When on Windows the only built-in command console I can use is the cmd. Recently I have been thinking about the idea of keeping a custom set of commands that be performed by referencing their associated short names. And they should work every time I use the shell. I also wanted something like an init file that can hold custom settings local to the shell.

One way I thought of implementing this was by placing a set of .bats on a particular directory and extending the system PATH environment variable to hold the directory. So that I can reference the filenames to execute the commands placed inside them.

Later I read about the doskey command I found when I checked the contents of help and it had what I wanted. It has the options to define a macro and even take a file containing a set of macro definitions. It also felt similar to the alias command found on Linux shells. Then I used it to set it up with the macros I want to use and it worked cool. I'm sharing the steps I used to set it up below (in case it would help someone) :

1. First decide a directory where you want to keep your cmd stuffs at. Then add it to your systems PATH. I'm taking "C:\ext_cmd\" as the directory.

2. Next create a file named "init.bat" in that directory. Add whatever settings or ini commands you like to use on the cmd in there. For example say that I want to add custom colors, set particular local environment variables, start from my home etc. And add the doskey command to use the macros.

   rem This is the init.bat file.
   rem Colorful cmd LOL.
   color 03
   
   rem Sets my username.
   set USERNAME=limekin
   
   rem Navigates to home directory.
   %HOMEDRIVE%
   cd %HOMEPATH%
   
   rem Adds macros from the file named macros.
   doskey /MACROFILE=C:\cmd_ext\macros
   
   rem Clears up the screen, you don't want it to be messy at start.
   cls

   About macros in the next step.

3. Creating a file of macro definitions is damn simple, just make a file with or without any extension. I'm naming it just macros (since I gave that path in init). I'm going to define macros for cd(ing) to different directories, starting up explorer on a particular directory. Now create macros for them like given below :

   rem This is the macro file.
   rem I want cd to the directory I work with ruby.
   cdrb=cd /D "E:\Closet\Scribble\Ruby"
   
   rem I wanna open up the explorer at that directory.
   exrb=C:\WINDOWS\explorer "E:\Closet\Scribble\Ruby"

   In case you want to add more than one command in a single macro definition, you can use the special variable $T to separate out commands.

4. Now the files are setup. Next thing you have to do is make a special invoke on the cmd. Every time you want to launch your shell start it with cmd /K init you can use all those settings and commands in your terminal now. For more info, I have used AutoHotkey to bind the keys Ctrl+B to launch the cmd with those params.

Now this all I know of right now. Got any better ways of doing it ? Let me know via comments.