Getting to know the XP commandline

[Morgoth]

Hello, new guy here

After a few months using only Linux (Debian) and BSD, I am now returning to the Windows OS, some of you may see my problem coming, I am far from happy with the command line that is build into Windows.

Seriously, in a decent command line I can configure settings, parse files and do almost everything in mere seconds, but with a GUI it involves searching through graphical menus for a specific setting, x-ing annoying pop-ups and having to wait 2 minutes to start any graphical application :(

So here's my query:

1. Does Windows have a command line tool that can measures the time a program ellapsed from start to finish? Like the Linux time application.

I type into the command line something like:

  time <application> <arguments to that application>

  .. Output from <application> ..

  22 seconds

2. A command that shows a list of all the applications that can be found in the path environment variable?

3. Does windows have something that allows me to parse files from the command line, something like grep or awk?

4. Anything remotely resembling pipes? (Pipes rock :))

[scuzzman]

From one GNU junkie to another :)

1) Not that I have found.

2) dir - but apart from that, no.

3) Not by itself, it needs a third-party application such as one found here.

4) Yes, DOS fully supports piping.

You'll want to look into batch file programming, and take a look at this page.