Switches used in the Command line

Last modified: March 28, 2025

This topic gives a detailed description of command-line switches and examples of their usage.

Access available Documenter switches

To access help regarding the available command line arguments, use the following command:

documenter.com /?

Command Line wizard

For more information on each command-line operation, run the following command and specify the required option value documenter.com /option_name /?. For example, documenter.com /document /?.

Note

To run the Command Line in Windows 11:

From the Windows taskbar

Right-click the taskbar at the bottom of the screen and select Run. Alternatively, select Start or press Windows on the keyboard to open the Start menu.

In the Search bar, enter cmd or Command Prompt.

Select Command Prompt from the search results.

Using shortcut keys

Press Windows + R to open the Run command window.

In the window that opens, enter cmd and press Enter.

Command line usage

documenter.com /document [/switch1[:value | [parameter1:value parameter2:value ..]] /switch2 ..]

The first argument for documenter is usually an operation switch, which indicates the specific action you want to execute with the application.

Available command-line switches

Switch	Usage and description
`/argfile`	`/argfile:<path>` Specifies a path to the command line arguments file. Options specified from the command line have higher priority than the options included in the file.
`/activate`	`/activate /key:<activation_key>` Activates the product using the activation key.
`/deactivate`	Deactivates the product.
`/document`	Generates database documentation.
`/execute`	Executes a script.
`/quiet` (`/q`)	Hides the console window in the console mode. It should be used after the main operation switch.

Switches details

/document

Parameter	Usage and description
`/author`	`/author:<expression>` Specifies the ‘author’ parameter for documentation. Overrides the author field value specified in the documentation project file (.ddoc).
`/breadcrumbs`	`/breadcrumbs:<value>` Specifies the ‘breadcrumbs’ parameter value for documentation. To turn on the option, specify: `Yes`, `Y`, `On`, `True`, or `T`. To turn off the option, specify: `No`, `N`, `Off`, `False`, or `F`. The default value for the parameter is `Y`.
`/connection`	`/connection:<connection_string>` Specifies the connection string.
`/copyright`	`/copyright:<expression>` Specifies the ‘copyright’ parameter for documentation. Overrides the copyright field value specified in the documentation project file (.ddoc).
`/created`	`/created:<expression>` Specifies the ‘created’ parameter for documentation. Overrides the created field value specified in the documentation project file (.ddoc).
`/database`	`/database:<dbname1[,dbname2]>` Specifies databases for which the documentation project will be generated. The user can specify a single database or multiple databases separated by commas. If the user wants to select all the databases of the server, the `ALLDATABASES` parameter can be used (ex. `/database:ALLDATABASES`)
`/docdescription`	`/docdescription:<expression>` Specifies the docdescription parameter for documentation. Overrides the docdescription field value specified in the documentation project file (.ddoc).
`/doclogo`	`/doclogo:<path>` Specifies the ‘doclogo’ parameter for documentation. Overrides the doclogo field value specified in the documentation project file (.ddoc).
`/doctitle`	`/doctitle:<expression>` Specifies the doctitle parameter for documentation. Overrides the doctitle field value specified in the documentation project file (.ddoc).
`/documentformat`	`/documentformat:<HTML\|PDF\|MARKDOWN>` Specifies the output documentation file format: `HTML` - a simple HTML file; `PDF` - a portable document format file; `MARKDOWN` - a document with a lightweight markup language. The default is `HTML`.
`/errormode`	`/errormode:<ignore\|abort>` Specifies the application behavior when an error is encountered. Enter `ignore` to ignore all errors or `abort` to cancel execution if any error occurs.
`/exitcodes`	Returns the list of possible exit codes that can be returned by the command-line process.
`/output`	`/output:<path>` Specifies an output file name for PDF documentation or folder name for HTML or Markdown documentation. (ex. `"D:\mydoc\"`).
`/password`	`/password:<pw>` Specifies the server password. Overrides the password specified in the connection string.
`/path`	`/path:<filepath>` Specifies the destination directory for documentation.
`/permissions`	`/permissions:<value>` Specifies the permissions parameter value for documentation. To turn on the option, specify: `Yes`, `Y`, `On`, `True`, `T`. To turn off the option, specify: `No`, `N`, `Off`, `False`, `F`. The default value for the parameter is `Y`.
`/projfile`	`/projfile:<path>` Loads command line settings from the project file .ddoc (ex. `"D:\mydoc.ddoc"`)
`/treatwarningaserror`	`/treatWarningAsError:[Yes\|No]` `Yes` treats all warnings as errors and further behavior is determined by the errormode option. `No` doesn’t consider all warnings as errors and executes with warning messages.

/execute

Parameter	Usage and description
`/connection`	`/connection:<connection_string>` Specifies the connection string.
`/database`	Specifies a database to execute a script to. Databases specified in the script will be ignored. Does not affect objects with fully qualified names.
`/encoding`	`/encoding:<codepage\|encoding name>` Specifies the encoding that should be applied to open and execute the script.
`/exitcodes`	Returns the list of possible exit codes that can be returned by the command-line process.
`/inputfile`	Specifies a SQL or ZIP file with the script to execute.
`/password`	Enters the server password. Overrides the password specified in the connection string.