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What command can I put at the end of a batch file to prevent auto-closing of the console after the execution of the file?

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    It would be good if there is a way to detect if a .cmd file was started by doubleclick in the explorer (then you want it to pause at the end) or if it was started by a already open command line. In the later case (and especially if executed by another program) you dont want the pause. I havent found a good solution for this case (and typically use a if %NOPAUSE% variable, but this only works for parent programs not for paremt shells). Commented Nov 6, 2012 at 17:34
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    There is a way: stackoverflow.com/questions/3551888/… Commented May 17, 2017 at 9:57
  • If pause or cmd /k doesnt work, \ add call to your command \ -- > if the command before has any type of exit code (even on success) in it then it seems to close the window, \ -- ref: stackoverflow.com/questions/4666045/… Commented Dec 28, 2023 at 2:44

21 Answers 21

Reset to default
849

In Windows/DOS batch files:

pause

This prints a nice "Press any key to continue . . . " message

Or, if you don't want the "Press any key to continue . . ." message, do this instead:

pause >nul
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6 Comments

None of the suggestions here work for me when double-clicking the bat file. It's a server environment (and I have to run the script in it), so they could have modified the behavior. That doesn't change my goal. To keep the command window open so I can so the error message it types.
Yeah this doesn't always work depending on the environment. For a more robust solution see my answer below. Essentially just do set /p exitkey= "Press any key to continue..."
Be careful, if someone run your script without the console window (for example through the vbscript), then it would hang until you kill it through the Task Manager.
If its something like maven use CALL, stackoverflow.com/a/52205298/4485678
For me only worked adding: & pause
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193

Depends on the exact question!

Normally pause does the job within a .bat file.

If you want cmd.exe not to close to be able to remain typing, use cmd /k command at the end of the file.

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If you're running Windows commands through the Run dialog, put cmd /k before your command instead. & cmd /k won't work.
I am confused by the "at the end of the file" comment. Wouldn't we want to include the /k wherever we call the cmd that closes, as @Noumenon suggests? Admittedly, this is getting closer to what the OP asked, but expanding the scope of the question, I don't think it would need to be at the end of the file.
@JosiahYoder docs is unclear, base on my tests (can be wrong): \ If you are running multiple command in a .bat file, cmd /k should be placed at end, with no arg. \ Otherwise, all the following cmd below cmd /k seems wont be executed. \ If you only run a single command, I think you do place at front, like cmd /k <command>.
104

If you want cmd.exe to not close, and able to continue to type, use cmd /k

Just felt the need to clarify what /k does (from windows website):

/k : Carries out the command specified by string and continues.

So cmd /k without follow up command at the end of bat file will just keep cmd.exe window open for further use.

On the other hand pause at the end of a batch file will simply pause the process and terminate cmd.exe on first button press

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75

If you are using Maven and you want to skip the typing and prevent the console from close to see the result you need to use the CALL command in the script, besides just the 'mvn clean install'.

Like this will close the console

ECHO This is the wrong exemple mvn clean install pause

Like this the console will stay open

ECHO This is the right exemple CALL mvn clean install pause

If you dont use the CALL command neither of the pasts exemples will work. Because for some reason the default behaviour of cmd when calling another batch file (which mvn is in this case) is to essentially replace the current process with it, unlike calling an .exe

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5 Comments

Thanks a lot! It prevents prompt from closing if command failed.
It worked for me. I wanted to execute 2 differents command in 1 bat file. but my prompt closed after the first command. Putting call <myCommand> resolved this problem : My prompt stoped closing after the first execution
but why does it close without CALL @andrey
I dont remember it anymore xD but i know for sure that have a explanation, i just dont remember and i cant find it easily on google :/ @Priyam
@Priyam because for some reason the default behaviour of cmd when calling another batch file (which mvn is in this case) is to essentially replace the current process with it, unlike calling an .exe
34

The below way of having commands in a batch file will open new command prompt windows and the new windows will not exit automatically. 

