Batch File path with an [at] # sign - batch-file

Question

I am trying to run a script to clear out the recycle bin on a QNAP NAS periodically.
The problem is the path for the recycle bin on the NAS includes an [at] sign:
"\nas01\SQLBackup\#Recycle" (Had to use double slash here to get it to display correctly)
Can someone please point me in the right direction as to what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Batch File Code
#ECHO ON
NET USE X: "\\nas01\SQLBackup\#Recycle"
forfiles /p "X:\" /s /m * /c "cmd /c del #path"
NET USE X: /delete
PAUSE
Output
C:\Windows\system32>NET USE X: "\\nas01\SQLBackup\#Recycle"
The command completed successfully.
C:\Windows\system32>forfiles /p "X:\" /s /m * /c "cmd /c del #path"
ERROR: Invalid argument/option - '#path'.
Type "FORFILES /?" for usage.
C:\Windows\system32>NET USE X: /delete
X: was deleted successfully.
C:\Windows\system32>PAUSE
Press any key to continue . . .

Answer 1

The reason you get the error is due to the double quotes around the path, where backslash is present. The backslash escapes the last double quote. You should either use:
forfiles /p "X:" /s /m * /c "cmd /c del #path"
or
forfiles /p X:\ /s /m * /c "cmd /c del #path"
anyway, I would not use forfiles at all here. You can quite simply use del /s:
net use X: "\\nas01\SQLBackup\#Recycle"
pushd "x:\">nul 2>&1 && del /Q /S *.* || echo X:\ Not available.
popd
net use X: /delete
pause
Quite simply, we attempt pushd to x:\ if not available, it will fail with a message, if available it will del /s everything on X:\ where /s is basically recursive search throughout the root of X:\ in this instance.

Answer 2

The #-symbol in your path does not cause the error. It is the backslash in:
forfiles /p "X:\" /s /m * /c "cmd /c del #path"
that unintentionally escapes the closing quote (this is specific to forfiles!). To avoid that, simply append a . to the path, like:
forfiles /p "X:\." /s /m * /c "cmd /c del #path"
The . means current directory, so in a path it does not change anything, hence X:\ equals X:\., and D:\some\.\path equals D:\some\path. Of course, you could just remove the quotes around X:\ in your particular situation, but appending . is a general solution that even works with a relative path like X: (meaning the current directory of drive X:), and removal of quotes introduces problems with paths containing SPACEs.
By the way, are you aware that forfiles returns both files and directories, and that del is there to delete just files, and there is rd to delete directories?
So to ensure to handle only files, use this:
forfiles /S /P "X:\." /M * /C "cmd /C if #isdir==FALSE del #path"
And to ensure to handle only directories, use this:
forfiles /S /P "X:\." /M * /C "cmd /C if #isdir==TRUE rd /S /Q #path"
Of course you can handle both, if you want:
forfiles /S /P "X:\." /M * /C "cmd /C if #isdir==TRUE (rd /S /Q #path) else (del #path)"

Answer 3

When you use PushD, it will create a temporary drive map, (allocated in available reverse alphabetical order, Z:..A:), and will then use that new drive. For that reason you should be able to do this without using net.exe.
Example:
#PushD "\\nas01\SQLBackup\#Recycle" 2> NUL && (RD /S /Q . 2> NUL & PopD)
This example uses RD to Remove the Directory instead of your used Del command. When the target directory is the current working directory, it cannot be removed, (returning an error message), however its contents will be. The code above redirects the error message to the NUL device, so that it is not output.