This minHour teaches you how to write and save a basic batch file on a Windows computer. A batch file contains a series of DOS (Windows language) commands, and is commonly written to automate frequently performed tasks such as moving files. You shouldn't have to download any fancy editors to create a batch file—the Windows-standard Notepad program is more than sufficient.
Learning Batch Basics
Open Notepad
Notepad allows you to create code as a text file and then save it when you’re done as a batch file. You can open Notepad by opening, typing in Notepad, and clicking the blue app icon at the top of the menu.
- Notepad is commonly used to convert text files into batch files, but you can write your batch file’s text virtually anywhere.
Learn some basic batch commands.
Batch files run a series of DOS commands, so the commands that you can use are similar to DOS commands. Some of the more important ones include:
- ECHO – Displays text on the screen
- @ECHO OFF – Hides the text that is normally output
- START – Run a file with its default application
- REM – Inserts a comment line in the program
- MKDIR/RMDIR – Create and remove directories
- DEL – Deletes a file or files
- COPY – Copy a file or files
- XCOPY – Allows you to copy files with extra options
- FOR/IN/DO – This command lets you specify files.
- TITLE- Edit the title of the window.
Write a program to create a directory.
One of the easiest ways to learn how to create batch files is to focus on doing basic tasks first. For example, you can use a batch file to quickly create multiple directories:MKDIR c:example1MKDIR c:example2
Write the code to make a basic backup program.
Batch files are great for running multiple commands, especially if you configure it to be able to run multiple times. With the XCOPY command, you can make a batch file that copies files from select folders to a backup folder, only overwriting files that have been updated since the last copy:@ECHO OFF XCOPY c:original c:backupfolder /m /e /y
- This copies over files from the folder “original” to the folder “backupfolder”. You can replace these with the paths to the folders you want. /m specifies that only updated files will be copied, /e specifies that all subdirectories in the listed directory will be copied, and /y keeps the confirmation message appearing every time a file is overwritten.
Write a more advanced backup program.
While simply copying the files from one folder to another is nice, what if you want to do a little sorting at the same time? That’s where the FOR/IN/DO command comes in. You can use that command to tell a file where to go depending on the extension:@ECHO OFF cd c:sourceREM This is the location of the files that you want to sortFOR %%f IN (*.doc *.txt) DO XCOPY c:source”%%f” c:text /m /yREM This moves any files with a .doc or REM .txt extension from c:source to c:textREM %%f is a variableFOR %%f IN (*.jpg *.png *.bmp) DO XCOPY C:source”%%f” c:images /m /yREM This moves any files with a .jpg, .png, REM or .bmp extension from c:source to c:images
Display some text.
If you want to know what is happening in your batch file but don’t want to see all the commands, you could program the batch file to print some text that explains what the batch file does. You can print text with ECHO. For example:@ECHO OFFMKDIR c:example1ECHO Created directory example1
- You can change the color of the output with COLOR bf, where b is the background and f is the foreground color, both a hexadecimal number. Following colors are possible: NumberColorNumberColor0 black 8 dark grey1 dark blue 9 blue2 dark green a green3 dark turquoise b turquoise4 dark red c red5 dark magenta d magenta6 dark yellow e yellow7 light grey f white
- For example, red text on a dark green background would be displayed with COLOR 2c
- You need run the batch file from the command line to see the text, because else the window will close too fast to actually read the text you printed.
Experiment with different batch commands.
If you want inspiration, you can check out the sample batch text at the end of this article.
Saving the Batch File
Finish entering your batch file’s text.
Once you’ve completed and proofread your batch file, you can proceed with saving it as an executable file.
Click File.
It’s in the top-left corner of the Notepad window. A drop-down menu will appear.
Click Save As….
This option is in the drop-down menu. Clicking it prompts the Save As window to open.
Enter a name and the “.bat” extension.
In the “File name” text box, type in whatever you want to name your program followed by .bat.
- For a program named “Backup”, for example, you’d type in Backup.bat here.
Click the “Save as type” drop-down box.
You’ll find it near the bottom of the Save As window. A drop-down menu will appear.
Click All Files.
It’s in the drop-down menu. This will allow your file to be saved as whatever its extension is (in this case, “.bat”).
Select a save location.
Click a folder on the left side of the window (e.g., ) to do so.
Click Save.
It’s in the bottom-right corner of the Save As window. The window will close.
Close your Notepad file.
It will be saved as a batch file in your selected location.
Edit the batch file’s contents.
At any time, you can right-click your batch file and click in the resulting drop-down menu. This will open the batch file as a Notepad document; at this point, you can make any changes and then save the file by pressing Ctrl+S.
- The changes will immediately be reflected when you run the batch file.
Tips
- You will have to use quotes if you want to open a directory or file with spaces in its name (e.g., start “C:Documents and Settings”).
- You can use third-party editors such as Notepad++ to edit your batch file, but for the most part, these are a waste of time when writing simple batch files.
- Some commands (such as ipconfig) will need administrative permissions to work. You can right-click the file and then click “Run as Administrator” to grant this permission if you’re on an administrator account.
Warnings
- Depending on the commands you use, batch files can be dangerous. Make sure that none of your code runs the risk of performing an undesirable task (e.g., deleting files or crashing your computer).