DOS Delay Command

A tiny command-line utility that pauses a batch file for a specified number of seconds. Useful in .BAT / .CMD scripts that need to wait for an operation to settle — service start, disk flush, hardware initialisation.

Usage

delay 5

Waits 5 seconds, then exits. Use it in batch files between commands that must not run back-to-back.

Why not just use TIMEOUT?

Windows TIMEOUT works in modern shells but has quirks: it is interactive by default (press any key to skip), it complains when input is redirected, and it isn't present on every Windows variant. delay is non-interactive, redirection-safe, and runs on every Windows from 95 onward.

When you need it

• Batch scripts on older Windows boxes without TIMEOUT
• Scheduled tasks that need a guaranteed non-interactive sleep
• CI/CD pipelines on Windows runners where TIMEOUT misbehaves
• Install scripts that wait for a service to start

Features

• Tiny: 50 KB executable
• Non-interactive — no keypress interrupts the wait
• Pipe / redirection safe
• Works on every Windows version
• No installer, no DLLs, no dependencies

System requirements

• Any Windows version
• 50 KB of disk space