I'm fairly new to coding, and I've been told to start with batch files. I'm attempting to make a text based game that prompts the user to choose between a few options to progress through the story. I've got the basic idea down, but I ran into some trouble with making a menu. I've done some research on here, and have searched other sites, but can't seem to make heads or tails of some of the answers to similar questions. Most of the answers write out code that I assume would work, but I need to know the WHY behind these answers, and I haven't really found any answers that I could understand.
TLDR; I need to make a menu for a text based game, that allows the user to return the label they left off on.
What I have so far:
:MainMenu
cls
echo Input Options:
echo.
echo ::1) View Storyline Changes
echo ::2) Restart Test
echo ::3) Resume Test
echo ::4) Help
echo ::5) Quit
echo.
set /p input=Input:
if "%input%" == "1" goto StorylineChanges
if "%input%" == "2" goto Rst
if "%input%" == "3" goto ResumeTest
if "%input%" == "4" goto HelpScrn
if "%input%" == "5" exit
:StorylineChanges
cls
echo Unimportant to test.
echo.
echo Input "m" to go back
echo.
set /p input=Input:
if "%input%" == "m" goto Main Menu
if "%input%" == " " goto WrongInputStorylineChanges
:Rst
cls
goto :StartTest
echo off
:ResumeTest
cls
REM ***THIS IS WHERE I NEED HELP ***
pause >nul
goto StartTest
As you can probably immediately tell, I BARELY have a grasp on basic commands, so please keep that in mind if you provide an answer. I'd really appreciate any help you guys could give me. Thanks so much.
I cannot unravel the spaghetti code, but I can give an example
detailing how to go back to the menu as the title asks.
#echo off
:MainMenu
cls
echo Input Options:
echo.
echo ::1) View Storyline Changes
echo ::2) Restart Test
echo ::3) Resume Test
echo ::4) Help
echo ::5) Quit
echo.
set /p input=Input:
if "%input%" == "1" call :StorylineChanges
if "%input%" == "2" call :Rst
if "%input%" == "3" call :ResumeTest
if "%input%" == "4" call :HelpScrn
if "%input%" == "5" exit /b 0
goto :MainMenu
:StorylineChanges
echo Use "goto :eof" to exit script or exit called label.
pause
goto :eof
:Rst
echo Use "exit /b" to exit script or exit called label with a errorlevel.
pause
exit /b 0
:ResumeTest
>&2 echo Exit called label with errorlevel 1. This line is to stderr.
pause
exit /b 1
:HelpScrn
echo Help. Exit with implicit 0.
pause
exit /b
The above uses call to access each label. Exit of a called label
returns back to the point of the call. The menu is in a loop so it keeps
showing until you input 5 to exit the script.
I added pauses into the labels so you could see the messages before clr
is called.
So I'm making a game based on making decisions using notepad ++ and batch. I'm new to this and I have no idea what the problem is here.
:start
;startup
cls
echo Wine or Cheese?
echo.
echo 1. Wine
echo 2. Cheese
echo 3. Exit
echo.
set /p input0=Enter:
if %input0% equ 1 goto winestart
if %input0% equ 2 goto cheese
if %input0% equ 3 goto exit
When I select winestart or 1, it goes to winestart for a splitsecond then crashes, with the error message: 1 was unexpected at this time.
Winestart looks like this:
:winestart
cls
echo You are alone. You have a bottle of wine and the clothes you are wearing.
echo What kind of wine do you have?
echo.
echo 1. Red Wine
echo 2. White Wine
set p/ input7=Enter:
if %input7% equ 1 goto redwine
if %input7% equ 2 goto whitewine
/p indicates that the variable is simply set by user input. –
SET
:winestart
cls
echo You are alone. You have a bottle of wine and the clothes you are wearing.
echo What kind of wine do you have?
echo.
echo 1. Red Wine
echo 2. White Wine
set /p input7=Enter:
if %input7% equ 1 goto redwine
if %input7% equ 2 goto whitewine
[Edit: Correct cure, but no explanation of why the error message appears]
Since input7 is not entered, the if statement is interpreted as
if equ 1 goto redwine
cmd expects if something equ anotherthing dosomething so it sees 1 as the comparison-operator. This is not one of the operators it recognises, so it responds that the 1 is unexpected.
A better form of this is
if /i "%input7%" equ "1" goto redwine
where the /i forces a case-insensitive comparison and "quoting the arguments" preserves the syntax requirement where the user enters nothing or a string containing spaces (you have no control over the user's response.)
#echo off
color 4
ping localhost 2.5 > nul
echo Welcome to the configuration menu.
echo Move AH1.exe and AH2.exe to your desktop.
echo This only works the first time
echo SO BE CAREFUL!
echo Would you like this to start on computer startup?
echo say "yes" or "no" below.
set /p option=Option:
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU no goto no
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU yes goto yes
:yes
echo Move AH1.bat and AH2.bat to desktop.
