How do I add cmd shortcuts in windows xp?

Question

I often need to access some command line programs such as mysql. Is there a way to assign these programs a shortcut so I am no longer required to type whole paths? I think it's called symbolic links, but those are not present in xp from what I read. But it should be possible somehow, when I previously installed MySQL from installer, 'mysql' as a keyword to access the db was available everywhere in cmd.

I tried messing with the registry and setting system variables behind My Computer, but the only result was I could access these as %xyz% which is not exactly the same. Nothing else works.

Thanks

Answer 1

Do this: Get the full path to the mysql exe and copy this.

Right-click "My Computer" and then Properties, then Advanced, then Environment Variables.

You should have a variable called PATH. Edit this one. At the end of the current one you add a semicolon and the path to the directory where your mysql executable is placed so it looks like OLDPATH;PATHWHEREMYSQLEXECUTABLE is located

Answer 2

You could just add the directories to your path using...

setx path "%path%;c:\foo" -m

But what I usually do is make a very simple script for each command, and name it using the shortcut I want to use. All my scripts are placed in a directory that is added to the path. All I have to do to run the script is type that shortcut, whichever CD I am in.

You can also develop these scripts to use parameters, so that you can make complex commands very easy, without having to remember them.

This is basically what scripting is all about.

Here is an example of a simple script I made that shows the hard disk drive information for any machine on the network, using the Sysinternals command psinfo.exe. I saved it as driveinfo.cmd, and I can type driveinfo /? to remind me of the syntax.

@echo off

echo.
echo DriveInfo v1.1
REM dependencies:  psinfo.exe
echo.

if [%1] == [] goto :command
if [%1] == [/?] goto :help
setlocal
set parm=%1
for %%U in (A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z) do (
call set "parm=%%parm:%%U=%%U%%"
)
if [%parm:~0,2%] == [\\] goto :command
goto :error

:command
if [%1] == [] (
echo Drive information for %COMPUTERNAME%:
) else (
echo Drive information for %parm:~2%:
)
psinfo -d volume %1 2>nul | findstr /v "System information for" || (
goto :noresponse
)
goto :eof

:error
echo Syntax error
goto :eof

:noresponse
echo.
echo %parm:~2% cannot be found
goto :eof

:help
echo Usage: driveinfo [\\computer]
goto :eof

Answer 3

Since you mention symbolic links, you can download the GnuWin32 tools. The package you'll need is FileUtils which includes the "LN" command. Once installed, they'll need to be in the path. You can then create either symbolic links or hard links. You might like to create a folder for the purpose of housing your links. That folder would also need to be in the path.