Batch file variable substitution - batch-file

I was trying this (very rudimentary) command in a batch file
takeown.exe /F c:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\%1%
ICACLS C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\%1% /grant MY\PC:F
And when I run it from an admin CMD prompt as:
c:\Data>takeownscript.bat drivers\netbio.sys
It throws an error saying:
c:\Data>takeown.exe /F c:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\drivers\netio.sys
SUCCESS: The file (or folder): "c:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\drivers\netio.sys"
now owned by user "MY\PC".
c:\Data>ICACLS C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\drivers\netio.sysF
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\drivers\netio.sysF: The system cannot find the
file specified. Successfully processed 0 files; Failed processing 1
files
How/why is the F getting appended to the driver path ? I am suspecting that I am not using the correct replacement syntax.

Just to finish up so the community knows there is an answer.
Command-line arguments are used as %n(n represents which argument) in a batch file.
Another thing for precaution is that one should use %~1 at all times. %~1 strips off quotes from %1. Note that this won't work: %~yourVariable%.

Related

Batch file: pass a block of commands instead of a script.tcl

I run a .tcl script using a .bat file as per the simplified example below:
script.tcl
set a "this is the script"
puts $a
script.bat
echo off
set tclpath="C:\tclsh.exe"
set filepath="C:\script.tcl"
%tclpath% %filepath%
I wonder whether I can include in the .bat file the commands of the .tcl script, so instead of having two files I just have one .bat file that runs tclsh.exe and passes the commands to the tcl shell.
Is this possible? and how can I do it?
For many things, there are pages on the Tcler's Wiki that can be looked to for interesting things. In particular, this old page has some really useful techniques. As you read through, you'll see a history of techniques tried. They depend on the fact that Tcl commands can be prefixed with :: usually (marking them as a weird label in the batch file language) and you can comment out blocks of code in Tcl with if 0 (with Tcl not parsing the contents, beyond ensuring that it is brace-balanced, which code usually is).
The best technique is one that doesn't just make the code multilingual, but also makes it easily readable. Preserving readability is the key to not going crazy.
::if 0 {
#rem This code in here is pure batch script
echo off
set tclpath="C:\tclsh.exe"
%tclpath% "%~f0" %*
#rem Put this at the end; it means terminate since the “eof” label is end-of-file
#goto eof
}
# This code is the pure Tcl code
set a "this is the script"
puts $a
The other bits to be aware of:
"%~f0" — This gets the full path to the “zero-th argument”, which is the name of the script you're running.
%* — This is all the remaining arguments. It's a good idea to pass them on, and you can access them from Tcl using the list in the global argv variable.
I wonder whether I can include in the .bat file the commands of the .tcl script, so instead of having two files I just have one .bat file
that runs tclsh.exe and passes the commands to the tcl shell.
Easy peasy. . .
You can use a CALL to a subroutine in a batch script that will append the commands to the dynamically created script file which you specify with the set filepath variable.
This way you have everything in the batch script and you do not need to worry about the tcl script file other than ensuring the :tclshScript routine that creates it has the correct syntax, etc.
You essentially build the tcl script logic with batch ECHO commands and it'll create it per run.
Use caution with special characters though as the carat ^ symbol may be needed to escape certain character to the tcl script if batch interprets those otherwise or you notice an issue.
echo off
set tclpath="C:\tclsh.exe"
set filepath="C:\script.tcl"
IF EXIST "%filepath%" DEL /Q /F "%filepath%"
CALL :tclshScript
%tclpath% %filepath%
EXIT
:tclshScript
ECHO set a "this is the script">>%filepath%
ECHO puts $a>>%filepath%
GOTO EOF
Further Resources
CALL
ECHO
Escape

