Is there an option in command prompt (cmd.exe) that comes with windows to set default command arguments. For example, I may want dir /a every time I run dir to show hidden files. For sake of convenience I would like to set /a to be always enabled even if I don't provide the option.
To get a list of all commands I'm talking about type help at the prompt
You want to create cmd aliases. doskey seems to work just fine. Allows you to configure a set of parameters against a text file. This link might be of help to you.
http://www.displayobject.fr/2010/03/07/create-cmd-aliases-in-windows/
Hope this helps
There is no standard, but some commands can get default options from an environment variable.
COPY, XCOPY, and MOVE all can get a default /Y option from the COPYCMD variable. The default value can be overridden with the /-Y option on the command line.
DIR can get any option from the DIRCMD variable. Default environment variable values can be overridden by prefixing the option with - on the command line, for example /-W
There may be other variables to control some other commands, but I am not aware of them.
Unlike DOSKEY macros, the defaults specified by environment variables apply to both batch scripts and the command line.
dir /? prints following at the bottom: Switches may be preset in the DIRCMD environment variable. Override preset switches by prefixing any switch with - (hyphen)--for example, /-W.
– Alex
Jan 25 '14 at 15:48
