[batch-file] How to sleep for five seconds in a batch file/cmd

Windows's Snipping tool can capture the screen, but sometimes I want to capture the screen after five seconds, such as taking an image being displayed by the webcam. (Run the script and smile at the camera, for example.)

How do I sleep for 5 seconds in a batch file?

I think the following command can help:

pause 5

The syntax of the pause command is: pause d \\where d represents the duration in seconds

I am using Windows 7 (32 bit), but I don't know about the others.

This is the latest version of what I am using in practice for a ten second pause to see the output when a script finishes.

BEST>@echo done
BEST>@set DelayInSeconds=10
BEST>@rem Use ping to wait
BEST>@ping 192.0.2.0 -n 1 -w %DelayInSeconds%000 > nul

The echo done allows me to see when the script finished and the ping provides the delay. The extra @ signs mean that I see the "done" text and the waiting occurs without me being distracted by their commands.

I have tried the various solutions given here on an XP machine, since the idea was to have a batch file that would run on a variety of machines, and so I picked the XP machine as the environment likely to be the least capable.

GOOD> ping 192.0.2.0 -n 1 -w 3000 > nul

This seemed to give a three second delay as expected. One ping attempt lasting a specified 3 seconds.

BAD> ping -n 5 192.0.2.0 > nul

This took around 10 seconds (not 5). My explanation is that there are 5 ping attempts, each about a second apart, making 4 seconds. And each ping attempt probably lasted around a second making an estimated 9 seconds in total.

BAD> timeout 5
BAD> sleep /w2000
BAD> waitfor /T 180
BAD> choice

Commands not available.

BAD> ping 192.0.2.0 -n 1 -w 10000 > nul :: wait 10000 milliseconds, ie 10 secs

I tried the above too, after reading that comments could be added to BAT files by using two consecutive colons. However the software returned almost instantly. Putting the comment on its own line before the ping worked fine.

GOOD> :: wait 10000 milliseconds, ie 10 secs
GOOD> ping 192.0.2.0 -n 1 -w 10000 > nul

To understand better what ping does in practice, I ran

ping 192.0.2.0 -n 5 -w 5000

This took around 30 seconds, even though 5*5=25. My explanation is that there are 5 ping attempts each lasting 5 seconds, but there is about a 1 second time delay between ping attempts: there is after all little reason to expect a different result if you ping again immediately and it is better to give a network a little time to recover from whatever problem it has had.

Edit: stolen from another post, .. RFC 3330 says the IP address 192.0.2.0 should not appear on the internet, so pinging this address prevents these tests spamming anyone! I have modified the text above accordingly!

Can't we do waitfor /T 180?

waitfor /T 180 pause will result in "ERROR: Timed out waiting for 'pause'."

waitfor /T 180 pause >nul will sweep that "error" under the rug

The waitfor command should be there in Windows OS after Win95

In the past I've downloaded a executable named sleep that will work on the command line after you put it in your path.

For example: sleep shutdown -r -f /m \\yourmachine although shutdown now has -t option built in

On newer Windows OS versions you can use the command

sleep /w2000

in a DOS script (.cmd or .bat) to wait for 2s (2000 ms - substitute the time in ms you need). Be careful to include the /w argument - without it the whole computer is put to sleep! You can use -m instead of /m if you wish and optionally a colon (:) between the w and the number.

I made this. It is working and show time left in seconds. If you want to use it, add to a batch file:

call wait 10

It was working when I tested it.

Listing of wait.bat (it must be in the working directory or windir/system32/):

@echo off

set SW=00

set SW2=00

set /a Sec=%1-1

set il=00
@echo Wait %1 second
for /f "tokens=1,2,3,4 delims=:," %%A in ("%TIME%") do set /a HH=%%A, MM=1%%B-100, SS=1%%C-100, CC=1%%D-100, TBASE=((HH*60+MM)*60+SS)*100+CC, SW=CC 

set /a TFIN=%TBASE%+%100

:ESPERAR
for /f "tokens=1,2,3,4 delims=:," %%A in ("%TIME%") do set /a HH=%%A, MM=1%%B-100, SS=1%%C-100, 

CC=1%%D-100, TACTUAL=((HH*60+MM)*60+SS)*100+CC,  SW2=CC


if %SW2% neq %SW% goto notype
if %il%==0 (echo Left %Sec% second & set /a Sec=sec-1 & set /a il=il+1)
goto no0
:notype
set /a il=0
:no0

if %TACTUAL% lss %TBASE% set /a TACTUAL=%TBASE%+%TACTUAL%
if %TACTUAL% lss %TFIN% goto ESPERAR

