How to loop a command continually in batch files

Question

As the title says what parameters would you use in a batch file to continually execute a command e.g.

start notepad loop

Why would you want to?v (perhaps see here: http://ss64.com/nt/for.html) — soandos, May 11 '11 at 19:52
Possible duplicate of [How to create an infinite loop in Windows batch file?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5487473/how-to-create-an-infinite-loop-in-windows-batch-file) — user, Sep 19 '16 at 21:44

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered May 11 '11 at 21:34

6

Another option in a single line (which will also work from the command line):

for /l %x in (1,0,2) do (start /wait notepad)

If you're using that in a batch file, use

for /l %%x in (1,0,2) do (start /wait notepad)

instead.

answered May 11 '11 at 21:34

Joey

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Thanks for this. It works perfectly. Could you explain the syntax to make the answer even better ? – ereOn Aug 20 '15 at 17:41

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered May 11 '11 at 19:53

4

Use goto:

:loop
start /wait notepad
goto loop

Note that I have used start /wait here. If you don't do that, your batch file won't wait for notepad to exit, and you'll start a zillion notepads and probably eventually crash.

answered May 11 '11 at 19:53

Greg Hewgill

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Sorry didnt work, loaded notepad, batch stopped, so I quite notepad and it close the batch – James May 11 '11 at 19:54
My apologies, I had the label syntax backwards. A label is `:loop` as now shown above (I edited my answer). – Greg Hewgill May 11 '11 at 19:56
Thats it, should of spotted the typo myself! – James May 11 '11 at 19:56
Can you make it wait 5 seconds and then loop? – James May 11 '11 at 19:57
@James: There are several techniques for doing that here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/348849/pause-in-batch-file. – Greg Hewgill May 11 '11 at 19:58

How to loop a command continually in batch files

2 Answers2