CMD file will not run my command in the else block

I'm writing a CMD script to execute a Java program. The program requires at least one argument so I created an if else block to check that argument one %1 is not blank. When I run the script without providing argument one I get the expected you must provide an argument to run. But when I do provide the argument the program does not execute. Additionally if I don't have #echo off set, the entire script prints out as text in the window when I do provide the proper argument.
Here's the full script:
set APP_HOME=C:\Temp\Hammer
rem Set APP_HOME to the place where you installed Hammer
if ["%1"] == [""] (
echo you must provide a python script to run
) else (
java -cp %APP_HOME%\lib\jython.jar;%APP_HOME%\lib\hammer.jar;%CLASSPATH% bridenstine.hammer.main.Main %1 %2
)
I think this is a problem with the script and not the program itself because when I run the line that's in the else block by itself without the script,
java -cp C:\Temp\Hammer\lib\jython.jar;C:\Temp\Hammer\lib\hammer.jar;%CLASSPATH% bridenstine.hammer.main.Main argument1
The program executes normally. I've been looking at example scripts and cross referencing this site for CMD files and what I have seems to be valid. Do I have a syntax error?
Update:
I'm running the script like so,
cd C:\Temp\Hammer
bin\ProgramScript.cmd argument1
Update 2:
Someone pointed out that when they run this script they get an error message saying Java is not recognized as an internal or external command (the expected message when Java is not set on their PATH) But they made a good point that this means the script is in fact getting inside the else block. I then pointed out the following,
After I run the script with a valid argument it prints out the entire script as text on the command prompt. I am then able to mark the line from inside the else statement (that was printed), copy it, paste it, and it runs the program fine. So the Java command seems to be valid. But you make a good point that the script is obviously getting inside the else block...something is still going wrong here and it doesn't seem to be the program.
Note:
If relevant I am using Windows 8.1 and I am using the standard command prompt, not one that has administrative privileges (the results remained the same regardless of using a command prompt with administrative privileges).
I suggest to use
set APP_HOME=C:\Temp\Hammer
rem Set APP_HOME to the place where you installed Hammer.
if "%~1"=="" (
echo You must provide a Python script to run.
pause
) else (
java.exe -cp "%APP_HOME%\lib\jython.jar;%APP_HOME%\lib\hammer.jar;%CLASSPATH%" bridenstine.hammer.main.Main %*
)
It is always better to enclose an argument string in double quotes if it contains environment variables like CLASSPATH which might have a string value containing 1 or more spaces.
%* is expanded by all arguments passed to the batch file as argument, i.e. %1 %2 ...
It is best to always specify an application like java with full path and file extension as otherwise Windows has to search for a file with a file extension as defined in environment variable PATHEXT in current working directory and all directories defined in environment variable PATH. At least the file extension should be in the batch file if the program files directory of the application varies.
I can only offer a suggestion; I've not tried this.
I would try escaping each ; with a caret ^ thus:
java -cp %APP_HOME%\lib\jython.jar^;%APP_HOME%\lib\hammer.jar^;%CLASSPATH% bridenstine.hammer.main.Main %1 %2
(But I'll admit it's clutching at straws...)
You are missing you she-bang at the top of the script
#!/bin/bash

Why won't a batch file run when being called from within another batch file?

I have a batch file that first creates another batch file containing a ClearCase cleartool command and second, runs it:
ECHO cleartool lsactivity -long "%ACTIVITY%"^>"%OUTPUTFILE%">FILETORUN.bat
CALL FILETORUN.bat
When running the batch, FILETORUN.bat is generated with the correct format, but the CALL to it is completely ignored.
If I ECHO output after the CALL to a log file, I can see that the script just skips over it.
What could it be?
I have tried removing CALL but it makes no difference.
EDIT: SOLUTION
Thank you all for the input. I found the problem. Before the write to batch and batch call in the script there was a command that read information into a variable from a file:
SET /p FILETODELETE=<rmname_%CLEARCASE_USER%.tmp
It reads only the first line. For some reason this created a conflict with temporary batch file, and I have no idea why. I used a different solution for reading the first line from a file and the conflict doesn't happen anymore:
(set FILETODELETE=)
for /f "delims=" %%q in (rmname_%CLEARCASE_USER%.tmp) do if not defined FILETODELETE set FILETODELETE=%%q
If anyone can shed some light it would be great!
SET /P waits for user input, so it actually will finish the command with what you are trying to execute after that and consume the input buffer, which might produce different results on each machine.
See set command reference for more details

