Windows Command Prompt (CMD)

Used in Windows for one-off commands or setting up Services or creating scripts and batch files.

Can be launched from typing cmd in the run dialogue box or from binary at C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe.

Help

See available commands

help

Info on specific command

help <command name>

Command’s own help menu

<command name> /?

Terminal History Commands

Key/Command	Description
doskey / history	Print the session’s command history to
	the terminal or output it to a file when
	specified.
page up	Places the first command in session
	history to the prompt.
page down	Places the last command in history to
	the prompt.
⇧	Scroll up through command history.
⇩	Scroll down most recently run commands.
⇒	Types the previous command to prompt one
	character at a time.
F3	Retypes the entire previous entry to
	our prompt.
F5	Pressing F5 multiple times will allow
	you to cycle through previous commands.
F7	Opens an interactive list of previous
	commands.
F9	Enters a command to our prompt based on
	the number specified. The number
	corresponds to the commands place in our
	history.

Files and Directory Commands

Command	Description
dir	Lists directory contents.
cd/chdir	Prints current working
	directory.
cd/chdir <path>	Changes working directory
	to <path>.
tree <path>	Graphically displays the
	directory structure from
	<path>.
cls	Clears the terminal.
md/mkdir <directory name>	Creates a directory in the
	current working directory
	(or specified directory)
	called <directory name>.
rm/rmdir <directory name>	Removes <directory name>
	in the current working
	directory (or specified
	directory).
move [source] [destination]	Move file(s) from the
	source folder to the
	destination folder.
copy [source] [destination]	Copy file(s) from the
	source folder to the
	destination folder. Only
	works with files and not
	folders.
robocopy [source] [destination]	Copy files(s) and folder(s)
	from the source folder to
	the destination folder.
more <file>	Displays the output of a
	file or command one screen
	at a time.
<command> <PIPE> more	Displays the output of a
	command through a <PIPE> to
	more.
type <file>	Displays the contents of a
	file.
fsutil file createNew <filename>	Creates a new file with a
	specified file name and
	length.
<length>
ren <existing name> <new name>	Renames <existing name>
	to <new name>.
del/erase <file(s)>	Deletes <files(s)>.

Input/Output Operators

Operator	Description
[command] > [file]	Redirects the output from a
	command into a file.
	Overwrites the specified
	files’ contents.
[command] >> [file]	Redirects the output from a
	command into a file. Appends
	additional output without
	overwriting the file’s
	original contents.
[command] < [file]	Redirects the output of the
	file and passes it into the
	command.
[command1] <pipe> [command2]	Redirects the output of the
	first command into a “pipe”
	and provides it to the second
	command.
[command1] & [command2]	Executes both commands in
	succession. It does not
	perform checks to see if
	either command passes or
	fails.
[command1] && [command2]	Checks to see if the first
	command executes successfully
	and then executes the second
	command. If the first command
	fails, the current command
	execution halts and the
	second command is not
	executed.
[command1] <pipe><pipe> [command2]	Checks to see if the first
	command fails to execute
	successfully and, if so,
	proceeds to execute the
	second command.

where <pipe> is the | symbol.

Find & Filter content

Command	Description
where <file>	Displays the location of file(s)
	provided.
find "example string" <file>	Searches for a string of text in a file
	or files, and displays lines of text
	that contain the specified string.
findstr	Searches for patterns of text in files.
	Similar to grep on Unix/Linux.
comp <file1> <file2>	Compares the contents of two files or
	sets of files byte-by-byte.
fc <file1> <file2>	Compares two files or sets of files and
	displays the differences between them.
sort	Reads input, sorts data, and writes the
	results to the screen, a file, or
	another device.

User Commands

Commands	Description
whoami	Displays the username of the currently logged-on user.
whoami /priv	Displays the security privileges of the current user.
whoami /groups	Displays the user groups that the current user belongs
	to.
whoami /all	Displays all information about the current user,
	including username, security identifiers (SID),
	privileges, and groups.
net user	Displays a list of the user accounts on the computer
net localgroup	Displays the name of the server and the names of local
	groups on the computer.
net group	Displays the name of a server and the names of groups
	on the server. Only able to be used if the machine is
	joined to the domain.

Networking Commands

Command	Description
ipconfig	View basic networking configurations.
ipconfig /all	View detailed networking configuration information.
net	CLI utility containing multiple commands to manage
	and configure network resources.
net share	Displays info about all of the resources that are
	shared on the local computer.
net view	Displays a list of domains, computers, or resources
	being shared by the specified computer.
arp	Displays and manages the contents and entries within
	the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) cache.
netstat -an	Display current network connections.
nslookup <query>	Query DNS for a name or address.

Environment Variable Commands

Command	Description
%EXAMPLE_VARIABLE%	Example format for an environment
	variable.
set	Prints all available environment
	variables on the system.
set <%VARIABLE_NAME%>	Prints out the value of the environment
	variable specified. It can also be used
	to set the variable’s value.
echo <%VARIABLE_NAME%>	Prints out the value of the environment
	variable specified. It cannot make any
	edits to variables and will only print
	out the values to the console.
set <%VARIABLE_NAME%>=<Value>	Creates a new environment variable or
	modifies an existing one and sets the
	value for the current command line
	session.
set <%VARIABLE_NAME%>=	Removes the environment variable with
	the specified name for the current
	command line session.
setx <%VARIABLE_NAME%> <Value>	Creates a new environment variable or
	modifies an existing one and sets the
	value globally by making changes to the
	registry.
setx <%VARIABLE_NAME%> ""	Removes the environment variable with
	the specified name globally.

Services Commands

Command	Description
sc query	Lists all running services and
	provides additional information for
	each service.
sc query <Name>	Lists details about a specific
	service by name.
sc start <Name>	Start a service by name.
sc stop <Name>	Stop a service by name.
sc config <Name> start= disabled	Change settings of the service
	specified.
tasklist /svc	Provide a list of services running
	under each process on the system.
net start	List all running services.
wmic service list brief	List all services on the system using
	WMIC. Includes information such as:
	ExitCode, Name, ProcessID, StartMode,
	State, and Status.

Task Scheduling Commands

Use schtasks, which on its own displays all tasks scheduled on the local machine.

For task scheduling management append schtasks with the following actions and perhaps their parameters:

Action	Parameter	Description
Query		Performs a local or remote host search to determine
		what scheduled tasks exist. Due to permissions, not
		all tasks may be seen by a normal user.
	/fo	Sets formatting options. We can specify to show
		results in the Table, List, or CSV output.
	/v	Sets verbosity to on, displaying the advanced
		properties set in displayed tasks when used with the
		List or CSV output parameter.
	/nh	Simplifies the output using the Table or CSV output
		format. This switch removes the column headers.
	/s	Sets the DNS name or IP address of the host we want
		to connect to. Localhost is the default specified.
		If /s is utilised, we are connecting to a remote
		host and must format it as “\\host”.
	/u	This switch will tell schtasks to run the following
		command with the permission set of the user
		specified.
	/p	Sets the password in use for command execution when
		we specify a user to run the task. Users must be
		members of the Administrator’s group on the host (or
		in the domain). The u and p values are only
		valid when used with the s parameter.
Create		Schedules a task to run.
	/sc	Sets the schedule type. It can be by the minute,
		hourly, weekly, and much more. Be sure to check the
		options parameters.
	/tn	Sets the name for the task we are building. Each
		task must have a unique name.
	/tr	Sets the trigger and task that should be run. This
		can be an executable, script, or batch file.
	/s	Specify the host to run on, much like in Query.
	/u	Specifies the local user or domain user to utilise
	/p	Sets the Password of the user-specified.
	/mo	Allows us to set a modifier to run within our set
		schedule. For example, every 5 hours every other
		day.
	/rl	Allows us to limit the privileges of the task.
		Options here are limited access and Highest. Limited
		is the default value.
	/z	Will set the task to be deleted after completion of
		its actions.
Change		Allows for modifying existing scheduled tasks.
	/tn	Designates the task to change
	/tr	Modifies the program or action that the task runs.
	/ENABLE	Change the state of the task to Enabled.
	/DISABLE	Change the state of the task to Disabled.
Delete		Remove a task from the schedule
	/tn	Identifies the task to delete.
	/s	Specifies the name or IP address to delete the task
		from.
	/u	Specifies the user to run the task as.
	/p	Specifies the password to run the task as.
	/f	Stops the confirmation warning.