TCC is a command processor compatible with CMD (the default command processor in Windows) but massively enhanced with thousands of additional features. TCC-RT is a runtime-only version of TCC, distributed as a separate free product.
TCC has a huge set of capabilities. These capabilities are grouped into three categories:
• Internal Commands - These are the primary language constructs. Common commands include, DIR, COPY, MOVE, etc. TCC gives you instant access to more than 235 internal commands. (Microsoft's CMD.EXE has fewer than 40 internal commands.).
• Internal Variable - Internal variables are special variables built into TCC to provide information about your system. They are not stored in the environment, but can be accessed as if they were environment variables in interactive commands, aliases, and batch files. Take Command provides more than 270 internal variables that can tell you a great deal about your computer and how it is operating. These include installed hardware, hardware status, operating system and software status, etc.
• Variable Functions - Variable functions are very similar to internal variables, but they take one or more parameters (which can be environment variables or even other variable functions). Variable functions are useful at the command prompt as well as in aliases and batch files to check on available system resources, manipulate strings and numbers, and work with files and filenames. There are more than 360 variable functions built into TCC.
Internal variables are special variables built into TCC to provide information about your system. They are not stored in the environment, but can be accessed as if they were environment variables in interactive commands, aliases, and batch files.
There are more than 280 of them (CMD has less than 10). Key types of variables include:
TCC features a number of internal commands to allow you to do real-time monitoring of your system. These commands include:
CDPATH |
Directory navigation search list |
CMDLINE |
Command line after full expansion |
CMDLINE2 |
Command line before any expansion |
COLORDIR |
Directory colorization specification |
COMSPEC |
Command processor specification |
FILECOMPLETION |
File completion control variable |
HISTORYEXCLUDE |
List of commands excluded from the command history |
JARPATH |
Execute JAR files in Java |
PATH |
Executable program location search list |
PATHEXT |
Ordered search list of extensions of executable programs |
PROMPT |
Command prompt format specification |
PROMPT2 |
Prompt for line continuation |
RECYCLEEXCLUDE |
List of files excluded from the recycle bin |
TCANSIEXCLUDE |
Applications to exclude from ANSI support |
TCMD |
Take Command's pathname |
TCMDVER |
Take Command's version number |
TEMP |
Directory for temporary files |
TITLEPROMPT |
Command processor window title bar specification |
TMP |
Directory for temporary files |
TREEEXCLUDE |
List of directories excluded from JPSTREE.IDX |
VARIABLEEXCLUDE |
Variables to exclude from SET list |
Variable functions are one of the most powerful features of TCC. Variable functions are very similar to internal variables, but they take one or more parameters (which can be environment variables or even other variable functions).
Variable functions are useful at the command prompt as well as in aliases and batch files to check on available system resources, manipulate strings and numbers, and work with files and filenames.
There are more than 360 Variable Functions grouped into 13 categories. They allow you to gather and manipulate system information in very powerful ways. (CMD has no variable functions.). Remember...they are all built-in.
Piping is a special form of redirection, using an additional instance of TCC for each instance of the piping specified in the command line.
You can create a pipe to send the standard output of a command (command1) to the standard input of another command (command2), and optionally also send the standard error as well
KEYSTACK sends keystrokes to an application program. Once the KEYSTACK buffer is empty, the program will receive the rest of its input from the keyboard. KEYSTACK is useful when you want a program to take certain actions automatically when it starts. It is most often used in batch files and aliases.
The KEYSTACK command overcomes two weaknesses of input redirection: