Guide to Windows Commands/Tips and Tricks

This page contains tips for when you are using the windows command prompt. Some of these tips will not be immediately obvious so it's worth giving this module a quick read.

Create an Empty File

TYPE NUL > EmptyFile.txt

Continue a Line

The caret '^' is the escape character in cmd.exe. It can be used to continue a command across a line end if it is the last character on a line.

C:\>ECHO Hello ^
More? World
Hello World
 
C:\>

Replacing a String in a File

FOR /F "delims=^$" %%i IN (server.txt) DO (
    SET NEW=%%i
    SET NEW=!NEW:^<HOST_NAME^>=%COMPUTERNAME%!
    ECHO !NEW!
)