Cmd. exe - wikipedia Cmd. exe Not to be confused with COMMAND.COM. `` Command Prompt '' redirects here. For the concept, see command prompt. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( July 2007 ) Command Prompt ( cmd. exe ) A component of Microsoft Windows Command Prompt in Windows 10 Details Other names Windows Command Processor Type Command - line interpreter Included with Windows NT Windows CE OS / 2 eComStation Replaces COMMAND.COM Related components Batch file Windows PowerShell Command Prompt, also known as cmd. exe or cmd ( after its executable file name ), is the command - line interpreter on Windows NT, Windows CE, OS / 2 and eComStation operating systems. It is the counterpart of COMMAND.COM in DOS and Windows 9x systems ( where it is also called `` MS - DOS Prompt '' ), and analogous to the Unix shells used on Unix - like systems. The initial version of Command Prompt for Windows NT was developed by Therese Stowell. Contents 1 Operation 2 Comparison with MS - DOS Prompt 3 See also 4 References 5 Further reading Operation Command Prompt interacts with the user through a command - line interface. In Windows, this interface is implemented through Win32 console. Command Prompt may take advantage of features available to native programs of its own platform. For example, in OS / 2, it can use real pipes in command pipelines, allowing both sides of the pipeline to run concurrently. As a result, it is possible to redirect the standard error stream. ( COMMAND.COM uses temporary files, and runs the two sides serially, one after the other. ) Comparison with MS - DOS Prompt In Windows, Command Prompt is compatible with COMMAND.COM but provides the following extensions over it : Provides more detailed error messages than the blanket `` Bad command or file name '' ( in the case of malformed commands ) of COMMAND.COM. In the OS / 2, errors are reported in the chosen language of the system, their text being taken from the system message files. The HELP command can then be issued with the error message number to obtain further information. Supports using of arrow keys to scroll through command history. This function was only available to COMMAND.COM via an external component called DOSKEY. Adds command - line completion for file and folder paths Treats the Caret character ( ^ ) as the escape character ; in other words, the character following it is to be taken literally. There special characters in Command Prompt and COMMAND.COM ( e.g. `` < '', `` > '', `` * '', `` ? '' and `` `` ) that are part of the syntax and, if specified without caret, can alter the behavior of their command. Supports delayed variable expansion ( Windows 2000 and later ), fixing DOS idioms that made using control structures hard and complex. The extensions can be disabled, providing a stricter compatibility mode. Internal commands have also been improved : The DelTree command was merged into the RD command, as part of its / S switch. SetLocal and EndLocal commands limit the scope of changes to the environment. Changes made to the command line environment after SetLocal commands are local to the batch file. EndLocal command restores the previous settings. The Call command allows subroutines within batch file. The Call command in COMMAND.COM only supports calling external batch files. File name parser extensions to the Set command are comparable with C shell. The Set command can perform expression evaluation. An expansion of the For command supports parsing files and arbitrary sets in addition to file names. The new PushD and PopD commands provide access past navigated paths similar to `` forward '' and `` back '' buttons in a web browser or File Explorer. The conditional IF command can perform case - insensitive comparisons and numeric equality and inequality comparisons in addition to case - sensitive string comparisons. This was available in DR - DOS ( by Novell ) but not in PC DOS ( by IBM ) or MS - DOS ( by Microsoft ). See also Comparison of command shells List of DOS commands References Jump up ^ Zachary, G. Pascal ( 1994 ). Showstopper ! The Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and the Next Generation at Microsoft. The Free Press. ISBN 0 - 02 - 935671 - 7. Jump up ^ `` Windows 2000 delayed environment variable expansion ''. Windows IT Pro. Retrieved 13 July 2015. Jump up ^ `` Setlocal ''. TechNet. Microsoft. Retrieved 13 January 2015. Further reading `` Cmd ''. Microsoft Windows XP Product Documentation. Microsoft. `` Command Prompt : frequently asked questions ''. windows Help. Microsoft. Microsoft Windows components Management tools App Installer Command Prompt Control Panel Applets Device Manager Disk Cleanup Disk Defragmenter Driver Verifier Event Viewer IExpress Management Console Netsh Performance Monitor Recovery Console Resource Monitor Settings Sysprep System Configuration System File Checker System Information System Policy Editor System Restore Task Manager Windows Error Reporting Windows Ink Windows Installer PowerShell Windows Update Windows Insider WinRE WMI Apps 3D Builder Alarms & Clock Calculator Calendar Camera Character Map Cortana Edge Fax and Scan Feedback Hub Get