Command Prompt: windowssystem32cmd.exe

The Windows Vista command-line interface, commonly referred to as a DOS box or Command Prompt.

To open

Start → All Programs → Accessories → Command Prompt

Command Prompt → cmd

Usage

cmd [/q][/d] [/a|/u] [/e:on|off][/f:on|off][/v:on|off] /t:fg
 [[/s][/c|/k] string]

Description

As explained earlier in this chapter, the Command Prompt (see Figure 14-5) is a simple application in which you type commands rather than pointing and clicking. Although the Command Prompt is sparse and may be somewhat intimidating to new users, it carries out several very important functions in Windows Vista, including access to otherwise inaccessible programs and utilities and even some advanced file management functions.

Figure 14-5. Using the DIR command to view the contents of the current directory in the Command Prompt

Cmd accepts the following parameters:

Notes

Attrib: windowssystem32attrib.exe

Change or view the attributes of one or more files or folders.

To open

Command Prompt → attrib

Usage

attrib [+r|-r] [+a|-a] [+s|-s] [+h|-h] [filename] [/s [/d]]

Description

Attrib allows you to change the file and folder attributes from the command line—settings otherwise available only in the Properties window of a file or folder. You can think of the attributes as switches, independently turned on or off for any file or group of files. The individual attributes are as follows:

Examples

To hide a file in Explorer, right-click on it, select Properties, and turn on the hidden option. To hide the same file using the command line, type:

attrib +h filename

where filename is the full path- and filename of the file to change. To specify multiple files, include a wildcard, such as *.* (for all files) or *.txt (for all files with the .txt filename extension). Note the use of the plus sign (+) to turn on an attribute; use the minus sign (-) to turn it off. For example, to turn off the hidden attribute and simultaneously turn on the archive attribute, type:

attrib -h +a filename

To display the attributes of a file or a group of files in Explorer, select Details from the View menu. Then, select Choose Details from the View menu and turn on the Attributes option. To display the attributes of a file or a group of files on the command line, type:

attrib filename

where filename is the full path- and filename(s) of the files you want to view. Omit filename to display the attributes of all the files in the current folder. If filename is not used, or if it contains wildcards (in other words, if the command is intended to act on more than one file), you can use the /s option to further include the contents of all subfolders of the current folder. The /d option instructs Attrib to act upon folders as well as files, but it has meaning only if you use it in conjunction with the /s parameter.

Notes

cd or chdir

Display the name of, or change, the current working directory (folder).

Usage

cd [/d] [directory]
chdir [/d] [directory]

Description

With no arguments, cd displays the full pathname of the current directory. Given the pathname of an existing directory, it changes the current directory to the specified directory.

If directory is on a different drive (for example, if the current directory is c:dream and you type cd d: ightmare), the current working directory on that drive is changed, but the current working drive is not. To change the current drive, use the /d parameter, or simply type the letter followed by a colon, by itself, at the prompt (see the following examples).

Pathnames can be absolute (including the full path starting with the root) or relative to the current directory. A path can be optionally prefixed with a drive letter. The special path .. refers to the parent of the current directory.

Examples

If the current drive is C:, make c: empwild the current directory:

C:>cd 	empwild
C:	empwild>

Note how the current working directory is displayed in the prompt. If the current directory is c: emp, all that is necessary is:

C:	emp>cd wild
C:	empwild>

Change to the parent directory:

C:moredocsmisc>cd ..
C:moredocs>

Change to the root directory of the current drive:

C:WindowsDesktop>cd 
C:>

Change to another drive:

C:>cd /d d:
D:>

or simply:

C:>d:
D:>

Notes

clip

Redirects the output of command-line tools to the Windows Clipboard, where the text can then be pasted into another program.

Usage

[Command] | clip
clip < [filename.txt]

Description

clip is extremely useful for when you want to capture output from a command on the command line so that you can paste it into an application. A simple use would be to print out the listing of a directory: use the dir command along with clip and then paste the output from the Clipboard into a text editor, where you can print it. Note that when you use the command, the output is suppressed in the command box. So, for example, when you type dir | clip, the directory listing will not be displayed but will be placed into the Clipboard. You can also use clip to copy the entire text from a text file to the Clipboard. You can’t, however, use it to copy the contents of other kinds, such as .doc files.

