Windows 7 / Getting Started

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Extended Commands

CMD's built-in commands are a superset of the ones recognized by the old COMMAND.COM shell, and many have been extended with new features. The command extensions are enabled by default in Windows 7,Vista, and XP, although they can be disabled if necessary. Table below lists the extended commands and their added features. If the extensions cause problems for you-for example, if you have to use old batch files that do not work with the new command versions and you cannot update them-you can start CMD with the extensions disabled. I discuss this in the section "Running CMD."

Commands Modified by Command Extensions

Command	Features Added by Command Extensions
assoc	Only available with extensions enabled.
call	call :label Argument substitution modifiers (for example, %~f1).
cd / chdir	Option /D changes current drive. The current directory uses the directory's actual upper/lowercase.
color	Only available with extensions enabled.
date	Option /T prints the date without prompting for a new date.
del / erase	Option /S displays names of files being deleted.
endlocal	Restores EXTENSIONS and DELAYEXPANSION settings.
for
ftype	Only available with extensions enabled.
goto	goto :EOF
if...else	/I, IF CMDEXTVERSION, IF DEFINED Comparisons such as LEQ.
md / mkdir	Creates intermediate directories if necessary.
prompt	$+ and $M options.
pushd / popd	Accepts a network path and maps a drive letter.
set	/A and /P options. The set command with a partial name displays matching names.
setlocal	ENABLE... and DISABLE... arguments.
shift	/n option.
start	Starts nonexecutable files via file extensions. Uses PATHEXT expansion. Doesn't wait for Win32 commands to exit before prompting again. Uses the COMSPEC path when the command is CMD. Runs Explorer if the command is a folder name.
time	Option /T prints the time without prompting for a new time.

In the next few sections, some additional detail on some of the more important commands.