First you create a new Cordova project:
cordova create HelloWorld my.application.identifier AppName
This will create a blank Cordova project
Next you add the desired platforms:
cordova platform add android
// and/or
cordova platform add browser
// and/or
cordova platform add ios // On macOS only
// etc…
Build your application to generate executable file:
cordova build // Build project for all platforms
cordova build ios // Build project only for iOS platform
cordova build android // Build project only for Android platform
Once built, you can run the app on one of the platforms you added:
cordova run android --emulator // Run Android app in emulator
cordova run android --device // Run Android app on physical connected device
cordova run browser // Will run the app in the browser
If you want to build the application for Eclipse, Xcode, Visual Strudio, etc:
cordova prepare [platform_name] // Prepare copies of www folder and any plugins into the appropriate platform folder