Holding a formula with variables inside another variable - batch-file

I decided I wanted to beautify my batch code by assigning a formula (which contains its own sub-variables ('hrs' and 'min' and 'sec') as well as numerical operations and math operators) to a variable ('myformula') at the top of my code, then call and expand the variable (%myformula%) later on in multiple "set /a ..." commands.
I have tried %%hrs%% and !hrs! and ^carets, as well as !myformula!, but I always get a "Missing operand." error.
This suggests to me that the maths operators are not being expanded correctly, or that to numerical values are being converted to characters.
I should add that everything works perfectly if I admit defeat, and replace %myformula% in the code with the actual formula.
Screen output gives correct display of the formula -
My Formula : %hrs%*60*60*100+%min%*60*100+%sec%*100+%cen%
Missing operand.
My Time :
( OR - My Time : 1 depending on %, %%, !, ^, etc, etc ... )
Can anyone suggest how to make the formula expansion %myformula% work correctly?
(I would consider NON native solutions such as - use javascript, use cscript, use powershell - as well as defeatest answers like - "set /a mytime=the+original+formula" - as not being an answer to my real question).
#echooff
SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
:start
set myformula=%hrs%*60*60*100+%min%*60*100+%sec%*100+%cen%
:timer
rem - Timer code credits go to - rberteig (2014)
rem Convert t0 into a scaler in 100th of sec with no
seperator chars.
set /a t0=%time: =0%
set /a hrs=1%t0:~0,2%-100
set /a min=1%t0:~3,2%-100
set /a sec=1%t0:~6,2%-100
set /a cen=1%t0:~9,2%-100
echo My Formula : %myformula%
set /a mytime=%myformula%
rem - set /a mytime=!myformula! - does not work either.
echo My Time : %mytime%
:finish
pause
ENDLOCAL
exit /B 0
:EOF

Ok, with lots more trial and error, I found the solution myself. When saving formula (which is intended for arithmetic evaluation) to a variable, no % character wrapping is required.
This is apparently because the SET coomand, when used with the /A switch, automatically assumes any alphabet characters to be variables, and expands them without requiring any % wrapping.
This is alluded to in the SET /? help topic, and is mentioned a bit more in various web pages and forums. The only example I could find in retrospect was -
https://ss64.com/nt/set.html
Thus the answer to my question is to use this code line when seting the "myformula" variable:
:start
set myformula=hrs*60*60*100+min*60*100+sec*100+cen
which expands perfectly as intended at the later code line:
set /a mytime=%myformula%
as its preceding and proceeding echo lines prove from their screen output.
Who would have thought???

Related

How to squeeze lots of variables?

I am setting up some code that will help me run a mathematical experiment. Is there a way to use loops in batch to create multiple variables automatically.
I have tried to join a variable to a set command (before the equal sign), but then the command does not run.
#echo off
set variablerep=0
pause
Set p1=0
Set p2=0
Set p3=0
...
...
Set p34=0
Set p35=0
Set p36=0
Pause
I hope to find ways by which I don't need to copy each set command and make minor changes and code efficiently.
Use for /l loop:
#echo off
setlocal
set p_
for /l %%l in ( 1, 1, 36 ) do set p_%%l=0
set p_
Please remember that math in (pure) batch is restricted to 32bit signed integers (+/- ~2GB).
and NO floating point math.
All variables are stored as strings and only set /A and the if commands try to convert to integers.
the syntax of set /a allows several calculatons on one line delimited with a comma,
set /A p1=0,p2=0,p3=0
there also is a special variant allowing to set several variables to the same value:
set /A p1=p2=p3=0
When using an index to address variables the pseudo array[%%I] format is common, whereas every valid naming scheme can be used - as jsxts answer shows.

