Command Line Commands

This section defines the Visual SourceSafe command line commands.

In This Section

  • Checkin (Command Line)
    Updates the database with changes made to a checked out file and unlocks the master copy.
  • Checkout (Command Line)
    Checks out a file and makes the working copy of the file in the current project writable.
  • Cloak (Command Line)
    Hides a project from recursive Get, Check Out, Check In, Undo Check Out, and Project Differences commands.
  • Diff (File) (Command Line)
    Shows the line-by-line differences between a Visual SourceSafe database master copy of a file and the corresponding file in your working folder.
  • Diff (Project) (Command Line)
    Shows the differences between a Visual SourceSafe database master copy of a project and the corresponding project in your working folder.
  • Dir (Command Line)
    Shows a list of all the files and subprojects in the specified project, or in the current project.
  • FindinFiles (Command Line)
    Shows all occurrences of a specified string in one or more files, or in an entire project (all files).
  • Get (Command Line)
    Retrieves read-only copies of the specified Visual SourceSafe files or projects to your working folder.
  • Help (Command Line)
    Displays general help for using Visual SourceSafe in a Microsoft Windows Help file.
  • Merge (Command Line)
    Combines the contents of two file copies that have the same name but are part of different projects.
  • Physical (Command Line)
    Determines the physical location of a Visual SourceSafe-encrypted file in a Visual SourceSafe database.
  • Purge (Command Line)
    Permanently removes previously deleted files and projects from a Visual SourceSafe database.

All commands can be abbreviated, as long as the abbreviation resolves to a unique supported command. For example, the following commands are equivalent:

ss find $/a.txt
ss FindInFiles $/a.txt

Many of the previous commands have alias commands that perform the same function. The following table lists these alias commands:

  • CP
    CD, ChPro
  • Diff
    Difference
  • Dir
    LD, Directory
  • Create
    MD, MP, MkPro
  • FindinFiles
    Grep, Scan
  • Delete
    Remove
  • Branch
    Separate
  • Undocheckout
    Uncheckout
  • Recover
    Undelete
  • Checkin
    Update
  • Locate
    WhereIs

You can also define your own aliases by adding commands to your ss.ini file under the [Commands] section as follows:

alias=command

For example, if you included the following in your ss.ini file:

WF=Workfold

Then the following commands would be equivalent:

SS WF $/ C:\Folder
SS WF $/ C:\Folder

Note   The aliases you enter in your ss.ini file change the aliases supported for you only.

See Also

Other Resources

Command Line Reference
Command Options