Examples

Copy information about currently logged-on users to the Clipboard:

quser | clip

Copy the text of the file newinfo.txt to the Clipboard. Note that the file has to be in your current directory:

clip < newinfo.txt

Notes

cls

Clear the Command Prompt window and buffer, leaving only the Command Prompt and cursor.

Description

Type cls at the prompt to clear the screen and the screen buffer (see "Using the Command Line,” earlier in this chapter), which is useful for privacy concerns or simply reducing clutter.

The difference between using cls and simply closing the current Command Prompt window and opening a new one is that your working environment (such as the current directory) is preserved with cls.

cls is also useful in complex batch files—for clearing the screen after one set of interactions or command output. The name cls (Clear Screen) refers to the old days when DOS owned the whole screen.

copy

Copy one or more files to another location.

Usage

copy source destination
copy [/a | /b] source [/a | /b] [+ source [/a | /b]
[+ ...]] [destination [/a | /b]] [/v] [/y | /-y]
[/d] [/z] [/n] [/l]

Description

copy makes a complete copy of an existing file. If another file by the same name exists at destination, you will be asked whether you want to overwrite it.

Omit the destination to copy the specified files to the current working directory. If the file (or files) to be copied is in a different directory or on a different disk, you can omit the destination filename. The resulting copy or copies will have the same name as the original.

You can use the special device name con (or con:) in place of either the source (or destination) filename to copy from the keyboard to a file (or from a file to the screen).

copy accepts the following parameters and options:

Examples

Copy the file temp.txt from C: to d:files (all three examples do the same thing):

C:>copy c:	emp.txt d:files	emp.txt
C:>copy c:	emp.txt d:files
C:>copy temp.txt d:files

The third sample in the preceding code works here because the source file is located in the current directory. Here’s another way to do it:

C:>d:
D:>cd files
D:files>copy c:	emp.txt

Copy all the files from the directory d:CdsampleImages to the current directory, giving the copies the same names as the originals:

C:>copy d:cdsampleimages*.*
C:>copy d:cdsampleimages*.* .

Copy the file words.txt in the current directory to d:files, renaming it morewords.txt:

C:>copy words.txt d:filesmorewords.txt

Copy all of the files in the current directory to d:files (all three examples do the same thing):

C:>copy *.* d:files
C:>copy .*.* d:files
C:>copy . d:files

Notes

date

Display or set the system date.

Usage

date [/t | date]

Description

date is essentially a holdover from the very early days of DOS when the user was required to enter the system date and time every time the computer was started. Now it’s essentially included as a way to set the date from the command line; the preferred method is to use Control Panel → [Clock, Language and Region] → Date and Time.

If you type date on the command line without an option, the current date setting is displayed and you are prompted for a new one. Press Enter to keep the same date.

date accepts the following options:

Notes

See also

"time"

del or erase

Delete one or more files.

Usage

del [/p] [/f] [/s] [/q] [/a:attributes] filename
erase [/p] [/f] [/s] [/q] [/a:attributes] filename

Description

You use the del command to delete one or more files from the command line without sending them to the Recycle Bin.

The del options are:

Examples

Delete the file myfile.txt in the current directory:

C:>del myfile.txt

Delete the file myfile.txt in the c:files directory:

C:>del c:filesmyfile.txt

Delete all files with the pattern myfile.* (e.g., myfile.doc, myfile.txt, etc.) in the current directory, but prompt for each deletion:

C:>del c:filesmyfile.* /p

Notes

dir

Display a list of files and subdirectories in a directory (folder).

Usage

dir [filename] [/b] [/c] [/d] [/l] [/n] [/p] [/q] [/s] [/w] [/x]
 [/4] [/a:attributes] [/o:sortorder] [/t:timefield]

Description

Without any options, dir displays the disk’s volume label and serial number, a list of all files and subdirectories (except hidden and system files) in the current directory, file/directory size, date/time of last modification, the long filename, the total number of files listed, their cumulative size, and the free space (in bytes) remaining on the disk.

If you specify one or more file or directory names (optionally including drive and path, or the full UNC path to a shared directory), information for only those files or directories will be listed.