8 Variables in one line (Batch)

I have tried multiple things with a code like this.
#echo off
set %1%=A
set %2%=B
set %3%=C
set %4%=D
set %5%=E
set %6%=F
set %7%=G
set %8%=H
echo %1%%2%%3%%4%%5%%6%%7%%8%%9%
But kinda nothing worked, the output was this:
1%2%3%4%5%6%7%8
How do I get it to output ABCDEFGH?
Try with
#echo off
set _1=A
set _2=B
set _3=C
set _4=D
set _5=E
set _6=F
set _7=G
set _8=H
echo %_1%%_2%%_3%%_4%%_5%%_6%%_7%%_8%
Starting from the concept, your problem is that %n with n in the range 0..9 is handled by the batch parser as an command line argument to the batch file, not a variable expansion operation.
You can use number prefixed variable names, but then you will require to enable delayed expansion and change the variable expansion syntax from %varName% in to !varName! to be able to retrieve the value. It is easier not use number prefixed variables names.
The second problem is that the syntax %varName% is only used where the variable value needs to be retrieved. When you set the value, the syntax is set varName=varValue, or still better you can quote the operation as set "varName=varValue" to avoid problems with special characters and inclusion of unneeded ending spaces.
Your question is not clear. The code below do exactly what you requested:
#echo off
set A=A
set B=B
set C=C
set D=D
set E=E
set F=F
set G=G
set H=H
echo %A%%B%%C%%D%%E%%F%%G%%H%
However, is likely that this obvious solution is not what you are looking for...
If you want to know if is there a way to "automatically" define a series of variables and process they all, then the solution is to use an array. You may read the description of the array concept in this Wikipedia article and a detailed explanation of array management in Batch files at this answer. For example:
#echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
rem Create "a" array with all elements given:
set n=0
for %%a in (A B C D E F G H) do (
set /A n=n+1
set a[!n!]=%%a
)
rem Show the 8 elements of "a" array
echo %a[1]%%a[2]%%a[3]%%a[4]%%a[5]%%a[6]%%a[7]%%a[8]%
rem Join *all* the elements of "a" array in a single variable
set "all="
for /L %%i in (1,1,%n%) do set "all=!all!!a[%%i]!"
echo %all%
Note that the last example works correctly no matters how many elements have been defined in "a" array.
Although you may also write the array elements in a shorter way, ommiting the braquets: set "a1=A" & set "a2=B", etc, and then use echo %a1%%a2%..., you should remember that the use of braquets is a standard notation used in many other programming languages, so it is convenient to keep it.