::Copies files to dekstop of current user *For Windows 7
xcopy "%systemdrive%\users\%username%\Desktop\AH1.bat" "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup"
xcopy "%systemdrive%\users\%username%\Desktop\AH2.bat" "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup"
echo Moved.
echo Press any key to close Anti Hacker Configuration.
pause > nul
exit
:no
echo No?The program will not take full effect then.
pause
exit
If you want to test,make 2 batch files on your desktop called AH1 and AH2
It says Access Denied....why??
No matter what you put into the option variable, it will always go to :yes.
I'm guessing you got mixed up with the choice command when you were making this because errorlevel doesn't contain the option you choose when you have the set command.
From the set documentation:
%ERRORLEVEL% - expands to the current ERRORLEVEL value
So, you might want to change if %errorlevel% equ no goto no to if %option% equ no goto no.
Also, what happens if you don't put either yes nor no. You need to account for these things by perhaps having a exit command after the second if statement.
I noticed a post on how to make a batch that opens another batch upon an input. However, I need a way that will make the code pause until the correct input is entered, then continue.
So for example, the code would ask what is the access code?
Then the user would input the correct code, for example 123.
Then the code would say "Welcome!"
Then it would execute another question like "What do you want to do today?"
There would be a list of options:
A. Game
B. Browse
C. Nevermind
The user would in put a, b, or c and the script would start either a game or web browser. If the user selected C, then it would exit.
Thanks for the help!
#echo off
echo Welcome!
echo What do you want to do today?
echo.
echo A. Game
echo.
echo B. Browse
echo.
echo C. Nevermind
echo.
choice /C:ABC /N /M "Enter your choice: "
if "%errorlevel%"=="1" goto :game
if "%errorlevel%"=="2" goto :browse
if "%errorlevel%"=="3" goto :nevermind
goto :error
I think a little bit modified version of code should work just fine.
#Echo off
:Start
cls
echo Welcome !
echo To Greet press one.
echo For Goodbye press two.
echo To Abort press 3
ECHO.
ECHO.
SET /p Option=Choice:
if "%Option%"=="1" GOTO Sub_MenuA
if "%Option%"=="2" GOTO Sub_MenuB
if "%Option%"=="3" GOTO Sub_MenuC
if "%Option%"=="quit" GOTO EOF
Goto Start
:Sub_MenuA
echo Hi There!
pause
Goto Start
:Sub_MenuB
echo tatas !
pause
Goto Start
:Sub_MenuC
echo Aborted
Pause
Goto Start
:EOF
Hi I want to make a batch file menu, that asks 'Select app you want to install?' for example
App1
App2
App3
App4
App5
ALL Apps
Select what app:_
What I want is, for example I want to install App2, App3, and App5, so I can type on by App ID's 'Select what app:2,3,5' . And when user Select option 6, it will install all Applications!
I know this is possible on bash scripting, but Im not sure on batch scripting?
An example of batch menu is http://mintywhite.com/software-reviews/productivity-software/create-multiple-choice-menu-batchfile/
Answer
This will do what you want. Let me know if you have any questions. All you have to do is follow the two steps listed in the script.
Script
:: Hide Command and Set Scope
#echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions
:: Customize Window
title My Menu
:: Menu Options
:: Specify as many as you want, but they must be sequential from 1 with no gaps
:: Step 1. List the Application Names
set "App[1]=One"
set "App[2]=Two"
set "App[3]=Three"
set "App[4]=Four"
set "App[5]=Five"
set "App[6]=All Apps"
:: Display the Menu
set "Message="
:Menu
cls
echo.%Message%
echo.
echo. Menu Title
echo.
set "x=0"
:MenuLoop
set /a "x+=1"
if defined App[%x%] (
call echo %x%. %%App[%x%]%%
goto MenuLoop
)
echo.
:: Prompt User for Choice
:Prompt
set "Input="
set /p "Input=Select what app:"
:: Validate Input [Remove Special Characters]
if not defined Input goto Prompt
set "Input=%Input:"=%"
set "Input=%Input:^=%"
set "Input=%Input:<=%"
set "Input=%Input:>=%"
set "Input=%Input:&=%"
set "Input=%Input:|=%"
set "Input=%Input:(=%"
set "Input=%Input:)=%"
:: Equals are not allowed in variable names
set "Input=%Input:^==%"
call :Validate %Input%
:: Process Input
call :Process %Input%
goto End
:Validate
set "Next=%2"
if not defined App[%1] (
set "Message=Invalid Input: %1"
goto Menu
)
if defined Next shift & goto Validate
goto :eof
:Process
set "Next=%2"
call set "App=%%App[%1]%%"
:: Run Installations
:: Specify all of the installations for each app.