Read command-line parameters to .bat from file

I have a build.bat file which uses %1 internally... so you might call:
build 1.23
I wanted it to read the parameter from a separate file, so I tried putting "1.23" in version.txt and doing:
build < version.txt
But it doesn't work. Isn't this how piping works? Is what I want possible and if so how?
The FOR command in DOS has a form which parses files and assigns the tokens it finds to variables, which can then be used as arguments to other batch files. Assuming version.txt contains the single line "1.23", this batch file will open it, assign 1.23 to the variable, then call your original batch file, passing the variable's value as a command-line argument.
#echo off
for /f %%i in (version.txt) do call build.bat %%i
If version.txt contains more than one line, build.bat is called once for each line. Type help for at a DOS prompt to see what other features you might be able to use.
I think it would make more sense if you handle the file processing within the batch file on the off chance that version.txt is not edited correctly.
You should modify your script to parse the file to get the version if the .bat file is executed as:
build FILE version.txt

Windows batch file for iterative invocation of other batch files

Consider a directory structure containing the following files:
\1.3\Baseline\GeneratedScripts\One\FullInstall.cmd
\1.3\Baseline\GeneratedScripts\Two\FullInstall.cmd
\1.3\Baseline\GeneratedScripts\Three\FullInstall.cmd
\1.3\Patches\Patch1\GeneratedScripts\One\FullInstall.cmd
\1.3\Patches\Patch1\GeneratedScripts\Two\FullInstall.cmd
\1.3\Patches\Patch1\GeneratedScripts\Three\FullInstall.cmd
\1.3\Patches\Patch2\GeneratedScripts\One\FullInstall.cmd
\1.3\Patches\Patch2\GeneratedScripts\Two\FullInstall.cmd
\1.3\Patches\Patch2\GeneratedScripts\Three\FullInstall.cmd
\1.3\Patches\Patch3\GeneratedScripts\One\FullInstall.cmd
\1.3\Patches\Patch3\GeneratedScripts\Two\FullInstall.cmd
\1.3\Patches\Patch3\GeneratedScripts\Three\FullInstall.cmd
I would like to construct a Windows batch file InstallEnvironment.cmd which:
Takes an environment name as a parameter; then
Executes the baseline install script, and each of the patch scripts in turn.
The batch file should automatically execute any additional patches that are added later.
Essentially I need to do something along the lines of this:
for %%_ in (1.3\**\GeneratedScripts\%%1\FullInstall.cmd) do cal %%_
However I'm not sure the wildcard system is rich enough to allow this as I don't get any matches for the ** directory wildcard.
For example, calling with the parameter "Two" should execute the following scripts, in order:
\1.3\Baseline\GeneratedScripts\Two\FullInstall.cmd
\1.3\Patches\Patch1\GeneratedScripts\Two\FullInstall.cmd
\1.3\Patches\Patch2\GeneratedScripts\Two\FullInstall.cmd
\1.3\Patches\Patch3\GeneratedScripts\Two\FullInstall.cmd
This will execute all the *.cmd files in the sub folders based on the argument:
for /r 1.3\ %%X in (GeneratedScripts\%1\*.cmd) do call "%%X"
In my experience, the %1 substitution works within directory names.
This should work:
InstallEnvironment.bat:
\1.3\Baseline\GeneratedScripts\%1\FullInstall.cmd
\1.3\Patches\Patch1\GeneratedScripts\%1\FullInstall.cmd
\1.3\Patches\Patch2\GeneratedScripts\%1\FullInstall.cmd
\1.3\Patches\Patch3\GeneratedScripts\%1\FullInstall.cmd
Edit this batch file to add additional patches in order, and it works. If you need to run the same batch file on multiple directories, create another batch file:
call InstallEnvironment.bat %1
call InstallEnvironment.bat %2
If you want to run a batch file in the background, use a vbs file to run that bat file in background instead.
Here is the code:
CreateObject("Wscript.Shell").Run"""" & Wscript.Arguments(0)& """",0,False
Save this exactly as invisible.vbs (or anything) and then make another batch file which will call your batch file to run it in background.
The code for the second batch file is:
wscript.exe "invisible.vbs" "Your_Batch_File.bat"
Then run the second batch file.
Note: WSH should be enabled on your computer, and the invisible.vbs file and the second batch file should be in the same folder. If not then you can give the full path to the invisible.vbs file in the 2nd batch file's script.

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