Arithmetic operations with HH:MM:SS times in batch file

In one of my batch scripts I need to calculate the duration of an interval in a video file. First the user is asked to input the start and end times:
set /p StartPosition=Start position (HH:MM:SS):
set /p EndPosition=End position (HH:MM:SS):
Then, I would like the batch script to calculate the duration in between.
How can I subtract %StartPosition% from %EndPosition% like this, for example:
00:10:40 - 00:10:30 = 00:00:10
The reason why I can't figure out how to do this is because these numbers are separated by colons.
Edit: This question is different to this question because I do not need the scrip to treat the numbers as time values.
#echo off
setlocal
set /p "StartPosition=Start position (HH:MM:SS): "
set /p "EndPosition=End position (HH:MM:SS): "
set /A "ss=(((1%EndPosition::=-100)*60+1%-100)-(((1%StartPosition::=-100)*60+1%-100)"
set /A "hh=ss/3600+100,ss%%=3600,mm=ss/60+100,ss=ss%%60+100"
echo Duration=%hh:~1%:%mm:~1%:%ss:~1%
EDIT: Some explanations added
This program use the usual method to convert a time in HH:MM:SS format into a number of seconds via the standard formula: seconds = (HH*60+MM)*60+SS. However, the set /A command consider the numbers that start with 0 as written in octal base, and hence 08 and 09 would be invalid octal numbers. To avoid this problem, a digit 1 is placed before expand the number and a 100 is subtracted after, so if HH=08 then 1%HH%-100 correctly gives 8; that is:
set /A seconds = ((1%HH%-100)*60+1%MM%-100)*60+1%SS%-100
There are several methods to split a time given in HH:MM:SS format into its three parts. For example, if we take set EndPosition=HH:MM:SS as base, then we may use a for /F command this way:
for /F "tokens=1-3 delims=:" %%a in ("%EndPosition%") do (
set /A "seconds=((1%%a-100)*60+1%%b-100)*60+1%%c-100"
)
In this program a different method is used. If we match the original EndPosition=HH:MM:SS string with the desired formula, we may construct this mapping scheme:
HH : MM : SS
((1 HH -100)*60+1 MM -100)*60+1 SS -100
In other words: if we replace the colons of the original string by -100)*60+1 and insert ((1 at beginning and -100 at end, we obtain the desired formula; that is:
set /A "seconds=((1%EndPosition::=-100)*60+1%-100"
This is a very efficient method that even allows to replace both EndPosition and StartPosition strings in the same formula (enclosing both parts in parentheses) and directly subtract them:
set /A "ss=(((1%EndPosition::=-100)*60+1%-100)-(((1%StartPosition::=-100)*60+1%-100)"
You may cancel the #echo off command and run the program to review the exact formula that is evaluated after the values of the variables are replaced. For example, when StartPosition=00:10:30 and EndPosition=00:10:40, this is the expression that is evaluated:
set /A "ss=(((100-100)*60+110-100)*60+140-100)-(((100-100)*60+110-100)*60+130-100)"
Just to complete this description, this is the "standard" way to evaluate the same formula using a for /F command:
for /F "tokens=1-6 delims=:" %%a in ("%EndPosition%:%StartPosition%") do (
set /A "ss=(((1%%a-100)*60+1%%b-100)*60+1%%c-100)-(((1%%d-100)*60+1%%e-100)*60+1%%f-100)"
)
The opposite conversion from number of seconds to HH:MM:SS parts is straightforward:
HH=SS/3600, rest=SS%3600, MM=rest/60, SS=rest%60
However, each part in the result must be displayed with two digits, but this formatting may be achieved in a very simple way. Instead of insert three if commands that check if each part is less than 10 and insert a padding zero in such a case, the number 100 is just added to the parts (converting an 8 into 108, for example), and when each part is displayed the first digit is omitted (so just 08 is shown). This is a very efficient method to format numbers that may be performed in the same set /A command used to obtain the parts. For example:
set /A "hh=ss/3600+100,ss%%=3600,mm=ss/60+100,ss=ss%%60+100"
echo Duration=%hh:~1%:%mm:~1%:%ss:~1%
In this way, the conversion of two times into two number of seconds, their subtraction and the opposite conversion and formatting to HH:MM:SS is performed in two SET /A commands, that even may be written in a single, long line.
Output examples:
Start position (HH:MM:SS): 00:10:30
End position (HH:MM:SS): 00:10:40
Duration=00:00:10
Start position (HH:MM:SS): 00:10:45
End position (HH:MM:SS): 00:11:05
Duration=00:00:20
This is possible to do in pure batch by parsing each field as an independent string, then doing arithmetic on them. Many practical solutions call into some other program to do the date math.
The following code calls into PowerShell to use the .NET DateTime class to do the parsing for you.
C:\> set "StartPosition=00:10:30"
C:\> set "EndPosition=00:10:40"
C:\> PowerShell.exe -c "$span=([datetime]'%EndPosition%' - [datetime]'%StartPosition%'); '{0:00}:{1:00}:{2:00}' -f $span.Hours, $span.Minutes, $span.Seconds"
00:00:10
This executes two lines of PowerShell code; one to convert both times into DateTime objects and subtract them, and the other to output the result in the format you specified.
Here's a working prototype:
#echo off
set T1=00:10:45
set T2=00:11:05
set HOUR1=%T1:~,2%
set MIN1=%T1:~3,-3%
set SEC1=%T1:~-2%
set HOUR2=%T2:~,2%
set MIN2=%T2:~3,-3%
set SEC2=%T2:~-2%
set /A TOTAL_SEC1=%HOUR1%*3600+%MIN1%*60+SEC1
set /A TOTAL_SEC2=%HOUR2%*3600+%MIN2%*60+SEC2
set /A DIFF=%TOTAL_SEC2%-%TOTAL_SEC1%
echo %DIFF%
Output:
20
Its not complete, but its a reasonable start.
I think, #Aacini has cleared Everything here. He got you, Before I Do. But, I want to Improved on him as - by using For Loop to make code Easier.