:: Step 2. Match on the application names and perform the installation for each
if "%App%" EQU "One" echo Run Install for App One here
if "%App%" EQU "Two" echo Run Install for App Two here
if "%App%" EQU "Three" echo Run Install for App Three here
if "%App%" EQU "Four" echo Run Install for App Four here
if "%App%" EQU "Five" echo Run Install for App Five here
if "%App%" EQU "All Apps" (
echo Run Install for All Apps here
)
:: Prevent the command from being processed twice if listed twice.
set "App[%1]="
if defined Next shift & goto Process
goto :eof
:End
endlocal
pause >nul
you may use choice.exe see here : http://ss64.com/nt/choice.html
You want to use set /p Example below:
echo What would you like to install?
echo 1 - App1
echo 2 - App2
set /p whatapp=
if %whatapp%==1 (
codetoinstallapp1
) else if %whatapp%==2 (
codetoinstallapp2
) else (
echo invalid choice
)
Here's a trick I learned:
echo.1) first choice
echo.2) second choice
echo.3) third choice
echo.4) fourth choice
:: the choice command
set pass=
choice /c 1234 /n /m "Choose a task"
set pass=%errorlevel%
::the choices
if errorlevel 1 set goto=1
if errorlevel 2 set goto=2
if errorlevel 3 set goto=3
if errorlevel 4 set goto=4
goto %goto%
While I use only 1-4 it would be very easy to add more possible choices.
#echo off
:menu
cls
echo.
echo Select the case color you want to create:
echo ==========================================
echo.
echo App 1
echo App 2
echo App 3
echo App 4
echo.
echo ==========================================
echo Please answer Y/N to the following:
set /p App1= Install App 1?
set /p App2= Install App 2?
set /p App3= Install App 3?
set /p App4= Install App 4?
if /I "%App1%" EQU "Y" goto :Option-1
if /I "%App1%" EQU "N" goto :1
:1
if /I "%App2%" EQU "Y" goto :Option-2
if /I "%App2%" EQU "N" goto :2
:2
if /I "%App3%" EQU "Y" goto :Option-3
if /I "%App3%" EQU "N" goto :3
:3
if /I "%App4%" EQU "Y" goto :Option-4
if /I "%App4%" EQU "N" goto :End
:Option-1
App 1 Loc.
goto 1
:Option-2
App 2 Loc.
goto 2
:Option-3
App 3 Loc.
goto 2
:Option-4
App 4 Loc.
:End
Exit
Menu with analog of checkbox.
#echo off
set size=3
::preset
set chbox2=x
:prepare
for /L %%i in (0,1,%size%) do (
if defined chbox%%i (
set st%%i=Y
) else (
set chbox%%i=
)
)
:menu
cls
echo.
echo 1. [%chbox1%] name_1:
echo.
echo 2. [%chbox2%] name_2:
echo.
echo 3. [%chbox3%] name_3:
echo.
echo.
echo.
choice /C 1234567890qa /N /M "Select [1-9] >> [a]pply or [q]uit:"
echo.
set inp=%errorlevel%
if %inp%==11 (
exit
)
if %inp%==12 (
call :apply
)
::switch
if defined st%inp% (
set st%inp%=
set chbox%inp%=
) else (
set st%inp%=Y
set chbox%inp%=X
)
goto :menu
:apply
for /L %%i in (0,1,%size%) do (
if defined st%%i (
call :st%%i
echo.
)
)
echo.
pause
goto :menu
:st1
echo First Command
goto :eof
:st2
echo Second Command
goto :eof
:st3
echo Third Command
goto :eof
You can set lines checked as defaults under :preset label.
A batch file is a list of command prompt commands. The following code prints to the terminal:
echo whateveryouwant
print your menu using these echo statements in a batch file.
Getting user input can be found here: How to read input from console in a batch file?
The installing of applications is a little more complex - you need to know the requirements of your apps and where files should be moved - that should be simple, as well; use move on the appropriate files in the appropriate place.
Here's an example of a batch script menu I'm using:
#echo off
setlocal
:begin
cls
echo [LOCAL ACCOUNTS REMOTE ADMIN] --------------------------------------
echo 1 -- List local accounts on a remote machine
echo 2 -- Create a local account on a remote machine
echo 3 -- Change a local account password on a remote machine
echo 4 -- Delete a local account on a remote machine
echo;
echo 5 -- exit
echo;
set /P rmFunc="Enter a choice: "
echo --------------------------------------------------------------------
for %%I in (1 2 3 4 5 x) do if #%rmFunc%==#%%I goto run%%I
goto begin
:run1
rem list local accounts code
goto begin
:run2
rem create local account code
goto begin
rem and so on, until...