Timeout /t 1 >nul

Is like pause in 1 secound, you can take the limed to almost 100.000 (99.999) secounds. If you are connected to the internet the best solution would be:

ping 1.1.1.1. -n 1 -w 1000 >nul

When you ping you count in milliseconds, so one second would be 1000 milliseconds. But the ping command is a little iffy, it does not work the same way on offline machines. The problem is that the machine gets confused because it is offline, and it would like to ping a website/server/host/ip, but it can't. So i would recommend timeout. Good luck!

If you have an appropriate version of Windows and the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools, it includes a sleep command for batch programs. More at: http://malektips.com/xp_dos_0002.html

I'm very surprised no one has mentioned:

C:\> timeout 5

N.B. Please note however (thanks Dan!) that timeout 5 means:

Sleep anywhere between 4 and 5 seconds

This can be verified empirically by putting the following into a batch file, running it repeatedly and calculating the time differences between the first and second echos:

@echo off
echo %time%
timeout 5 > NUL
echo %time%

Two more ways that should work on everything from XP and above:

with w32tm:

w32tm /stripchart /computer:localhost /period:5 /dataonly /samples:2  1>nul 

with typeperf:

typeperf "\System\Processor Queue Length" -si 5 -sc 1 >nul

with mshta (does not require set up network):

start "" /w /b /min mshta "javascript:setTimeout(function(){close();},5000);"

Well this works if you have choice or ping.

@echo off
echo.
if "%1"=="" goto askq
if "%1"=="/?" goto help
if /i "%1"=="/h" goto help
if %1 GTR 0 if %1 LEQ 9999 if /i "%2"=="/q" set ans1=%1& goto quiet
if %1 GTR 0 if %1 LEQ 9999 set ans1=%1& goto breakout
if %1 LEQ 0 echo %1 is not a valid number & goto help
if not "%1"=="" echo.&echo "%1" is a bad parameter & goto help
goto end

:help
echo SLEEP runs interactively (by itself) or with parameters (sleep # /q )
echo where # is in seconds, ranges from 1 - 9999
echo Use optional parameter /q to suppress standard output 
echo or type /h or /? for this help file
echo.
goto end

:askq
set /p ans1=How many seconds to sleep? ^<1-9999^> 
echo.
if "%ans1%"=="" goto askq
if %ans1% GTR 0 if %ans1% LEQ 9999 goto breakout
goto askq

:quiet
choice /n /t %ans1% /d n > nul
if errorlevel 1 ping 1.1.1.1 -n 1 -w %ans1%000 > nul
goto end

:breakout
choice /n /t %ans1% /d n > nul
if errorlevel 1 ping 1.1.1.1 -n 1 -w %ans1%000 > nul
echo Slept %ans1% second^(s^)
echo.

:end

just name it sleep.cmd or sleep.bat and run it

Two answers:

Firstly, to delay in a batch file, simply without all the obtuse methods people have been proposing:

timeout /t <TimeoutInSeconds> [/nobreak] 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc754891.aspx

Secondly, worth mentioning that while it may not do exactly what you want, using the inbuilt Windows snipping tool, you can trigger a snip on it without using the mouse. Run the snipping tool, escape out of the current snip but leave the tool running, and hit Control + Print Screen when you want the snip to occur. This shouldn't interfere with whatever it is you're trying to snip.

I use the following method entirely based on Windows XP capabilities to do a delay in a batch file:

File DELAY.BAT

@ECHO OFF
REM DELAY seconds

REM GET ENDING SECOND
FOR /F "TOKENS=1-3 DELIMS=:." %%A IN ("%TIME%") DO SET /A H=%%A, M=1%%B%%100,     S=1%%C%%100, ENDING=(H*60+M)*60+S+%1

REM WAIT FOR SUCH A SECOND
:WAIT
FOR /F "TOKENS=1-3 DELIMS=:." %%A IN ("%TIME%") DO SET /A H=%%A, M=1%%B%%100, S=1%%C%%100, CURRENT=(H*60+M)*60+S
IF %CURRENT% LSS %ENDING% GOTO WAIT

You may also insert the day in the calculation so the method also works when the delay interval pass over midnight.

