Command Line or Command Prompt is an interface in Windows
that we are able to type a command and perform a specific task. Command Prompt
in Windows act as a Disk Operating System (DOS) that you can enter DOS commands
and execute them. DOS is an interpreter, which makes the interface between computer
hardware and software.
Microsoft refers Windows Command Line as MS-DOS (Microsoft
Disk Operating System), but you should know that Windows Command Prompt is not
same as DOS. DOS is a 16 bit operating system and Command Prompt uses 32 bit
coding. So Windows Command Prompt has more capability than old DOS. We
can open multiple Command Prompt windows independently and even a Command
Prompt inside another Command Prompt. To open Command Prompt in Windows, type
CMD in Start Search box or Run. You can also open it from
Start>All Programs>Accessories>Command Prompt.
The cmd.exe file is located in Windows\System32 directory.
To
run Command Prompt with elevated privileges (Administrator privileges) go to
Start>Search>Command Prompt (or cmd)>Right-click>Run
as administrator.
When you open Command Prompt, the first thing you see is the
right angle bracket or greater than character (>) and it shows that the command
line can accept commands.
C:\>
Before the greater than character, is the current working
directory (in the example above C: drive) which indicates the command will be executed
under the current working location (C:).
CMD Commands
In Windows Command Line you can run DOS commands and other
Windows commands. If you are familiar with DOS commands, then you know that
there are two types of commands in Disk Operating System:
Internal Commands and External Commands
Internal Commands are loaded into the system memory when the
operating system loaded into the memory. For executing an Internal Command no
external file is needed. These commands are built into the Windows Command
Line. Internal Commands can only be run from the command line. Some examples of
Internal Commands are:
copy, move, goto, date, dir, del etc.
External Commands are not a permanent part of the system
memory and to run an External Command, an external file is needed. These commands
can be run from the command prompt or Windows Run line. The reason that they
are not included in the Windows Command Line (or not built into the Windows
Command Line) is because they need large requirements (resources) or are not
commonly used commands. Some examples of External Commands are:
append, format, net, ping, power, print, xcopy etc.
To see the complete list of commands in Windows Command
Prompt, type help and press Enter.
To see the command list page wise view, enter help more and
hit the Enter.
And finally to see more details about a specific command
enter
Help command-name
Or
Command-name /?
Example:
Help copy
Or
Copy /?
You can check Microsoft Command Line Reference in the link below:
Microsoft Command Line Reference
With the Windows Command prompt, we are able to do many tasks like Disk management, Network management, creating batch files or Scripts. I will show you how to create batch files with Command Line later in other articles.
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