Batch File

In DOS, OS/2, and also Microsoft Windows, batch file is the name given to a type of script file, a text file containing a series of commands to be executed by the command interpreter.

A batch file may contain any command the interpreter accepts interactively at the command prompt. A batch file may also have constructs ( IF, GOTO, Labels, CALL, etc.) that enable conditional branching and looping within the batch file.

Similar to job control language and other systems on mainframe and minicomputer systems, batch files were added to ease the work required for certain regular tasks by allowing the user to set up a script to automate them. When a batch file is run, the shell program (usually COMMAND.COM or cmd.exe) reads the file and executes its commands, normally line-by-line. Unix-like operating systems (such as Linux) have a similar type of file called a shell script.

The filename extension .bat was used in DOS, and the Windows 9x family of operating systems. The Microsoft Windows NT-family of operating systems and OS/2 added .cmd. Batch files for other environments may have different extensions, e.g. .btm in 4DOS and 4NT related shells.

There have been changes to the detailed handling of batch files; some of the detail in this article is applicable to all batch files, while other details apply only to certain versions.

Read more about Batch File:  Filename Extensions, Example, Other Windows Scripting Languages

Famous quotes containing the words batch and/or file:

    And so it goes, back and forth, good church-members all, which means that their banter contains nothing off-color, and by the same token, nothing that was coined later than the first batch of buffalo nickels.
    Robert Benchley (1889–1945)

    Probably nothing in the experience of the rank and file of workers causes more bitterness and envy than the realization which comes sooner or later to many of them that they are “stuck” and can go no further.
    Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)