UNIX has a nice command named alias that lets you create a new command from either one or more existing commands and parameters.  For instance you could alias "lpstat -t | pg" as "stat" and then you could just type stat at the command line instead of the long ugly string each time.

Windows (at least up to XP) does not have a mechanism for this.  Instead I use batch files to replicate the alias functionality.  I create a directory containing all my alias batch files and then add this directory to the path like this:

    from the command prompt type: 
   
        path = %PATH%;newdir

   %PATH% is the environment variable that represents the current path so this command allows you to append to the current         path.

So in my case I created a directory c:\work\cmd and then added it to the path path = %PATH%;c:\work\cmd.  Then I create the batch files for each command I want to alias.  For instance I use gvim so i created a bat file with this text:

    Start "GVIM" "C:\Program Files\vim\vim63\gvim.exe" %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9

and saved it as vi.bat.

    Start tells windows to open the program in a new window.  Otherwise your command line window will hang and wait for the     program you launched to exit, which is not the behavior I want.

    "GVIM" tells windows what the display name of the window is.  Not necessary but I like it.

    "C:\Program Files\vim\vim63\gvim.exe" is the full path the exe to run.

    %1 through %9 is simply a way to pass through any parameters on the command line (like file names) to the program you         are starting.
   
So now I can "vi" a file by typing "vi filename.txt" from the command line.

I like this technique because it is very portable between machines.  Just copy over one folder and then add one entry to the path and you are set.  Very handy for me since I regularly use 3 PC's and I'm always tinkering with new programs etc.  It's not as nice as alias but it works.