Note: Everything after 'REM' is a Comment for the sake of understanding easily...
All You need to DO is Copy It into Your Batch File. And, Use it as follows (in your main code):
Syntax: Call :Time [Your Time 1] [Operation] [Your Time 2]
And, You can Now apply - any operation - including 'Addition, Substraction, Division, Multiplication' ;)
The Time Function
--------------Copy the Below Code----------
:Time [Start_Time] [Operation] [End_Time]
SetLocal EnableDelayedExpansion
REM Creating a portable Function for your Job. :)
REM Reading Start-time...
For /F "Tokens=1,2,3 Delims=:" %%A in ("%~1") Do (
Set _Start_Hour=%%A
Set _Start_Min=%%B
Set _Start_Sec=%%C
)
REM Reading End-time...
For /F "Tokens=1,2,3 Delims=:" %%A in ("%~3") Do (
Set _End_Hour=%%A
Set _End_Min=%%B
Set _End_Sec=%%C
)
REM Removing leading Zero's - if any... 'CMD assumes it as octal - otherwise'
For %%A In (Hour Min Sec) Do (
For %%B In (Start End) Do (
IF /I "!_%%B_%%A:~0,1!" == "0" (Set _%%B_%%A=!_%%B_%%A:~1!)
)
)
REM Applying Operation on the given times.
For %%A In (Hour Min Sec) Do (Set /A _Final_%%A=!_Start_%%A! %~2 !_End_%%A!)
REM Handling a little Exceptional errors! - due to the nature of time (60 sec for a min.)
SET _Extra_Hour=0
SET _Extra_Min=0
REM Two Cases can arise in each part of time...
:Sec_loop
IF %_Final_Sec% GTR 59 (Set /A _Extra_Min+=1 & Set /A _Final_Sec-=60 & Goto :Sec_loop)
IF %_Final_Sec% LSS 0 (Set /A _Extra_Min-=1 & Set /A _Final_Sec+=60 & Goto :Sec_loop)
Set /A _Final_Min+=%_Extra_Min%
:Min_loop
IF %_Final_Min% GTR 59 (Set /A _Extra_Hour+=1 & Set /A _Final_Min-=60 & Goto :Min_loop)
IF %_Final_Min% LSS 0 (Set /A _Extra_Hour-=1 & Set /A _Final_Min+=60 & Goto :Min_loop)
Set /A _Final_Hour+=%_Extra_Hour%
REM Saving Everything into a Single Variable - string.
Set _Final_Time=%_Final_Hour%:%_Final_Min%:%_Final_Sec%
REM Displaying it on the console. ;)
Echo.%_Final_Time%
Goto :EOF
--------------End OF Code----------------------
You can Also visit, my Website - based on Batch Programming. (www.thebateam.org) You'll find alot of stuff there - to help you out. :)
Here's the Final Output - When I saved the Code in Answer.bat File
To offer a concise alternative to Ryan Bemrose's helpful, PowerShell-based answer:
:: Sample variable values.
set "StartPosition=00:10:30"
set "EndPosition=00:10:40"
:: Use PowerShell to perform the calculation,
:: using the .NET System.Timespan ([timespan]) type.
powershell -c \"$([timespan] '%EndPosition%' - '%StartPosition%')\"
Yes, you pay a performance penalty for invoking the PowerShell CLI, but I invite you to compare this solution to Aacini's clever, but highly obscure batch-language-only solution in terms of readability and conceptual complexity.
Generally speaking:
cmd.exe is a shell and, historically, shells have provided very limited language capabilities themselves, as their focus was on calling built-in or external commands.
cmd.exe's language, as used in batch files (.cmd, .bat) is very limited, and saddled with many counterintuitive behaviors that can't be fixed so as not to break backward compatibility.
Over the decades, users have learned to stretch the language to its limits, coming up with many clever techniques to squeeze more functionality out of it. While helpful if you're stuck on pre-PowerShell systems (virtually extinct at this point) or you must use batch files and performance is paramount (rarely the case), the obscurity of these techniques makes them both hard to understand and to remember.
cmd.exe's successor, PowerShell, with its .ps1 scripts, offers a far superior language that offers virtually unlimited access to .NET functionality and COM.
PowerShell too has its fair share of counterintuitive behaviors that can't be fixed, but, by and large, it is a far more capable and predictable language than the batch language; some of its undeniable, but unavoidable complexity comes from having to talk to multiple worlds (.NET, COM, WMI) while still also acting as a shell (with respect to calling external programs and the shell-like syntax of its built-in command as well as user-defined ones).
Here, the batch file uses a call an external program, powershell.exe, the PowerShell CLI, to delegate the task at hand to its superior language.
Calling the PowerShell CLI is expensive in terms of performance, but offers a way to perform tasks that batch files either cannot, or can only do with much more effort and/or highly obscure techniques.
Of course, needing to "speak" both the batch language and PowerShell to implement a given task adds complexity of its own, so the logical progression is to implement the entire task in PowerShell (in a .ps1 script).
Unfortunately, PowerShell puts up some road blocks here, in the name of security:
In workstation editions of Windows, execution of scripts is disabled by default, and requires a one-time call such as the following to enable it (see this answer for background information):
Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned
.ps1 scripts - unlike batch files - cannot be executed directly from outside PowerShell, notably not by double-clicking in File Explorer or from a cmd.exe session.
From inside a PowerShell session that is not a concern, but if you do need this capability in a given scenario, a simple workaround is to create a companion batch file with the same base file name as the .ps1 script (e.g., foo.cmd in the same directory as the target PowerShell script, foo.ps1, with the following, generic content:
#powershell -noprofile -file "%~dpn0.ps1"

