@rem Suppresses the display of each command on the screen as it is executed
@echo off

@rem Clear screen
@cls

@rem Print a message
@echo This is a message

@rem Block until the user press a key
pause

@echo Argument one is: %1
@echo Argument two is: %2
...
rem Conrol
if .%1.==.. goto usage
...
:usage
...

@set variable=World
@echo Hello %variable%

rem Add a path to the environmental variable PATH
PATH %PATH%;mypath

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding The Windows 2000 Command Processor

if condition dosomething
...
if not condition dosomething
...
rem Check equality
if %a% == %b% dosomething
...
goto label
...
:label
...
rem For loop
for %%f in (*.java) do javac %%f
...
for %%d in (dir_a,dir_c,dirb) do dir %%d:
...
rem Call a second script 
call batfile

Handling of the return code from a program

program_name
if errorlevel 1 goto error 
...
goto end
:error
echo Program error
:end

To run a program in the background (& equivalent):

start program_name

rem Check for existence
@if exist filename dosomething

rem Change Directory
cd directory

rem Make Directory
mkdir

rem Copy source to target
copy source rtarget

rem Remove filename
del filename