You can make it with timeout:

This will be visible: timeout 5

This will not be visible timeout 5 >nul

Make a cmd file called sleep.cmd:

REM Usage: SLEEP Time_in_MiliSECONDS
@ECHO off
ping 1.0.0.0 -n 1 -w %1 > nul

Copy sleep.cmd to c:\windows\system32

Usage:

sleep 500

Sleeps for 0.5 seconds. Arguments in ms. Once copied to System32, can be used everywhere.

EDIT: You should also be away that if the machine isn't connected to a network (say a portable that your using in the subway), the ping trick doesn't really work anymore.

I wrote a powerbasic program wait.exe, where you pass a millisecond parameter to it in your batch file

wait 3000
system('c:/windows/system32/SnippingTool.exe')

the code for the EXE:

FUNCTION PBMAIN()
  c$ = Command$
  s! = Val(c$)*1000
  Sleep s!         
END FUNCTION

PING -n 60 127.0.0.1>nul

in case your LAN adapter is not available.

SLEEP 5 was included in some of the Windows Resource Kits.

TIMEOUT 5 was included in some of the Windows Resource Kits, but is now a standard command in Windows 7 and 8 (not sure about Vista).

PING 1.1.1.1 -n 1 -w 5000 >NUL For any MS-DOS or Windows version with a TCP/IP client, PING can be used to delay execution for a number of seconds.

NETSH badcommand (Windows XP/Server 2003 only) or CHOICE

this link will help you more.

This should do the trick: choice /T 5 /N /D Y

Replace the 5 with the time in seconds you want to wait...

Try the Choice command. It's been around since MSDOS 6.0, and should do the trick.

Use the /T parameter to specify the timeout in seconds and the /D parameter to specify the default selection and ignore then selected choice.

The one thing that might be an issue is if the user types one of the choice characters before the timeout period elapses. A partial work-around is to obfuscate the situation -- use the /N argument to hide the list of valid choices and only have 1 character in the set of choices so it will be less likely that the user will type a valid choice before the timeout expires.

Below is the help text on Windows Vista. I think it is the same on XP, but look at the help text on an XP computer to verify.

C:\>CHOICE /?

CHOICE [/C choices] [/N] [/CS] [/T timeout /D choice] [/M text]

Description:
    This tool allows users to select one item from a list
    of choices and returns the index of the selected choice.

Parameter List:
   /C    choices       Specifies the list of choices to be created.
                       Default list is "YN".

   /N                  Hides the list of choices in the prompt.
                       The message before the prompt is displayed
                       and the choices are still enabled.

   /CS                 Enables case-sensitive choices to be selected.
                       By default, the utility is case-insensitive.

   /T    timeout       The number of seconds to pause before a default
                       choice is made. Acceptable values are from 0 to
                       9999. If 0 is specified, there will be no pause
                       and the default choice is selected.

   /D    choice        Specifies the default choice after nnnn seconds.
                       Character must be in the set of choices specified
                       by /C option and must also specify nnnn with /T.

   /M    text          Specifies the message to be displayed before
                       the prompt. If not specified, the utility
                       displays only a prompt.

   /?                  Displays this help message.

   NOTE:
   The ERRORLEVEL environment variable is set to the index of the
   key that was selected from the set of choices. The first choice
   listed returns a value of 1, the second a value of 2, and so on.
   If the user presses a key that is not a valid choice, the tool
   sounds a warning beep. If tool detects an error condition,
   it returns an ERRORLEVEL value of 255. If the user presses
   CTRL+BREAK or CTRL+C, the tool returns an ERRORLEVEL value
   of 0. When you use ERRORLEVEL parameters in a batch program, list
   them in decreasing order.

Examples:
   CHOICE /?
   CHOICE /C YNC /M "Press Y for Yes, N for No or C for Cancel."
   CHOICE /T 10 /C ync /CS /D y
   CHOICE /C ab /M "Select a for option 1 and b for option 2."
   CHOICE /C ab /N /M "Select a for option 1 and b for option 2."

