Typing commands without needing the full file path

[CamTron]

In Linux, we can open a terminal and run a command by simply typing in the command's name. So, if I wanted to run DosBox, I'd just type: dosbox

The $PATH environment variable is set to /bin,/sbin,/usr/bin,/usr/local/bin,/usr/local/games. And Linux looks in all of those directories for the executable.

However, in Windows, one must type the full path of the executable. So, typing: C:\Program Files (x86)\DOSBox-0.74\DOSBox.exe

would run DosBox. Is there an easy way to run programs from Command Prompt without having to type all of this?

[jaclaz]

In Linux, we can open a terminal and run a command by simply typing in the command's name. So, if I wanted to run DosBox, I'd just type: dosbox

The $PATH environment variable is set to /bin,/sbin,/usr/bin,/usr/local/bin,/usr/local/games. And Linux looks in all of those directories for the executable.

However, in Windows, one must type the full path of the executable. So, typing: C:\Program Files (x86)\DOSBox-0.74\DOSBox.exe

would run DosBox. Is there an easy way to run programs from Command Prompt without having to type all of this?

In Windows (and DOS) we have a variable called PATH:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PATH_(variable)

http://www.robvanderwoude.com/path.php

jaclaz

[CamTron]

OK, so the PATH environment variable does exist in DOS/Windows. That's great. This is a bit off-topic, but what's the easiest way to create a symlink in Windows?

[jaclaz]

A symlink or a hardlink?

I presume you want to make a hardlink to the dosbox.exe inside one of the paths already inside the PATH variable?

But this would be possible (as well as symbolic links) only on a NTFS volume.

See:

http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/ln/ln.html

But you can use a "normal" .lnk file on *any* filesystem, if I recall correctly.

jaclaz

Edited April 10, 2014 by jaclaz

[CamTron]

No, I wasn't going to use it for that, but actually, that might be a good idea -- making a C:\bin folder, adding it to PATH, and placing symlinks in it for programs I need a lot.

Anyway, what I meant by symlink was a soft symbolic link. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_link) The *nix equivalent is ln -s. Oh, well I guess I found the answer myself. The mklink command does what I want.

.lnk files are Windows specific desktop shortcut files, but yes, they can be used on any filesystem.

Edited April 10, 2014 by CamTron