start "title" call abcd.exe param1 param2 start "title" call xyz.exe param1 param2
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In my case, I had some error during run the terminal command, and so, the 'pause 'and the 'cmd /k' commands didn't helped me to stop the program 'cause of the error. This example helped me to show, I have error and also stopped to quite from terminal. Thanks!
21

Add cmd.exe as a new line below the code you want to execute:

c:\Python27\python D:\code\simple_http_server.py cmd.exe
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2 Comments

This is exactly what i was looking for, thanks! The "pause" is just not going to work when your python script get crashed. What I wanted is to see an error message. Until now I had to run my python scripts through the console
But this works fine: python script.py %1 && cmd
14

my way is to write an actual batch (saying "foo.bat") to finish the job; then create another "start.bat":

@echo off cmd /k foo.bat

I find this is extremely useful when I set up one-time environment variables.

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1 Comment

You can just put cmd /k (without any command) at the end of foo.bat file and run that. You don't need a separate start.bat file.
12

Call cmd at the end of the batch file.

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6

This little hack asks the user to enter a key and stores it into the variable %exitkey% (this variable could be called anything you like though). 

set /p exitkey= "Press any key to continue..."

NB: the space after the '=' is very important

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6

Had problems with the answers here, so I came up with this, which works for me (TM):

cmd /c node_modules\.bin\tsc cmd /c node rollup_build.js pause
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5

besides pause.

set /p=

can be used .It will expect user input and will release the flow when enter is pressed.

or

runas /user:# "" >nul 2>&1

which will do the same except nothing from the user input will be displayed nor will remain in the command history.

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4

I know I'm late but my preferred way is:

:programend pause>nul GOTO programend

In this way the user cannot exit using enter.

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I think yes, as it is an enhanced way to prevent the console from closing. Even if the user press a key, the console remains open. The user will be forced to exit only by closing the console window.
4

Run the .exe file and then pause the cmd

batch script example :

@echo off myProgram.exe PAUSE

batch script example with arguments :

@echo off myProgram.exe argumentExample1 argumentExample2 PAUSE

I added @echo off because I don't want to show C:\user\Desktop>myProgram.exe and C:\user\Desktop>PAUSE in the cmd

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4

add pause (if you don't want anything else to show up add) >nul

it should look like

@echo off title nice echo hello pause >nul

all you will see is hello

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3

Possibility 1: Just make 2 .bat files and write into the first:

start <filename> // name of 2nd batch file exit

Batch file 2 is the file that wont close in the end. So now when you open batch nr.1 It will start the 2nd and cloe itself. When the 2nd finishes it will not close entirely (as long as you wont put exit at the end)

Possibility 2: Batch file 1:

call <filename> cls echo End of file pause <any code you want>

When the 2nd file ends then it will proceed to file 1 again and output the rest of it. With that you can even make error handlers. If nr.1 crashes it goes into nr.2 and displays it

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3

There are two ways to do it depend on use case

1) If you want Windows cmd prompt to stay open so that you can see execution result and close it afterwards; use

pause

2) if you want Windows cmd prompt to stay open and allow you to execute some command afterwords; use

cmd

enter image description here

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2 
pause

or

echo text to display pause>nul
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1

Easy, add cmd to your last line of bat, BUT! if you reset or clear your system path, you must start your cmd with the full path, like: 

%windir%\system32\cmd.exe

For example, I have a bat file to reset jdk to old version like this:

PATH=C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_45\bin;C:\apache-ant-1.7.1\bin SET JAVA_HOME=C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_45 %windir%\system32\cmd.exe

since I reset the system path, I have to run cmd with the full path, or the system can't find cmd.exe, it will fail to run cmd, and just close the window, and you can't see the error msg.

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0

cmd /k cd C:\Projects.....

If you want your cmd opened at specific long location

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0

I personally put pause >nul and it waits for a key to be pressed without showing any extra text in the console.

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0

using : call yourbatch.cmd

does the job will process the script and then continue ejecuting other code on same window (cmd instance)

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