Piping

You can create a "pipe" to send the standard output of one command to the 
standard input of another command: 

        command1 | command2             Send the standard output of 
                                        command1 to the standard input of 
                                        command2 
        command1 |& command2            Send the standard output and 
                                        standard error of command1 to the 
                                        standard input of command2 
 
 For example, to take the output of the SET command (which displays a list 
 of your environment variables and their values) and pipe it to the SORT 
 utility to generate a sorted list, you would use the command: 

 
         [c:\] set | sort
 

 To do the same thing and then pipe the sorted list to the internal LIST 
 command for full-screen viewing: 

 
         [c:\] set | sort | list
 

 The TEE and Y commands are "pipe fittings" which add more flexibility to 
 pipes. 

 Like redirection, pipes are fully nestable.  For example, you can invoke 
 a batch file and send all of its output to another command with a pipe. 
  A pipe on a command within the batch file will take effect for that 
 command only; when the command is completed, output will revert to the 
 pipe in use for the batch file as a whole.  You may also have 2 or more 
 pipes operating simultaneously if, for example, you have the pipes 
 running in different windows. 

 CMD.EXE implements pipes by starting a new process for the receiving 
 program instead of using temporary files.  The sending and receiving 
 programs run simultaneously; the sending program writes to the pipe and 
 the receiving program reads from the pipe.  When the receiving program 
 finishes reading and processing the piped data, it is ends automatically. 
 

 When you use pipes with CMD.EXE make sure you think about any possible 
 consequences that can occur from using a separate process to run the 
 receiving program.