Windows batch files: .bat vs .cmd?

Question

As I understand it, .bat is the old 16-bit naming convention, and .cmd is for 32-bit Windows, i.e., starting with NT. But I continue to see .bat fi

Answer 1

No - it doesn't matter in the slightest. On NT the .bat and .cmd extension both cause the cmd.exe processor to process the file in exactly the same way.

Additional interesting information about command.com vs. cmd.exe on WinNT-class systems from MS TechNet (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc723564.aspx):

This behavior reveals a quite subtle feature of Windows NT that is very important. The 16-bit MS-DOS shell (COMMAND.COM) that ships with Windows NT is specially designed for Windows NT. When a command is entered for execution by this shell, it does not actually execute it. Instead, it packages the command text and sends it to a 32-bit CMD.EXE command shell for execution. Because all commands are actually executed by CMD.EXE (the Windows NT command shell), the 16-bit shell inherits all the features and facilities of the full Windows NT shell.