The applications of the continuous feedback method to achieve both path following and a formation moving along desired orbits at a finite time is presented. It is assumed that the topology among the virtual leader and the followers is directed. An additional condition of so called barrier function to yield all the agents moving within a limited area is designed. A novel continuous finite-time path following control law is first designed based on the barrier function and backstepping. Then a novel continuous finite-time formation algorithm is designed by regarding the path following errors as disturbances. The settling time properties of the resulting system are studied in detail. Simulations are presented to validate the proposed strategies.