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JSI Tip 7307. The Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Timeout utility.
Jerold Schulman
October 8, 2003
1 Min Read
When you use the Windows XP CMD help., or Windows Server 2003 CMD help, and press Timeout on the New command-line tools page, you see:
Timeout
Pauses the command processor for the specified number of seconds.
Syntax
timeout /t TimeoutInSeconds [/nobreak]
Parameters
/t TimeoutInSecondsSpecifies the decimal number of seconds (between -1 and 99999) to wait before the command processor continues processing. The value -1 causes the computer to wait indefinitely for a keystroke./nobreakSpecifies to ignore a user key stroke./?Displays help at the command prompt.
Remarks
The timeout command is typically used in batch files.
A user keystroke resumes the command processor execution immediately, even if the time-out period has not expired.
Timeout is similar to the MS-DOSpause command when you use it in conjunction with the sleep command.
Examples
To pause the command processor for ten seconds, type:
timeout /t 10
To pause the command processor for 100 seconds and to ignore any key press, type:
timeout /t 100 /nobreak
To pause the command processor indefinitely until a key is pressed, type:
timeout /t -1
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