Help Groove Music Magnifier Mail Messaging Maps Media Player Movies & TV Mobility Center Money News Narrator Notepad OneDrive OneNote Paint Paint 3D People Phone Companion Photos Quick Assist Snipping Tool Speech Recognition Skype Sports Sticky Notes View 3D Store Tips Voice Recorder Wallet Weather Windows To Go Windows Story Remix WordPad Xbox Shell Action Center Aero AutoPlay AutoRun ClearType Explorer Search Indexing Service IFilter Saved search Namespace Special folder Start menu Taskbar Task View Windows Spotlight Windows XP visual styles Services Service Control Manager BITS CLFS Multimedia Class Scheduler Shadow Copy Task Scheduler Error Reporting Wireless Zero Configuration File systems CDFS DFS exFAT IFS FAT NTFS Hard link Junction point Mount Point Reparse point Symbolic link TxF EFS ReFS UDF Server Domains Active Directory DNS Group Policy Roaming user profiles Folder redirection Distributed Transaction Coordinator MSMQ Windows Media Services Rights Management Services IIS Remote Desktop Services WSUS SharePoint Network Access Protection PWS DFS Replication Remote Differential Compression Print Services for UNIX Remote Installation Services Windows Deployment Services System Resource Manager Hyper - V Server Core Architecture Architecture of Windows NT Startup process CSRSS Desktop Window Manager Portable Executable EXE DLL Enhanced Write Filter Graphics Device Interface hal. dll I / O request packet Imaging Format Kernel Transaction Manager Library files Logical Disk Manager LSASS MinWin NTLDR Ntoskrnl. exe Object Manager Open XML Paper Specification Registry Resource Protection Security Account Manager Server Message Block Shadow Copy SMSS System Idle Process USER WHEA Win32 console Winlogon WinUSB Security Security and Maintenance BitLocker Data Execution Prevention Family Safety Kernel Patch Protection Mandatory Integrity Control Protected Media Path User Account Control User Interface Privilege Isolation Windows Defender Windows Firewall Compatibility COMMAND.COM Virtual DOS machine Windows on Windows WoW64 Windows Subsystem for Linux API Active Scripting WSH VBScript JScript COM ActiveX ActiveX Document COM Structured storage DCOM OLE OLE Automation Transaction Server DirectX. NET Framework Universal Windows Platform Windows Mixed Reality Windows Runtime WinUSB Games Solitaire Collection Discontinued Games 3D Pinball Chess Titans FreeCell Hearts InkBall Hold ' Em Purble Place Reversi Spider Solitaire Solitaire Tinker Apps ActiveMovie Anytime Upgrade Address Book Backup and Restore Cardfile CardSpace Contacts Desktop Gadgets Diagnostics DriveSpace DVD Maker Easy Transfer Fax File Manager Food & Drink Help and Support Center Health & Fitness HyperTerminal Internet Explorer Journal Media Center Meeting Space Messaging Messenger Mobile Device Center Movie Maker MSN Dial - up NetMeeting NTBackup Outlook Express Travel Photo Gallery Photo Viewer Program Manager Steps Recorder WinHelp Write Others ScanDisk File Protection Media Control Interface Next - Generation Secure Computing Base POSIX subsystem Interix Video for Windows Windows SideShow Windows Services for UNIX Windows System Assessment Tool WinFS Spun off to Microsoft Store DVD Player Hover ! Mahjong Minesweeper Windows command - line programs and shell builtins COMMAND.COM Command Prompt Windows PowerShell Recovery Console File system navigation cd ( chdir ) dir popd pushd tree File management attrib cacls cipher compact copy del ( erase ) deltree expand icacls makecab md ( mkdir ) move rd ( rmdir ) recover ren ( rename ) replace rmdir robocopy xcopy Disk management chkdsk convert defrag diskcomp diskcopy diskpart fdisk format label subst scandisk sys vol vssadmin Processes exit kill powercfg runas sc shutdown start taskkill tasklist Registry assoc ftype reg regini regsvr32 User environment date mode path set setx time title ver whoami File contents comp edlin fc find findstr print type Scripting choice clip cscript doskey echo for goto if more pause prompt rem Networking arp getmac hostname ipconfig net use netsh netstat nslookup PathPing ping route tracert Maintenance and care driverquery msiexec ntbackup sfc systeminfo w32tm WBAdmin winsat wmic Boot management bcdedit bootcfg fixboot fixmbr Software development debug exe2bin QBasic Miscellaneous cls help List of DOS commands Environment variables Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cmd.exe&oldid=817616783 '' Categories : Windows commands Command shells OS / 2 commands Windows components Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from July 2007 All articles needing additional references Wikipedia articles needing clarification from January 2015 Wikipedia articles needing clarification from October 2015 Talk Search Contents About Wikipedia Català Čeština Deutsch Español فارسی Français 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Italiano Basa Jawa Nederlands 日本 語 Polski Português Română Русский සිංහල Suomi Svenska Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 29 December 2017, at 14 : 41. 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Question: what is the use of command prompt in windows
Answer: command-line interpreter