Short for remark, REM is a statement placed in system files such as the autoexec.bat to skip lines from loading. A remark is created by placing “REM” (followed by a space) in front of a line. Doing this remarks the line from loading and with batch files also doesn’t show the line if echo is off.

@echo offREM Example line that will not be seen with echo off.Echo Hello World!

In the example above, the first line would be skipped, and the batch file would merely echo “Hello World!” to the screen.

Alternatively, you can also place two colons (::) in front of a line to remark a line in a batch file. With two colons the line will not show regardless if echo off is in the batch file.

::This line is never seenEcho Hello World!

Comment, Computer abbreviations, Nonexecutable statement, Programming terms

  • Hide REM lines from showing in a batch file.
  • Batch file help and support.