You can use wildcards (* and ?) to display a subset of files and subdirectories in a given location.

dir accepts the following options:

Examples

Display all files in the current directory:

C:>dir

Display all files in the current directory that end with the .txt extension:

C:>dir *.txt

Display all files, listing years in four digits and pausing for each screenful:

C:>dir /4 /p

Display all files, sorted by date and time, latest first:

C:>dir /o-d

Display only directories:

C:>dir /ad

List all files on disk, sorted by size, and store output in the file allfiles.txt:

C:>dir  /s /os > allfiles.txt

List the contents of the shared folder cdrom on machine bubba:

C:>dir \bubbacdrom

Notes

echo

Display a string of text; turn command echoing on or off.

Usage

echo [on | off | message]

Description

echo is typically used with other commands or in a batch file to display text on the screen. It’s also used to control command echoing from batch files.

You can use the following options with echo:

Examples

To display an ordinary message, use the following:

echo Hello World!

To display a blank line, use one of the following (both are equivalent):

echo.
echo,

(Note the absence of the space between the echo command and the punctuation; you can also use a colon, semicolon, square brackets, backslash, or forward slash.)

One handy use of echo is to answer y to a confirmation prompt such as the one del issues when asked to delete all the files in a directory. For example, if you wanted to clear out the contents of the emp directory from a batch file, you could use the following command:

echo y | del c:	emp*.*

or even:

echo y | if exists c:	emp*.* del c:	emp*.*

This construct works because the pipe character takes the output of the first command and inserts it as the input to the second.

You can use echo to announce the success or failure of a condition tested in a batch file:

if exist *.rpt echo The report has arrived.

It’s a good idea to give users usage or error information in the event that they don’t supply proper arguments to a batch file. You can do that as follows:

@echo off
if (%1) == (  ) goto usage
. . .
goto end
:usage
echo You must supply a filename.
:end

See also

"type"

exit

End the current Command Prompt session and close the window.

Usage

exit [/b] [exitcode]

Description

Typing exit has the same effect as closing the Command Prompt window with the [x] button.

exit accepts the following options:

Notes

find: WindowsSystem32find.exe

Search in one or more files for text.

Usage

find [/v] [/c] [/n] [/i] [/offline] "string" [filename[ ...]]

Description

After searching the specified files, find displays any lines of text that contain the string you’ve specified for your search. find is useful for searching for specific words (strings) in files.

The find options are:

Examples

Search for redflag in myemployees.txt:

C:>find "redflag" myemployees.txt

Count occurrences of the word deceased in myemployees.txt:

C:>find /c "deceased" myemployees.txt

Search the current directory for the string "cls" in all .bat files and store the result in the file cls.txt (note that >> rather than > is necessary when redirecting the output of a for loop):

C:>for  %f in (*.bat) do find "cls" %f >> cls.txt

Notes

md or mkdir

Create a new directory (folder).

Usage

md [drive:]path
mkdir [drive:]path

Description

Windows Vista, like its predecessors, uses a hierarchical directory structure to organize its filesystem. On any physical disk, the filesystem begins with the root directory, signified by a lone backslash.

md and mkdir accept the following option:

Examples

Create a subdirectory named harry in the current directory:

C:	omdick>md harry

Create a new directory called newdir under the c:olddir directory:

C:>md c:olddir
ewdir

If c:olddir doesn’t exist, it will be created as well.

Create two new directories, c: olling and c:stones:

C:>md rolling stones

Create a single new directory, c: olling stones:

C:>md "rolling stones"

(Enclose directory names in quotation marks to accommodate spaces.)

Notes

mklink

Create a link to another file or directory

Usage

mklink [/d] | [/h] | [/j]] link target

Description

mklink is used to create a Unix-style link to another file or directory; that link can be used just as if it were the original file or directory. When you create a symbolic link to a file, that file will show up in Windows Explorer as a shortcut, and if you use the command line to get a directory listing, it will be listed as a <SYMLINK> instead of as <DIR>, and you’ll see the symbolic link followed by the real file. For example, if you create a symbolic link called newone to the file test, here’s what you would see:

<SYMLINK>      newone [c:	est]

The mklink options are:

Notes

more: windowssystem32more.com

Display the contents of a file with the output of another command, but pause the display so that only one screen of text is shown at a time.