:run5
:run9
:run99
:runx
endlocal
goto :EOF
The most relevant bits are the set /p line and the for...in lines. The for...in line basically compares the choice entered with every menu item number, and if match, goto run#; otherwise start over from the beginning.
I saw that none of the above answers completely answered his/her question. One feature that they have left out is selecting all the software it installs in one go (so to speak).
So I made this off the top of my head (extremely sorry if there is something wrong with it, I'll edit it if there is).
#echo off & setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
echo What would you like to install?
::Put your options here, preferably numbered.
set /p op=Type the numbers of the software you want to install (separated by commas with no spaces. E.g: 1,3,2):
for /f "delims=, tokens=1-5" %%i in ("op") do (
set i=%%i
set j=%%j
set k=%%k
set l=%%l
set m=%%m
)
if %i%X neq X set last=1b & goto %i%
:1b
if %j%X neq X set last=2b & goto %j%
:2b
if %k%X neq X set last=3b & goto %k%
:3b
if %l%X neq X set last=4b & goto %l%
:4b
if %m%X neq X set last=%m% & goto %m%
goto next
:1
::Put the code for doing the first option here
goto %last%
:2
::Put the code for doing the second option here
goto %last%
:3
::Put the code for doing the third option here
goto %last%
:4
::Put the code for doing the fourth option here
goto %last%
:5
::Put the code for doing the fifth option here
goto %last%
:next
::Put some more stuff here...
So that was a bit excessive. Feel free to change some things around and such.
What the code is doing is getting the user input (such as if you put in "1,3,4"), putting each number into its own variable, checking if that variable is empty, and if it isn't, sending you to code that does whatever the option was. It does this a few times until all the variables have been assessed.
This is a proposed analysis for improvement on David Ruhmann's code relating to the "Validate Input" section above:
Testing the menu for special characters works a charm except for the following characters "^&<". When each are submitted for input the program closes.
set "Input=%Input:"=%"
set "Input=%Input:^^=%"
set "Input=%Input:>=%"
set "Input=%Input:<=%"
set "Input=%Input:^&=%"
set "Input=%Input:|=%"
set "Input=%Input:(=%"
set "Input=%Input:)=%"
:: Equals are not allowed in variable names
set "Input=%Input:^==%"
Escaping the ^ and & works, but something very peculiar going on with the parsing of "<" and ">" (escaping these doesn't appear to work). If we reverse the order of the two statements as in the above amendment we find "<" works, but now ">" doesn't.
However, shifting the second statement with "<" down thus, both redirection characters work but now ")" doesn't!!
set "Input=%Input:"=%"
set "Input=%Input:^^=%"
set "Input=%Input:>=%"
set "Input=%Input:^&=%"
set "Input=%Input:|=%"
set "Input=%Input:(=%"
set "Input=%Input:)=%"
set "Input=%Input:<=%"
:: Equals are not allowed in variable names
set "Input=%Input:^==%"
Another great tutorial for batch menus is found here.
I'm using this
#echo off
:a
echo Welcome to a casual log-in (you are a idiot)
echo.
pause
echo ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
set /p c=Email:
echo ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
set /p u=Password:
echo ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
msg * Welcome %c%.
goto a
There is actually an extremely easy way to do this.
#echo off
echo Which app do you want to install?
echo [APP 1]
echo [APP 2]
echo [APP 3]
echo.
echo Type 1, 2, or 3.
set /p "AppInstaller=>"
if %AppInstaller%==1 goto 1
if %AppInstaller%==2 goto 2
if %AppInstaller%==3 goto 3
:1
[INSTALL CODE]
:2
[INSTALL CODE]
:3
[INSTALL CODE]
The menu, when coded like this, will look like this:
Which app do you want to install?
[APP 1]
[APP 2]
[APP 3]
Type 1, 2, or 3.
>_
The code sets the variable AppInstaller to 1, 2, or 3. The file determines this and redirects you to an installer for each one.
This is fairly easy code that I use a lot in multiple choice games:
#echo off
color 0a
cls
:download
echo App 1
echo App 2
echo App 3
echo App 4
echo App 5
echo All Apps
echo
echo Select What App (1, 2, 3, ect.):
set /p apps=
if %apps%==1 goto 1
if %apps%==1 goto 2
if %apps%==1 goto 3
if %apps%==1 goto 4
if %apps%==1 goto 5
if %apps%==1 goto all
:1
(Your Code Here)
:2
(Your Code Here)
:3
(Your Code Here)
:4
(Your Code Here)
:5
(Your Code Here)
:all
(Your Code Here)