Starts a program in new window, or opens a document. Uses an unclear algorithm to determine whether the first passed argument is a window title or a program to be executed; hypothesis: it uses the presence of quotes around the first argument as a hint that it is a window title.

Examples:

• start notepad.exe & echo "Done."
  • Starts notepad.exe, proceeding to the next command without waiting for finishing the started one. Keywords: asynchronous.
• start "notepad.exe"
  • Launches a new console window with notepad.exe being its title, apparently an undesired outcome.
• start "" "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe"
  • Starts Internet Explorer. The empty "" passed as the first argument is the window title of a console that actually does not get opened, or at least not visibly so.
• start "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe"
  • Launches a new console window with "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" being its title, apparently an undesired outcome.
• start /wait notepad.exe & echo "Done."
  • Starts notepad.exe, waiting for it to end before proceeding.
• start /low notepad.exe & echo "Done."
  • As above, but starting the program with a low priority.
• start "" MyFile.xls
  • Opens the document in the program assigned to open it.
• start
  • Starts a new console (command-line window) in the same current folder.
• start .
  • Opens the current folder in Windows Explorer.
• start ..
  • Opens the parent folder in Windows Explorer.
• start "" "mailto:"
  • Starts the application for writing a new email.
• start "" "mailto:[email protected]?subject=Notification&body=Hello Joe, I'd like to..."
  • Starts the application for writing a new email, specifying the to, subject and body of the new email.
• start "" "mailto:[email protected]?subject=Notification&body=Hello Joe,%0a%0aI'd like to..."
  • As above, with newlines entered as %0a.
• start /b TODO:example-application-where-this-is-useful
  • Starts the application without opening a new console window, redirecting the output to the console from which the start command was called.

Links:

• start at ss64.com
• start at Microsoft
• How to use command line switches to create a pre-addressed e-mail message in Outlook, support.microsoft.com