Usage

more /e [/c] [/p] [/s] [/tn] [+n] [filename]
more [/e [/c] [/p] [/s] [/tn] [+n]] < filename
{some other command} | more [/e [/c] [/p] [/s] [/tn] [+n]]

Description

more displays one screen of text at a time. more is often used as a filter with other commands that may send a lot of output to the screen (i.e., to read standard input from a pipe or redirected file). Press any key to see the next screenful of output. Press Ctrl-C to end the output before it is done.

more accepts the following options:

Examples

Display the contents of Windows eadme.txt and pause for each screenful of text (both of the following examples have the same effect):

C:>more c:windows
eadme.txt
C:>type c:windows
eadme.txt | more

Keep the output of dir from scrolling off the screen before you can read it:

C:>dir c:windows | more

Notes

See also

"type"

move

Move files and directories from one location to another.

Usage

move [/y | /-y] filename[,...] destination

Description

move works like copy, except that the source is deleted after the copy is complete. filename can be a single file, a group of files (separated by commas), or a single file specification with wildcards.

The move options are:

Examples

Move myfile.txt from the current directory to d:files:

C:>move myfile.txt d:files

Same, but rename the file to newfile.txt:

C:>move myfile.txt d:files
ewfile.txt

Change the name of the directory d:files to d:myfiles:

D:>move d:files myfiles

Notes

See also

"ren or rename"

path

Set or display the command search path.

Usage

path [path1][;path2][;path3][;...]

Description

When you type an executable filename at the Command Prompt (as opposed to a command built into the Command Prompt), Windows starts by looking in the current directory for a file that matches. If no matching file is found, Windows then looks in a series of other folders, which are known collectively as the path or the command search path.

The path statement is used to define additional directories to be included while searching for files. The path consists of a series of absolute directory pathnames, separated by semicolons. No spaces should follow each semicolon, and there should be no semicolon at the end of the statement. If no drive letter is specified, all pathnames are assumed to be on the current directory’s drive.

Type path without any arguments to display the current command search path. The default path in Windows Vista is c:windowssystem32;c:windows;c:windowssystem32wbem.

When you type the name of a command, DOS looks first in the current directory and then in each successive directory specified in the path. Within each directory, it will look for executable files by their extension in the following order: .com, .exe, .bat, .cmd. Windows searches your path for certain other file types (i.e., .dll or .ocx) as well, although most cannot be executed from the command line (see “Notes” for more information).

Examples

Specify the directories c:Stuff and d:Tools in the path:

C:>path c:stuff;d:	ools

However, this will replace the path with these two folders. To add these folders to the existing path, type the following:

C:>path %path%;c:stuff;d:	ools

Notes

prompt

Change the appearance of the prompt.

Usage

prompt [text]

Description

Type prompt by itself (without text) to reset the prompt to its default setting.

The prompt options are:

Examples

Specify the current drive and directory followed by the greater-than sign (>), the default prompt in Windows Vista:

C:>prompt $p$g

Specify the drive and directory on one line and the date, followed by the greater-than sign (>), on another:

C:>prompt $p$_$d$g

Specify the drive only, followed by the greater-than sign (>), which was the default prompt on early versions of DOS:

C:>prompt $n$g

Notes

query

Find out information about sessions, processes, and users.

Usage

query process | session | termserver | user

Description

The query options are:

quser

Displays information about users currently logged on to the system. (Not available in the Home edition.)

Usage

quser username sessionname sessionid

Description

quser displays information about currently logged-on users. It displays when the user logged on, whether the user is active, and the current time, the username, the session name, the session ID, and the amount of idle time for the user. (To find the session ID, use the query command. See the preceding section, "query.”) You can use the following commands with quser:

Examples

Display information about the user preston:

quser preston

Display information about the user with the session name console:

quser console

Notes

rd or rmdir

Remove (delete) a directory.

Usage

rd [/s] [/q] path
rmdir [/s] [/q] path

Description

Unlike in Windows Explorer, files and folders are deleted differently; if you try to use del to delete a directory, it will simply delete all the files in the directory, but the directory itself will remain. You use rd to delete empty directories and, optionally, to delete directories and all of their contents.

rd accepts the following options:

Examples

Delete the empty subdirectory called newdir located in the c:olddir directory:

C:>rd c:olddir
ewdir

Delete the directory Online Services and all of its contents within the current directory, c:Program Files:

C:Program Files>rd /s "online services"

Note that you must use quotes with rd for folders with spaces in their names.

Notes

ren or rename

Rename a file or directory.

Usage

ren [filename1] [filename2]
rename [filename1] [filename2]

Description

Use ren to rename any file or directory. Unlike in Windows Explorer, though, ren is capable of renaming several files at once (via the wildcards * and ?).

