ComSpec is one of the environment variable

Environment variable

Environment variables are a set of dynamic named values that can affect the way running processes will behave on a computer.They can be said in some sense to create the operating environment in which a process runs...

s used in MS-DOS

MS-DOS

MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...

 and Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

, which normally points to the command line interpreter, which is by default command.com

COMMAND.COM

COMMAND.COM is the filename of the default operating system shell for DOS operating systems and the default command line interpreter on Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Me...

in MS-DOS or cmd.exe

Cmd.exe

Command Prompt is the Microsoft-supplied command-line interpreter on OS/2, Windows CE and on Windows NT-based operating systems...

in Windows NT

Windows NT

Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix. It was intended to complement...

. ComSpec can be displayed by typing SET COMSPEC at the command prompt.

The ComSpec environment variable by default points to the full path

Path (computing)

A path, the general form of a filename or of a directory name, specifies a unique location in a file system. A path points to a file system location by following the directory tree hierarchy expressed in a string of characters in which path components, separated by a delimiting character, represent...

of the command line interpreter.

In MS-DOS, ComSpec is the secondary command line interpreter, which can be anywhere on your system and does not need to be named COMMAND.COM. It can also be made by a different company or be a different version.

External links

• Creating a customized Command Prompt shortcut - Example of COMSPEC usage