VBScript (short form of Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition) is a subset of Visual Basic used in Active Server Pages and in Windows Scripting Host as a general-purpose scripting language. VBScript is often used as a replacement for DOS batch files.

VBScript is interpreted by a script engine, either ASP in a web environment, wscript.exe in a Windows environment, and cscript.exe in a command-line environment.

VBscript files typically have the file extension .vbs.

Example program (to put into a file 'hello.vbs'):

msgbox "Hello world"

If the Windows Scripting Host is installed correctly and activated the program will run when the icon is double-clicked.

The VBScript version implemented in Internet Explorer is very similar in function to JavaScript; it has an interpreter that processes code embedded in HTML, and by itself cannot create stand-alone applications. It has virtually no compatibility with other web browsers, so many webmasters prefer to use JavaScript instead.

A few common VBScript applications are Microsoft Agent and Windows Update.

External links

VBScript User's Guide (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/script56/html/vbstutor.asp)

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