Differences between Batch (Windows) and Terminal (Linux)

Introduction#

Batch and bash are quite different. Batch flags are indicated with a /, while bash flags use a -. Capitalization matters in bash, but (almost) not at all in batch. Batch variable names can contain spaces, bash variable names can not.

Ultimately, both are ways of manipulating and interacting with the command line. Not surprisingly, there is a reasonably-sized amount of overlap between the capabilities of the two systems.

Remarks#

bitsadmin is deprecated in favor of the PowerShell cmdlet BITS but still works as of Windows 10 version 1607
certutil separates pairs of hexadecimal digits with a space, so md5sum will return an example value of d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e, while certutil displays the same value as d4 1d 8c d9 8f 00 b2 04 e9 80 09 98 ec f8 42 7e
To cd to another drive (for example, from C: to D:) the /d flag must be used
del can not delete folders, use rm instead
grep is so much more powerful than find and findstr, it’s almost not fair to compare them; find has no regex capabilities and findstr has extremely limited regex capabilities ([a-z]{2} is not valid syntax, but [a-z][a-z] is)
for loops on the Windows command prompt can only use single-character variable names; this is the only time batch variable names are case-sensitive
for loops on the command prompt also use the variable form %A instead of %A% - forloops in batch scripts use the variable form %%A
md automatically creates any necessary parent directories, while mkdir needs the -p flag to do so
rem may not be used as an inline comment character unless it is preceded by a &
:: may not be used as an inline comment at all, and should also not be used inside of a code block (set of parentheses)

Note that some Windows command like ping still uses - as flags

Batch Commands and Their Bash Equivalents

Batch	Bash	Description
`command /?`	`man command`	Shows the help for command
`bitsadmin`	`wget` or `curl`	Downloads a remote file
`certutil -hashfile file_name MD5`	`md5sum file_name`	Gets the MD5 checksum of file_name
`cd`	`pwd`	Displays the current directory
`cd directory`	`cd directory`	Changes the current directory to the specified one
`cls`	`clear`	Clears the screen
`copy`	`cp`	Copies a file or files from a source path to a target path
`date`	`date`	Displays the date or sets it based on user input
`del`	`rm`	Deletes a file or files
`dir`	`ls`	displays a list of files and directories in the current directory
`echo`	`echo`	Displays text on the screen
`exit`	`return`	Exits a script or subroutine
`exit`	`logout`	Closes the command prompt or terminal
`fc`	`diff`	Compares the contents of two files
`find "string" file_name`	`grep "string" file_name`	Searches file_name for string
`findstr "string" file_name`	`grep "string" file_name`	Searches file_name for string
`for /F %A in (fileset*) do something`	`for item in fileset*; do; something; done`	Do something for every file in a set of files
`for /F %A in ('command') do something`	`command`	Returns the output of a command
`for /L %A in (first,increment,last) do something`	for item in `seq first increment last`; do; something; done	Starts at first and counts by increment until it reaches last
`forfiles`	`find`	Searches for files that match a certain criteria
`if "%variable%"=="value" (`	`if [ "variable"="value" ]; then`	Compares two values
`ipconfig`	`ifconfig`	Displays IP information
`md`	`mkdir`	Creates new folders
`mklink`	`ln -s`	Creates a symbolic link
`more`	`more`	Displays one screen of output at a time
`move`	`mv`	Moves a file or files from a source path to a target path
`pause`	`read -p "Press any key to continue"`	Pauses script execution until the user presses a button
`popd`	`popd`	Removes the top entry from the directory stack and goes to the new top directory
`pushd`	`pushd`	Adds the current directory to the directory stack and goes to the new top directory
`ren`	`mv`	Renames files
`rem` or `::`	`#`	Comments a line of code
`rd`	`rmdir`	Removes empty directories
`rd /s`	`rm -rf`	Removes directories regardlesss of whether or not they were empty
`set variable=value`	`variable=value`	Sets the value of variable to value
`set /a variable=equation`	`variable=$((equation))`	Performs math (batch can only use 32-bit integers)
`set /p variable=promptstring`	`read -p "promptstring" variable`	Gets user input and stores it in variable
`shift`	`shift`	Shifts arguments by 1 (or n if provided)
`sort`	`sort`	Sorts output alphabetically by line
`tasklist`	`ps`	Shows a list of running processes
`taskkill /PID processid`	`kill processid`	Kills the process with PID processid
`time /t`	`date`	Displays the current time
`type`	`cat`	Displays the contents of a file
`where`	`which`	Searches the current directory and the PATH for a file or command
`whoami`	`id`	Displays the name and group of the current user

Batch Variables and Their Bash Equivalent

Batch	Bash	Description
`%variable%`	`$variable`	A regular variable
`!variable!`	`$variable`	A variable inside of a code block when `setlocal enabledelayedexpansion` is on
`%errorlevel%` or `ERRORLEVEL`	`$?`	Returns the status of the previous command: 0 if successful, 1 (or something else) if not
`%1`, `%2`, `%3`, etc.	`$1`, `$2`, `$3`, etc.	The parameters given to a script
`%*`	`$*`	All parameters given to a script