Command Line task

Article
02/13/2020

TFS 2017 | TFS 2015

Use this task to run a program from the command prompt.

Note

In Microsoft Team Foundation Server (TFS) 2018 and previous versions, build and release pipelines are called definitions, runs are called builds, service connections are called service endpoints, stages are called environments, and jobs are called phases.

Demands

None

Running batch and .CMD files

Azure Pipelines puts your inline script contents into a temporary batch file (.cmd) in order to run it. When you want to run a batch file from another batch file in Windows CMD, you must use the call command, otherwise the first batch file is terminated. This will result in Azure Pipelines running your intended script up until the first batch file, then running the batch file, then ending the step. Additional lines in the first script wouldn't be run. You should always prepend call before executing a batch file in an Azure Pipelines script step.

Important

You may not realize you're running a batch file. For example, npm on Windows, along with any tools that you install using npm install -g, are actually batch files. Always use call npm <command> to run NPM commands in a Command Line task on Windows.

Arguments

Argument	Description
`script` Script	(Required) Contents of the script you want to run Default value: `echo Write your commands here\n\necho Hello world\n"`
`workingDirectory` Working directory	(Optional) Specify the working directory in which you want to run the command. If you leave it empty, the working directory is $(Build.SourcesDirectory).
`failOnStderr` Fail on Standard Error	If this is true, this task will fail if any errors are written to stderr
`env` Environment variables	(Optional) A list of additional items to map into the process's environment. For example, secret variables are not automatically mapped. If you have a secret variable called `Foo`, you can map it in as shown in the following example.

- script: echo %MYSECRET%
  env:
    MySecret: $(Foo)

steps:
- script: date /t
  displayName: Get the date
- script: dir
  workingDirectory: $(Agent.BuildDirectory)
  displayName: List contents of a folder
- script: |
    set MYVAR=foo
    set
  displayName: Set a variable and then display all
  env:
    aVarFromYaml: someValue

On the Build tab of a build pipeline, add these tasks:

:::image type="icon" source="media/command-line.png" border="false"::: Utility: Command Line	Get the date. Tool: `date` Arguments: `/t`
:::image type="icon" source="media/command-line.png" border="false"::: Utility: Command Line	Display the operating system version. Tool: `ver`
:::image type="icon" source="media/command-line.png" border="false"::: Utility: Command Line	Display the environment variables. Tool: `set`
:::image type="icon" source="media/command-line.png" border="false"::: Utility: Command Line	Display all files in all the folders created by the build pipeline. Tool: `dir` Arguments: `/s` Advanced, Working folder: `$(Agent.BuildDirectory)`

Open source

This task is open source on GitHub. Feedback and contributions are welcome.

FAQ

Where can I learn Windows commands?

An A-Z Index of the Windows CMD command line

Do I need an agent?

You need at least one agent to run your build or release.

I'm having problems. How can I troubleshoot them?

See Troubleshoot Build and Release.

I can't select a default agent pool and I can't queue my build or release. How do I fix this?

See Agent pools.

My NuGet push task is failing with the following error: "Error: unable to get local issuer certificate". How can I fix this?

This can be fixed by adding a trusted root certificate. You can either add the NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS=file environment variable to your build agent, or you can add the NODE.EXTRA.CA.CERTS=file task variable in your pipeline. See Node.js documentation for more details about this variable. See Set variables in a pipeline for instructions on setting a variable in your pipeline.

I use TFS on-premises and I don't see some of these features. Why not?

Some of these features are available only on Azure Pipelines and not yet available on-premises. Some features are available on-premises if you have upgraded to the latest version of TFS.

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