6
Jan
Command Prompt Here seems to be a well-known feature among the Windows users. It lets you right-click on a folder and open a command prompt with the current working directory set to that folder.
But what about its “functional inverse”, i.e., start an explorer to explore the current directory? Well, you can execute explorer . in the Command Prompt, but that will not be exactly “correct” since the tree view of folders is missing. Apparently you have to add a completely obscure argument… I put this command in a batch file on my path:
start "" explorer /e, .
Note that there cannot be a space between the “e” and the comma. Don’t ask.
1:56 on January 7th, 2006
What does the start do? What about the double quotes, and the comma and the dot?
Maybe you could use this double recursively to bring up more cmd shells? Or shells that don’t suck?
18:27 on January 8th, 2006
To learn about “start”, type “start /?” in the Command Prompt. That will explain the double quotes.
As for the comma, it’s the curious argument that Explorer expects. I have no idea why this particular symbol is chosen.
The dot corresponds to the current directory. Explorer can explore any directory passed as an argument. You can try “explorer c:\” and see what happens.
Yes, you can start other another Command Prompt by typing “start cmd” in the Command Prompt. If you have cygwin installed and on the path, then typing “start bash” will start bash.
19:56 on April 16th, 2007
This is VERY nice to know
I am new to batch files and commands for cmd, but I am planning to use a Java SE background program to schedule events and monitor etc… so I will be wanting to know several windows/dos commands