"Offering free computer help, hints, and tips to the Internet populace." Now with over 3,820 tips!

Windows 2000 and DOS

Execute One Command if Another Succeeded

SUMMARY: Create Windows 2000 batch files where one command executes only if a previous command ran successfully.

By placing the characters && between two DOS commands in Windows 2000, you can have the second command execute only if the first one ran successfully without errors.

For example, when you normally delete a file, you are not prompted that the file was successfully deleted. However, this batch file, named DELOK.BAT, will let you know whether or not all the desired file(s) were deleted. Place this batch file in your Windows directory as filename "delok.bat":

@del %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9 && echo All Files Deleted Successfully.

Now, if you enter the following command:

C:\delok test.tmp

If test.tmp exists and gets successfully deleted, you will see:

All Files Deleted Successfully.