<operating system> (Or script) A text file containing operating system commands which are executed automatically by the command-line interpreter. In Unix, this is called a "shell script" since it is the Unix shell which includes the command-line interpreter. Batch files can be used as a simple way to combine existing commands into new commands. autoexec.bat is the best known example of an MS-DOS batch file. (1996-01-07)

<programming> A system that takes a set (a "batch") of commands or jobs, executes them and returns the results, all without human intervention. This contrasts with an interactive system where the user's commands and the computer's responses are interleaved during a single run. A batch system typically takes its commands from a disk file (or a set of punched cards or magnetic tape in the old days) and returns the results to a file (or prints them). Often there is a queue of jobs which the system processes as resources become available. Since the advent of the personal computer, the term "batch" has come to mean automating frequently performed tasks that would otherwise be done interactively by storing those commands in a "batch file" or "script". Usually this file is read by some kind of command interpreter but batch processing is sometimes used with GUI-based applications that define script equivalents for menu selections and other mouse actions. Such a recorded sequence of GUI actions is sometimes called a "macro". This may only exist in memory and may not be saved to disk whereas a batch normally implies something stored on disk. (1998-06-26)