The ren options are:

Examples

Rename myfile.txt to file.txt:

C:>rename myfile.txt file.txt

Rename chap 5.doc to sect 5.doc (the following two methods are identical):

C:>ren "chap 5.doc" "sect 5.doc"
C:>ren chap?5.doc sect?5.doc

Each of these examples represents different ways to rename files with spaces in their names. In addition to the standard quotation marks, in certain circumstances you can use wildcards to avoid the space problem. Here, both chap 5.doc and sect 5.doc have spaces in the fifth character position, so you can use the single wildcard character (?).

Rename the files chap1.doc, chap2.doc, etc., to revchap1.doc, revchap2.doc, etc.:

C:>ren chap*.doc revchap*.doc

ren can be a convenient way to rename the filename extensions of several files at once, as well:

C:>ren *.txt *.rtf
C:>ren *.htm *.html
C:>ren *.mpeg *.mpg

Notes

See also

"move"

robocopy

A powerful, flexible tool for copying files.

Usage

robocopy source [drive:path or \serversharepath] destination [drive:path or
\serversharepath] [file [file]...] /a /m /s /e /mov /move /lev:n /fat

Description

robocopy stands for Robust Copy for Windows, and the name is apt. It is far more powerful than the copy and xcopy commands, and in fact, a full explication of all of its commands and uses would take up half this chapter. For details about its full usage, type robocopy /? to get help.

You can use the command to copy files not only on a PC, but also between PCs and servers, and between servers as well. It can use wildcards for file selection.

The following are some of the primary commands that you can use with robocopy:

Examples

Copy all .xls files from C: ewbudget to F: ewbudget, and use only 8.3 FAT filenames:

robocopy *.xls c:
ewbudget f:
ewbudget /fat

Notes

See also

“copy” and “xcopy”

set

Display, assign, or remove environment variables.

Usage

set [variable[=[string]]]
set /p variable=[promptstring]
set /a expression

Description

The environment is a small portion of memory devoted to the storage of a few values called environment variables. You use set to manipulate environment variables from the command line, but because the Command Prompt’s environment is reset when its window is closed, the usefulness of set is fairly limited for interactive use, although you’ll use it a lot in your own batch files.

To make more permanent changes to environment variables, go to Control Panel → [System and Maintenance] → System → Advanced system settings → Environment variables. The variables in the upper listing are for the current user and the variables in the lower listing apply to all users. Some environment variables, such as the Temp user variable, are assigned with respect to other variables, like this:

%USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalTemp

where %USERPROFILE% (note the percent signs [%] on both sides) signifies the USERPROFILE variable, which represents the path of the current user’s home directory. See "path,” earlier in this chapter, for another example of this usage.

In addition to providing a simple means of interapplication communication, environment variables are also useful for storing data used repeatedly in a batch file (see "Batch Files,” later in this chapter).

Type set without options to display all of the current environment variables. Type set with only a variable name (no equals sign or value) to display a list of all the variables whose prefix matches the name.

The set options are:

Examples

Set the variable dummy to the string not much:

C:>set dummy=not much

Set the dircmd variable, which instructs the dir command (discussed earlier in this chapter) to sort directory listings by size, with the largest first:

C:>set dircmd=/s /o-s

Append the directory c:mystuff to the path (see "path,” earlier in this chapter); note how the path variable is used on the right side of the equals sign so that its original contents aren’t lost:

C:>set path=%path%;c:mystuff

Set the prompt (see "prompt,” earlier in this chapter) to show the current time, followed by a right-angle bracket:

C:>set prompt=$t>

Display the contents of the variable named dummy (both of the following statements are equivalent):

C:>set dummy
C:>echo %dummy%

You can also reference environment variables with other commands:

C:>set workdir=C:stuff	im's draft
C:>cd %workdir%

Here, the environment variable is used to store a long pathname for quick navigation to a frequently used directory.

