The Batch File (win32)

Ancient and archaic, yet ever so simply useful. The batch file. With a virtually non-existent learning curve, these simple to write scripts can be a valuable for programmers most skill levels. If your lost, batch files (usually) end with the ‘.bat’ or ‘.cmd’ extension on Microsoft systems. They can handle the same commands you would enter in the command prompt (cmd.exe – 32bit; command.exe – 16bit). You can copy files, move them, add/delete reg key (CAREFUL!), search for strings in files. All the stuff to make an installer for that program you made!

md %TEMP%\thingy
COPY c:\thingy\*.* %TEMP%\thingy\
cd %temp%\thingy
START go.exe
REM This file will md the directory(folder) ‘thingy’ in the
REM system’s temp folder. Then Copy files to it and start ‘go.exe’

Really, there usefulness may lie in the simplicity in which they’re run, and the ease of writing one… oh, and they can, of course, call other batch files and run executables.

while your still interested… check it out!  http://ss64.com/nt/

You really should check out autoexecuting zips and and winrar if your looking for easy ways to package your applications for easy installation.

Tags: batch, Programming

This entry was posted on Monday, August 31st, 2009 at 9:00 am and is filed under Programming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.