Command reference:

all [1] [2]
MS-DOS 6 [1]
XP [1] [2]

Syntax reference / examples:

batch 1

Command-line parsing

  :       begining of a comment (as long as it's followed by a space)
  		: this is a test
		rem	this is another test
		
  ^       line continuation
  		echo hello ^
		world
	  or general escape really 
	        echo  ^> ^^ ^<

  %var%   variable reference
  		set foo=bar
		echo %foo%
		
  &       command separator (for putting multiple statements on one line)
  		echo head  &  echo heels
		
  &&      only execute the next statement if the last one succeeded
  		del doesntexist.txt && echo succeeded
		
  ||      only execute the next statement if the last one failed
  		del doesntexist.txt || echo failed
		

  .. > log 2>&1		Redirect stderr as well as stdout
  .. 2>&1| less

These are simplified rules. In reality, some of these are hacks (eg. using colon for a comment) and may not act as expected in all cases. When in doubt, search alt.msdos.batch.nt.




Further Resources
  alt.msdos.batch.nt newsgroup
  many good links
  MS-DOS 1.25 to 8.0 boot disks (use rawwrite)


Tips
- Single-step used to be available via "command.com /y /c script.bat".  However, it's no longer available, so just comment-out "@echo off" instead