CMD.EXE displays a [c:\] prompt when it is waiting for you to enter a command. (The actual text depends on the current drive and directory as well as your PROMPT settings.) This is called the command line and the prompt is asking you to enter a command, an alias or batch file name, or the instructions necessary to begin an application program. This section explains the features that will help you while you are typing in commands, and how keystrokes are interpreted when you enter them at the command line. The keystrokes discussed here are the ones normally used by CMD.EXE. If you prefer using different keystrokes to perform these functions, you can assign new ones with key mapping directives in CMD.INI.

• Command-Line Editing
• Command History and Recall
• Command History Window
• Command Names and Parameters
• Filename Completion
• Automatic Directory Changes
• Directory History Window
• Multiple Commands
• Expanding and Disabling Aliases
• Command Line Help
• Command-Line Length Limits

Additional command-line features are documented under File Selection and Other Features.