letter C, you can use the following command:

SET C

7.5. NET USE

The NET command includes several subcommands, but one of the most basic and frequently used NET commands is NET USE. The NET USE command can be used to connect to shares on remote computers. It does this by mapping an unused drive letter (such as Z:) to a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path of \\ServerName\ShareName.

In other words, if you have a server named Srv1 that has a share named Data, you can use the UNC path of \\Srv1\Data. Use the following command to map this UNC path to the Z: drive:

Net Use Z: \\Srv1\Data

Now you can change the drive name to Z: by simply typing Z: and pressing Enter, and you'll have access to the UNC path from the command prompt. You can copy files to or from the Z: drive (as long as you have permission).

When you've finished, you should return the environment to normal and delete the mapping. The following command will do so:

Net Use Z: /delete

7.6. SystemInfo

The SystemInfo command will output a significant amount of information on the system. This can be very valuable when troubleshooting a system because it gives you a lot of information at a glance. It can quickly tell you things like these and more:

• Hostname

• Operating system name, edition, and version

• When it was installed and when it was last booted

• Details on the hardware such as BIOS version, number, and type of processors and how much RAM is installed

• Names of hotfixes that have been installed

Listing 4 shows the output of this command on my system.

Example 4. Output of the SystemInfo command

Host Name:                 DRG
OS Name:                   Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
OS Version:                6.1.7600 N/A Build 7600
OS Manufacturer:           Microsoft Corporation
OS Configuration:          Standalone Workstation
OS Build Type:             Multiprocessor Free
Registered Owner:          Darril Gibson
Registered Organization:   SY0-201.com
Product ID:                00426-065-0543977-86656
Original Install Date:     8/9/2009, 4:42:31 AM
System Boot Time:          9/21/2009, 12:46:35 PM
System Manufacturer:       Hewlett-Packard
System Model:              HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook PC
System Type:               x64-based PC
Processor(s):              1 Processor(s) Installed.
                           [01]: Intel64 Family 6 Model 23
   Stepping 6 GenuineIntel   ~2401 Mhz
BIOS Version:              Hewlett-Packard F.26, 2/6/2009
Windows Directory:         C:\Windows
System Directory:          C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device:               \Device\HarddiskVolume1
System Locale:             en-us;English (United States)
Input Locale:              en-us;English (United States)
Time Zone:                 (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
Total Physical Memory:     6,111 MB
Available Physical Memory: 969 MB
Virtual Memory: Max Size:  13,799 MB
Virtual Memory: Available: 8,529 MB
Virtual Memory: In Use:    5,270 MB
Page File Location(s):     C:\pagefile.sys
Domain:                    WORKGROUP
Logon Server:              \\DRG
Hotfix(s):                 3 Hotfix(s) Installed.

					  

[01]: KB958559
                           [02]: KB972636
                           [03]:  KB973874
Network Card(s):           1 NIC(s) Installed.
                           [01]: Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection
                                 Connection Name: Local Area Connection
                                 DHCP Enabled:    Yes
                                 DHCP Server:     192.168.1.1
                                 IP address(es)
                                 [01]: 192.168.1.103
                                 [02]: fe80::bd37:44ef:a2c5:47d2

As with any command, you can send the output of this command to a text file using the redirection symbol, like this:

Systeminfo > SystemInfo.txt

7.7. DriverQuery

The DriverQuery command can be used to list all of the installed device drivers. The drivers are listed with their name, the type of driver, and when they were installed. The basic syntax is

DriveryQuery

That seems simple enough, but if you do it, you'll notice that there are so many drivers listed that if fills the screen buffer, and you can't even scroll back to where the DriverQuery command was entered. However, you can get around this in a couple of ways.

Use the | More command. The symbol before the word More is called pipe, so it's read as "pipe more" or sometimes referred to as pipelining. Pipelining allows you to combine two commands and have the output of one as the input to another in this case. The symbol is usually located above the Enter key and is typed by using Shift+backslash (\). Enter it like this:

DriverQuery | More

The More command will display a screen at a time. You can press the spacebar to get another screen or press the Enter key to get the next line.

You can modify the screen buffer size as a second method to ensure you can view all of the data provided by the command. Right-click the title bar of the command prompt and select Properties. Select the Layout tab. Change the Screen Buffer Size Height value to 9999 and click OK.

Also, just as you saw with the SystemInfo command, you can redirect the output to a text file.

7.8. Echo

Echo can be used to display text on the screen. You can use this to provide some type of information to the user from a batch file. The basic syntax is

Echo Your Message

When included in a batch file, this command will display in entirety and then display the message, all of which can be a little distracting. As an example, if a batch file has the Echo Hello line, it will output the following text:

Echo Hello
Hello

You can easily turn off the first line (Echo Hello) with the Echo off command. Even the Echo Off command can be suppressed by adding the at symbol, like this:

@Echo off

If you want to display a blank line, add a period after Echo without any spaces, like this:

Echo.

To put all of this together, you can use the following code in a batch file. The first line suppresses the echo (including the command that suppresses echo), and the second line outputs the message "Hello." The third line creates a blank line, and the last line outputs another message.

@Echo of
Echo Hello
Echo.
Echo Let's get started

When this batch file is executed, it will output the following three lines (with the middle line blank).

Hello


Let's get started