Keep CMD open after BAT file executes

Question

I have a bat file like this:

ipconfig

That will print out the IP info to the screen, but before the user can read that info CMD closes itself.

I believe that CMD assumes the script has finished, so it closes.

How do I keep CMD open after the script is finished?

Dupe of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/988403/stop-a-batch-file-from-autoclosing — Rob Kielty, Jul 30 '13 at 20:51
@RobKielty it's the same question alright - but here we have a new answer (which is better IMHO) — Nir Alfasi, Jul 30 '13 at 20:57
possible duplicate of [How to keep cmd running after opening a .bat file script](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15012344/how-to-keep-cmd-running-after-opening-a-bat-file-script) — Endoro, Jul 30 '13 at 20:58
@alfasin Is that not the same as Rutger Nijlunsing's answer? — Rob Kielty, Jul 30 '13 at 20:59
@RobKielty nope, my answer isn't the same as it doesn't use `pause` which is a nice workaround (and that's why I upvoted this answer) but not one that really solves the issue because after the user hits `Enter` or `Space` the window will close... — Nir Alfasi, Jul 30 '13 at 21:01

score 268 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 30 '13 at 20:49

268

Put pause at the end of your .BAT file.

answered Jul 30 '13 at 20:49

ElGavilan

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This is exactly what I was looking for, because I'm running the bat file at startup, not through a CMD command. +1 – Hawkeye Oct 28 '16 at 15:41
4

If you still want to interact with the bat file after your execution, replace the PAUSE with just cmd /k - then after your scripts have run, you can still run manual commands afterwards in the same context – Luigi D'Amico Nov 13 '18 at 14:39
I can't stand seeing that this was not the "solution" comment for this question – newhouse Apr 25 '19 at 10:27

score 188 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 23 '20 at 19:17

188

Depending on how you are running the command, you can put /k after cmd to keep the window open.

cmd /k my_script.bat

Simply adding cmd /k to the end of your batch file will work too. Credit to Luigi D'Amico who posted about this in the comments below.

edited Jun 23 '20 at 19:17

Mister SirCode

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answered Jul 30 '13 at 20:55

Jason Schindler

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After all your scripts in your bat file - put --> cmd /k – Luigi D'Amico Nov 13 '18 at 14:39
5

Beware that if your program contains syntactical errors, the window will still close if you ran it via double-click and put `cmd /k` at the end. – Tobias Feil Jun 25 '19 at 06:47
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This doesn't explain cmd windows closing if the user double clicked the file. – basickarl Feb 13 '20 at 12:43

score 61 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 04 '20 at 08:27

61

Just add @pause at the end.

Example:

@echo off
ipconfig
@pause

Or you can also use:

cmd /k ipconfig

edited Feb 04 '20 at 08:27

ZygD

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answered Jul 31 '13 at 09:42

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what does the @ symbol do? Is there a difference between @pause and pause? – demonicdaron Apr 30 '18 at 14:54
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@demonicdaron Answer explaining the @ symbol: https://stackoverflow.com/a/21077142/2258 – Richard Morgan Oct 01 '18 at 13:42
1

But in this case, it should not make any difference. – Florian Leitgeb Feb 03 '20 at 15:51
1

The difference between **`@pause`** and **`pause`** can be seen visually in this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17957076#60053224 – ZygD Feb 04 '20 at 08:32
Here, it does not make any difference as "echo" is already set to "off". – Daniel K. Sep 09 '20 at 08:27

ZygD · Answer 4 · 2020-02-04T08:42:02.940

12

When the .bat file is started not from within the command line (e.g. double-clicking).

echo The echoed text
@pause

echo The echoed text
pause

echo The echoed text
cmd /k

echo The echoed text & pause

edited Feb 04 '20 at 08:42

answered Feb 04 '20 at 08:22

ZygD

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score 9 · Answer 5 · edited Dec 07 '17 at 23:20

9

Adding pause in (Windows 7) to the end did not work for me
but adding the cmd /k in front of my command did work.

Example :

cmd /k gradlew cleanEclipse

edited Dec 07 '17 at 23:20

SUB-HDR

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answered Aug 13 '13 at 17:55

Robin

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score 3 · Answer 6 · edited Nov 14 '17 at 03:16

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start cmd /k did the magic for me. I actually used it for preparing cordova phonegap app it runs the command, shows the result and waits for the user to close it. Below is the simple example

start cmd /k echo Hello, World!

What I did use in my case

start cmd /k cordova prepare

Update

You could even have a title for this by using

start "My Title" echo Hello, World!

edited Nov 14 '17 at 03:16

robinCTS

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answered Jul 10 '17 at 06:41

jafarbtech

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score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 13 '17 at 14:03

1

If you are starting the script within the command line, then add exit /b to keep CMD opened

answered Apr 13 '17 at 14:03

Julito Sanchis

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Doesn't practically solve the question as modifying `ipconfig` and other built-in batch files ***is a very bad idea***. – robinCTS Nov 14 '17 at 03:22

samadadi · Answer 8 · 2018-02-02T10:27:22.137

1

In Windows add '& Pause' to the end of your command in the file.

edited Feb 02 '18 at 10:27

answered Oct 14 '17 at 17:41

samadadi

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score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Jan 17 '19 at 11:51

I was also confused as to why we're adding a cmd at the beginning and I was wondering if I had to open the command prompt first. What you need to do is type the full command along with cmd /k. For example assume your batch file name is "my_command.bat" which runs the command javac my_code.java then the code in your batch file should be:

cmd /k javac my_code.java

So basically there is no need to open command prompt at the current folder and type the above command but you can save this code directly in your batch file and execute it directly.

Huanfasdawq Huanfasd · Answer 10 · 2017-03-10T08:17:31.317

0

javac -d C:\xxx\lib\ -classpath C:\xxx\lib\ *.java

cmd cd C:\xxx\yourbat.bat

the second command make your cmd window not be closed. The important thing is you still able to input new command

edited Mar 10 '17 at 08:17

answered Mar 10 '17 at 05:04

Huanfasdawq Huanfasd

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score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Jun 25 '20 at 07:59

As a sidenote this also works when running a command directly from the search bar in windows.

e.g. directly running ipconfig will directly close the cmd window after the command has exited.

Using cmd \k <command> won't - which was what i was trying to do when i found this answer.

It has the added advantage of always recognizing the command you're trying to run. E.g. running echo hello world from the searchbar won't work because that is not a command, however cmd \k echo hello world works just fine.

Keep CMD open after BAT file executes

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