How to sleep in a batch file?

The correct way to sleep in a batch file is to use the timeout command, introduced in Windows 2000.

To wait somewhere between 29 and 30 seconds:

timeout /t 30

The timeout would get interrupted if the user hits any key; however, the command also accepts the optional switch /nobreak, which effectively ignores anything the user may press, except an explicit CTRL-C:

timeout /t 30 /nobreak

Additionally, if you don’t want the command to print its countdown on the screen, you can redirect its output to NUL:

timeout /t 30 /nobreak > NUL

Related Posts:

  1. Difference between xcopy and robocopy
  2. Bat file to run a .exe at the command prompt
  3. XCOPY: Overwrite all without prompt in BATCH
  4. What exactly are DLL files, and how do they work?
  5. The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b)
  6. What does “@” mean in Windows batch scripts
  7. Create an empty file on the commandline in windows (like the linux touch command)
  8. How to solve “The directory is not empty” error when running rmdir command in a batch script?
  9. How do I create a Batch file to change an exe installer to Win XP SP3 compatibility mode and launch installer
  10. ‘npm’ is not recognized as internal or external command, operable program or batch file
  11. The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect inside batch
  12. How can I open Java .class files in a human-readable way?
  13. Batch script loop
  14. Opening a remote machine’s Windows C drive
  15. Why does CreateProcess give error 193 (%1 is not a valid Win32 app)
  16. Taskkill /f doesn’t kill a process
  17. How to run PowerShell in CMD
  18. Bluescreen on windows 10 after using android emulator
  19. xcopy returns error “Invalid number of parameters” when exclude parameter is set
  20. While loop in batch
  21. Curl not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file
  22. Redirecting Output from within Batch file
  23. How to send a simple email from a Windows batch file?
  24. How can I run a program from a batch file without leaving the console open after the program starts?
  25. What does /p mean in set /p?
  26. False ‘Sharing Violation’ Xcopy error message
  27. batch file from scheduled task returns code 2147942401
  28. How does the echo command works in batch programming
  29. In Windows cmd, how do I prompt for user input and use the result in another command?
  30. CALL command vs. START with /WAIT option
  31. BAT file to map to network drive without running as admin
  32. How to install and run the Nmap program through Cygwin in Windows?
  33. Need auto-restart script in batch for minecraft server
  34. How to use random in BATCH script?
  35. Windows batch – concatenate multiple text files into one
  36. How to set commands output as a variable in a batch file
  37. Batch command for ImageMagick to convert all files in a directory and sub-directories on windows
  38. How to compile C program on command line using MinGW?
  39. Best practice for exiting batch file?
  40. how to empty recyclebin through command prompt?
  41. All links in my site start with localhost?
  42. WordPress database setup Windows 2016 IIS
  43. How do you find what process is holding a file open in Windows?
  44. How do I tell Git for Windows where to find my private RSA key?
  45. How to send ctrl+alt+del using Remote Desktop?
  46. What’s the command-line utility in Windows to do a reverse DNS look-up?
  47. Useful Command-line Commands on Windows
  48. How do you add a Windows environment variable without rebooting?
  49. hosts file ignored, how to troubleshoot?
  50. How to refresh hosts file without rebooting
  51. Resolve host name from IP address
  52. Run a .bat file in a scheduled task without a window
  53. Command line to list users in a Windows Active Directory group?
  54. What is Active Directory Domain Services and how does it work?
  55. Is there a global, persistent CMD history?
  56. How do I diff two text files in Windows Powershell?
  57. In Windows, using the command line, how do you check if a remote port is open?
  58. Does Windows have a built-in ZIP command for the command line?
  59. Can you run Docker natively on the new Windows 10 (Ubuntu) bash userspace?
  60. How does CTRL-ALT-DEL to log in make Windows more secure?
  61. How to check if a port is blocked on a Windows machine?
  62. How do I force sync the time on Windows Workstation or Server?
  63. How do I create a symbolic link in Windows?
  64. Best practice: Should I always install a fresh OS for new employees?
  65. How can I tell what version of IIS is installed?
  66. Where can I find data stored by a Windows Service running as “Local System Account”?
  67. How can I connect to a Windows server using a Command Line Interface? (CLI)
  68. Windows server last reboot time
  69. Windows Active Directory naming best practices?
  70. Why hasn’t rsync caught on in the Windows world? [closed]
  71. Boot and Install Windows from a USB thumb drive
  72. How to fix PuTTY showing garbled characters? [closed]
  73. How to delete cached temporarily credentials for a network share on a Windows machine without rebooting or logging off [duplicate]
  74. How do you free up a port being held open by dead process?
  75. What is the Windows equivalent of Unix “whoami” command?
  76. How to configure a Windows machine to allow file sharing with a DNS alias
  77. Alternatives to Splunk?
  78. outputting ascii table in C++
  79. Tensorflow import error: No module named ‘tensorflow’
  80. A fatal error occurred while creating a TLS client credential. The internal error state is 10013
  81. How can I install pip on Windows?
  82. bash: npm: command not found?
  83. Windows 7 exception code: 0xc0000409
  84. What languages are Windows, Mac OS X and Linux written in?
  85. stop all instances of node.js server
  86. Windows Activator .bat Text
  87. “rm -rf” equivalent for Windows?
  88. VC++ fatal error LNK1168: cannot open filename.exe for writing
  89. How to stop Python closing immediately when executed in Microsoft Windows
  90. How Should I Set Default Python Version In Windows?
  91. How to change current working directory using a batch file
  92. What exactly is the scope of Access Violation ‘0xc0000005’?
  93. Open File in Another Directory (Python)
  94. How to use/install GNU binutils (objdump)
  95. Why doesn’t WP_PLUGIN_DIR definition use DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR?
  96. wordpress http to https windows server
  97. One-click WP site generation wih wp-cli on Windows
  98. WAMP SERVER Command Prompt SET PATH=%PATH%
  99. Perfmon performance counters on WAMP
  100. What’s the reverse DNS command line utility?

Leave a Comment