Windows XP in a Nutshell, Second Edition

Name

prompt

Synopsis

Change the appearance of the prompt.

Syntax

prompt [text]

Description

Type prompt by itself (without text) to reset the prompt to its default setting.

The prompt options are:

text

Specifies a new command prompt. Text can contain normal characters and the following special codes:

$_

Carriage return and linefeed

$$

Dollar sign ($)

$a

Ampersand (&)

$b

Pipe (|)

$c

Left parenthesis (()

$d

Current date

$e

Escape character (ASCII code 27)—used to provide extended formatting

$f

Right parenthesis ())

$g

Greater-than sign (>), commonly known as the caret

$h

Backspace (erases previous character)

$l

Less-than sign (<)

$n

Current drive

$p

Current drive and path

$q

Equal sign (=)

$s

Space

$t

Current time

$v

Windows version number

Examples

Specify the current drive and directory followed by the greater-than sign (>)—the default prompt in Windows XP:

C:\>prompt $p$g

Specify the drive and directory on one line and the date, followed by the greater-than sign (>) on another:

C:\>prompt $p$_$d$g

Specify the drive only, followed by the greater-than sign (>), which was the default prompt on early versions of DOS:

C:\>prompt $n$g

Notes

The current prompt setting is actually stored in the environment, and the prompt command is merely a shortcut for the following:

                     set prompt=$p$g

See “set”, later in this chapter, for more information environment variables and details on setting global environment variables that don’t expire when the Command Prompt window is closed.