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This article will first discuss the concept of timeout command in batch scripting. After that, we will discuss setting timeout command for any other command.

Timeout command in batch script

A timeout is a utility that pauses or delays for a specific period of time. This command takes a certain amount of time out and creates a pause on the command line interface.

The syntax of the timeout command is as follows:

timeout /t <time in seconds> [/nobreak]

The command /ttimeout is used to create a delay, followed by <以秒为单位的时间>(an integer from -1 to 100000 representing the amount of time in seconds to create the delay), and optional parameters /nobreak.

If we use -1 with the timeout command, it will produce an indefinite delay until any key is pressed.

Consider the following timeout command:

timeout /t 5

The timeout /t 5 command delays for 5 seconds or until no key is pressed. The command output is as follows:

The optional parameter /nobreak is used to ignore any keystrokes during the delay created by the timeout command. For example, consider the following command:

timeout /t 5 /nobreak

The output of the following command is as follows:

We can also hide the timed out command message. command timeout /t 5 > nulis used to hide the message of timed out command by redirecting the output message to nul.

Set a timeout for any other command or process

We can delay the timeout of any other custom command or process. Consider the following batch script:

@echo off
start  notepad.exe
timeout /t 4
taskkill /f /im  notepad.exe > nul && (
   echo Task is killed.
   exit /b 31744
) || (
   echo No Command or Task to kill. The task is terminated in time.
)

In the above batch script, we use @echo off command to hide the command being executed from the command prompt. start notepad.exeThe command is used to start the process and launch the Notepad editor window.

The command timeout /t 4delays for 4 seconds and then executes the taskkill command, which kills the notepad.exe process if it has not already been killed.

Additionally, the script displays that the task has been terminated. If the taskkill command terminates the notepad.exe process, it is displayed on the terminal.

If notepad.exe is terminated during the timeout delay, the taskkill command will not terminate notepad.exe and will display an error message with the following output:

There was no command or task to kill. The task was terminated in a timely manner.