If you've got PowerShell on your system, you can just execute this command:

powershell -command "Start-Sleep -s 5"

Edit: people raised an issue where the amount of time powershell takes to start is significant compared to how long you're trying to wait for. If the accuracy of the wait time is important (ie a second or two extra delay is not acceptable), you can use this approach:

powershell -command "$sleepUntil = [DateTime]::Parse('%date% %time%').AddSeconds(5); $sleepDuration = $sleepUntil.Subtract((get-date)).TotalMilliseconds; start-sleep -m $sleepDuration"

This takes the time when the windows command was issued, and the powershell script sleeps until 5 seconds after that time. So as long as powershell takes less time to start than your sleep duration, this approach will work (it's around 600ms on my machine).

The easiest way I did it was this:

Download the Sleep.exe at http://www.sleepcmd.com/. The .exe file should be in the same folder as the program you wrote!

ping waits for about 5 seconds before timing out, not 1 second as was stated above. That is, unless you tell it to only wait for 1 second before timing out.

ping 1.0.0.1 -n 1 -w 1000

will ping once, wait only 1 second (1000 ms) for a response, then time out.

So an approximately 20-second delay would be:

ping 1.0.0.1 -n 20 -w 1000

An improvement of the code proposed by the user Aacini, It has resolution of hundredths of a second and does not fail when the time reaches 23:59:59,99:

for /f "tokens=1,2,3,4 delims=:," %%A in ("%TIME%") do set /a HH=%%A, MM=1%%B-100, SS=1%%C-100, CC=1%%D-100, TBASE=((HH*60+MM)*60+SS)*100+CC

:: Example delay 1 seg.
set /a TFIN=%TBASE%+100

:ESPERAR
for /f "tokens=1,2,3,4 delims=:," %%A in ("%TIME%") do set /a HH=%%A, MM=1%%B-100, SS=1%%C-100, CC=1%%D-100, TACTUAL=((HH*60+MM)*60+SS)*100+CC

if %TACTUAL% lss %TBASE% set /a TACTUAL=%TBASE%+%TACTUAL%
if %TACTUAL% lss %TFIN% goto ESPERAR

There is!

SLEEP <seconds>

If you want it in millisecond mode:

SLEEP -m <time in milliseconds>

This is more helpful than TIMEOUT because TIMEOUT can be aborted with a click of a key or CTRL + C (for TIMEOUT /t <secs> /nobreak). SLEEP cannot be aborted by anything (except for close button :p)

Other one is PING. But PING needs internet connection because you'll be recording the connection of a site.

The following hack let's you sleep for 5 seconds

ping -n 6 127.0.0.1 > nul

Since ping waits a second between the pings, you have to specify one more than you need.

It can be done with two simple lines in a batch file: write a temporary .vbs file in the %temp% folder and call it:

echo WScript.Sleep(5000) >"%temp%\sleep.vbs"
cscript "%temp%\sleep.vbs"

I was trying to do this from within an msbuild task, and choice and timeout both did not work due to I/O redirection.

I ended up using sleep.exe from http://sourceforge.net/projects/unxutils, which is nice because it doesn't require any install and it's tiny.

Trying with choice:

<Target Name="TestCmd">
  <Exec Command="choice /C YN /D Y /t 5 " />
</Target>

Results in:

TestCmd:
  choice /C YN /D Y /t 5

EXEC : error : The file is either empty or does not contain the valid choices. [test.proj]
  [Y,N]?
C:\test.proj(5,9): error MSB3073: The command "choice /C YN /D Y /t 5 " exited with code 255.

Trying with timeout:

<Target Name="TestCmd">
  <Exec Command="timeout /t 5 " />
</Target>

Results in:

TestCmd:
  timeout /t 5
EXEC : error : Input redirection is not supported, exiting the process immediately. [test.proj]
C:\test.proj(5,7): error MSB3073: The command "timeout /t 5 " exited with code 1.

Aside:

I am actually using <Exec Command="sleep 2 & dbghost.exe" /> because I am executing dbghost.exe multiple times in parallel and it creates temp files/databases based on the current epoch time in seconds - which of course means if you start multiple instances, each uses the same temp name. I was originally trying to use MSBuild Extension Pack Thread.Sleep command, but it seems that (usually) it was running the sleep task fine, but then starting the <exec> task in all threads at the same time, and of course dbghost.exe would fail with conflicts. So far, using sleep.exe seems to be more reliable.

In Windows xp sp3 you can use sleep command

You can use VBScript, for example, file myscript.vbs:

set wsobject = wscript.createobject("wscript.shell")

do while 1=1
    wsobject.run "SnippingTool.exe",0,TRUE
    wscript.sleep 3000
loop

Batch file:

cscript myscript.vbs %1