Display the values of all variables that begin with the letter H:

C:>set h

Clear the value of an environment variable, dummy:

C:>set dummy=

Prompt the user to enter text to be inserted into the dummy variable. This is typically used in batch files (note that you have to put quotes around it, otherwise the > will be interpreted as the redirection operator):

C:>set /p dummy="Enter text here >"

Evaluate an arithmetic expression (the two following expressions are not the same):

C:>set /a 7+(3*4)
C:>set /a (7+3)*4

The results of these two expressions, 19 and 40, respectively, will be displayed. To assign the result to a variable, type the following:

C:>set /a dummy=7+(3*4)

Even though you’re assigning the result variable, the result will still be displayed (unless set is executed from a batch file). To suppress the output, type this:

C:>set /a dummy=7+(3*4) > nul

In addition to any custom environment variables you may use, Windows Vista recognizes the following variables (many of which are predefined):

Notes

sort: windowssystem32sort.exe

Sort text or the contents of text files in alphanumeric order.

Usage

sort [/r] [/+n] [/m kilobytes] [/l locale] [/rec recordbytes]
 [/t [tempdir]] [/o outputfilename] [filename]

Description

The sort command sorts text on a line-by-line basis. Each line of the input is ordered alphanumerically and output to the screen (or optionally, stored in a file). By default, sorting starts with the character in the first column of each line, but you can change this with the /+n option. sort is often used in conjunction with either pipes or output redirection (both discussed earlier in this chapter). That is, you might want to sort the output of another command, and you will often want to redirect the output to a file so that it can be saved. sort takes the following options:

Examples

Display an alphabetically sorted directory (similar to dir /o):

C:>dir | sort

Sort the contents of a file, data.txt, and store the sorted version in results.txt (the following four examples are equivalent, although the first is the most efficient):

C:>sort /o results.txt data.txt
C:>sort data.txt > results.txt
C:>sort /o results.txt < data.txt
C:>type data.txt | sort > results.txt

Notes

time

Display or set the system time.

Usage

time [/t | time]

Description

Like date (discussed earlier in this chapter), time is essentially a holdover from the very early days of DOS when the user was required to enter the system date and time every time the computer was started. Now it’s essentially included as a way to set the data from the command line; the preferred method is to use Control Panel → [Clock, Language, and Region] → Date and Time.

If you type time on the command line without an option, the current time setting is displayed, and you are prompted for a new one. Press Enter to keep the same date.

The time options are:

Notes

See also

"date"

type

Display the contents of a text file.

Usage

type filename

Description

The type command is useful if you need to quickly view the contents of any text file (especially short files). type is also useful for concatenating text files, using the >> operator.

Notes

See also

“more” and "echo"

ver

Displays Windows version information.

Usage

ver

Description

ver shows the version of Windows you’re using. You can also find the Windows version at Control Panel → [System and Maintenance] → System tab, but it won’t show you the revision number.

ver takes no options.

Notes

See also

"Windows Update,” in Chapter 8

where

Displays the location of files that match a filename.

Usage

where /r /q [dir] /f /t [filename]

Description

where will show you the location of files for which you’re searching. It searches along your default path, although you can add directories to the default with the use of /r. It accepts wildcards such as * and ?. You can use the following commands with where:

Examples

Display the location of all files named eula.txt along the default path:

where eula.txt

Display the location and file size, and last modified date and time, for all .doc files in the directory latest:

where /r latest /t *.doc

Notes

whoami

Gets username and group information, security identifiers (SIDs), privileges, and logon identifier (logon ID) for the current user.

Usage

whoami /upn /fqdn /user /groups /priv /logonid /all /fo format /nh

Description

You use whoami to get a variety of information about the currently logged-in user. You can use the following options with the whoami command:

Examples

Display login ID and security privileges of the current user:

whoami /logonid

Display the current username, the groups the user belongs to, and the SID and privileges for the current user, in CSV output format, with no header displayed:

whoami /all /fo CSV /nh

Notes

xcopy: windowssystem32xcopy.exe

Copy files and directory trees (directories, subdirectories, and their contents).

Usage

xcopy source [destination] [/a | /m] [/d[:date]] [/p] [/s [/e]]
 [/v] [/w] [/c] [/i] [/q] [/f] [/l] [/g] [/h] [/r] [/t] [/u]
 [/k] [/n] [/o] [/x] [/y] [/-y] [/z] [/b] [/exclude:filenames]

Description

xcopy works like copy but provides more options and is often faster.

The xcopy32 options are:

The following are exit codes generated by xcopy. They can be tested in a batch file with ERRORLEVEL to determine whether the xcopy operation was successful.

Examples

Copy all the files and subdirectories, including any empty subdirectories and hidden files, from c:foobar to the root directory of d::

C:>xcopy foobar d: /s /e /h

Notes

See also

“copy” and “robocopy”