SHIFT

Changes the position of replaceable parameters in a batch 
program.

Note:
This command should be used as follows:
Usually, you can send parameters to a batch file. Do it this way:

BATCH.BAT [parameter1 [parameter2 [parameter3 [...]]]]

BATCH --- the name of the batch file.

Parameters should be seperated with spaces, and they should not contain 
spaces. But you can add quotation marks before and after a parameter to 
make it not to be seperated. The parameter, together with the quotation 
marks, will be sent to the batch program. You can see this:

------ TEST.BAT -----
@echo off
if '%1==' goto a
echo %1
goto end
:a
echo "Hello
:end

---- END OF FILE ----

Try these commands after the file has been created:

C:\>TEST
"Hello
C:\>TEST 1 1
1
C:\>TEST "1 1"
"1 1"

Now let's talk about the usage of [%n] and the usage of the 
command SHIFT.

%0 represents the command that started the program itself. It is rather 
the first parameter of the command line. That is, if you run "test", %0 
will be "test". If you run "test.bat", %0 will be "test.bat".

After SHIFT is used, there will be these changes. Now, %0 is 
equal to previous (before the application of the command SHIFT) 
%1. And, every %n-1 is equal to previous %n. That's the use of 
the command SHIFT.

For more information, please refer to MS-DOS Help or Windows NT 
command line command help.