Windows 2000 Commands Pocket Reference

Entering Commands

• Commands are not case-sensitive.

• Command options are not usually case-sensitive. The few options that are lowercase only are specified as such in this book. Uppercase and mixed-case options can be assumed to be case-insensitive.

• Command options are generally preceded by a forward slash—for example, /X. In many cases, a minus sign may be substituted for the slash if desired. A few commands (mostly originating in the Resource Kit) require that their options be preceded by a minus sign.

• Option placement is not consistent across all commands. Consult the syntax summary for option placement for a specific command.

• Distinct command arguments are separated by spaces, commas, or semicolons.

• A command may be continued onto a second (or subsequent) line by placing a caret (^) as the final character of the initial line.

• The caret is also used as the escape symbol, protecting the following character from being processed by the command interpreter.

• Multiple commands may be concatenated by an ampersand: command1 & command2. The commands are executed in sequence.

• Commands may be executed conditionally, based on the success or failure of a preceding command, by joining them with && or || (respectively):

  command1 && command2

  Execute command2 only if command1 succeeds.

  command1 || command2

  Execute command2 only if command1 fails.