How to Use the START Command in Batch Script

1. Use the START Command in Batch Script
2. Use the START Command With the Windows Title and Location
3. Use the START Command With the Location and Filename

In this tutorial, we will see how we can use the Batch START command and some of the options used with this command.

Use the START Command in Batch Script

Through this command, you can run another program from your Batch Script. The general format to use this command is given below.

START "Windows_title" [/D Your_Path_Here] [OPTIONS] "COMMANDS"

Windows_title is optional here, and the location you provide in this command should be the exact path of the program file. COMMANDS are the action that needs to be done.

Most Used OPTIONS for the START Command

Below we shared some most used options for this command. Using them is optional, and if you don’t use them, the command will run in default mode.

Let’s have a look at them and discuss them briefly.

There are two formats available for this command. Either you can use the Windows title and Location of the program or only use the Location. We will open Windows default Notepad.exe using these two formats of the command so you can understand them easily.

Use the START Command With the Windows Title and Location

If you know the Window’s title of the file and have the exact location, you can use the command in the following format:

start "Windows Title" c:\Location\file.exe

The below example will open notepad.exe from the location c:\windows\system32\notepad.exe.

start "Notepad" c:\windows\system32\notepad.exe

You can notice that we used the Window’s title of the Notepad application and included the exact location of the Notepad application. You can use some options if necessary.

Use the START Command With the Location and Filename

You can also use the below command to open the .exe file. To use this command, you need the location and the file name.

The general format to use this command with location and file name is shown below.

start "c:\location\" file.exe

We are going to open notepad.exe using this command.

start "c:\windows\system32" notepad.exe

You can notice that we used only the exact location of the Notepad application, c:\windows\system32, and the name of the program, notepad.exe. You can include necessary options here too.

Remember, all methods discussed here are written using Batch Script and will only work in a Windows CMD environment.