How to return the value of a increasing variable in Batch file?

As you can see in my script bellow, the %pin%count%% (maybe obviously for some of you) won't return the wanted value but the string value of the wanted variable, as %pin5% for instance.
I've created a script where the number of variables will depend on how many colors the user chose for his pins. The troubling part of the script is:
Echo - Please type the colors of the pins allowed in the purchase,
or type dot (.) to finish this part of the script.
set count=0
:Pin
set /a count=%count%+1
set /p pin%count%=
if not %pin%count%%=="." goto Pin
I cannot use the IF statement because %pin%count%% returns %pin1% or %pin2% but not the value itself, how to solve this?
It seems like a simple enough syntax problem, but i'm trying everything and haven't managed to solve it yet and asking may be the fastest solution.
to evaluate a composite variable name, you have to use setlocal enabledelayedexpansion so you can specify ! as an extra delimiter,
The other problem you had is that you compared the variable with ".". Batch does not remove quotes like bash does. Don't put the quotes, or put some quotes on the left end too.
Fixed code:
#echo off
Echo - Please type the colors of the pins allowed in the purchase,
echo or type dot (.) to finish this part of the script.
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set count=0
:Pin
set /a count+=1
set /p pin%count%=
rem echo the variable for debug purposes
echo pin%count% = !pin%count%!
rem here's the tricky line
if not !pin%count%!==. goto Pin

Batch script error: "/ was unexpected at this time."

I wrote a little script to display every line of a text file with a random amount of pause between each of them:
SET pauseTime=10
SET maxval=20
SET minval=5
FOR /f %%j in (search1.txt) DO (
SET pauseTime=%RANDOM% * (%maxval% - %minval% + 1) / 32768 + %minval%
ECHO.%pauseTime%
TIMEOUT %pauseTime%
ECHO.%%j
)
Running this in cmd.exe gives me:
C:\Users\Tim\Desktop>SET minval=5
/ was unexpected at this time.
However, if I simply do:
FOR /f %%j in (search1.txt) DO (
ECHO.%%j
)
I get all the lines printed with no errors
What's going on?
You need to add the /A switch to your SET statement in order to do math operations. (I usually also have to remove any embedded spaces to get it to work properly as well.)
SET /A pausetime=%RANDOM%*(%maxval%)-%minval%)/32768+%minval%
The error you're getting is also caused by the batch processor not properly handing the parentheses within the for expression (the nested pair in the numeric expression). You can fix that by breaking that part of the expression out to a separate variable, and then using that variable in place of the portion within the parentheses:
SET pauseTime=10
SET maxval=20
SET minval=5
SET /A maxmin=%maxval% - %minval% + 1
FOR /f %%j in (search1.txt) DO (
SET /A pauseTime=%RANDOM% * %maxmin% / 32768 + %minval%
ECHO. %pauseTime%
TIMEOUT %pauseTime%
ECHO. %j%
)
the issue here is because you use nested ( ) brackets which batch can't handle and causes your issue, you might need to split your pausetime calculation into 2 lines.
see this article
The CMD shell statement does not use any great intelligence when evaluating parenthesis, so for example the command below will fail:
IF EXIST MyFile.txt (ECHO Some(more)Potatoes)
As mentioned within the other answers, the problem is caused by the nested parenthesis.
Instead of avoiding them, you could also escape them by preceding ^ characters -- this works:
IF EXIST MyFile.txt (ECHO Some^(More^)Potatoes)
Without the caret ^ here, the command line interpreter takes the first ) to close the first (.
However, applying the above escape technique to the code of the original question avoids the error message, but does not result in a working script, even if the inner SET is replaced by SET /a (as mentioned by #KenWhite), because you need to establish delayed environment variable expansion; otherwise, the displayed pauseTime value is always the initial one, 10. The following fix works:
#ECHO OFF
SET pauseTime=10
SET maxval=20
SET minval=5
SETLOCAL EnableDelayedExpansion
FOR /f %%j in (search1.txt) DO (
SET /a pauseTime=!RANDOM!*^(maxval-minval+1^)/32768+minval
ECHO.!pauseTime!
TIMEOUT !pauseTime!
ECHO.%%j
)
ENDLOCAL
Herein, the SETLOCAL statement enables the delayed expansion before the FOR command executes. In the body of the FOR loop, %pauseTime% and %RANDOM% are replaced by !pauseTime! and !RANDOM!, respectively; those are the variables subject to delayed expansion (because of the enclosing !!), meaning that they are not (as usual) expanded immediately when the entire FOR command is parsed, but when it is executed. For the sake of legibility, I removed the %% from the other variables in the SET /a command since they are not required when the /a switch is present (note that there is also a % operator supported!!).
Note: After this script has run, pauseTime is reset to the initial value 10 as the SETLOCAL/ENDLOCAL block constitutes a new localised environment namespace; if you need the last value, replace line ENDLOCAL by ENDLOCAL & SET pauseTime=%pauseTime%; this utilises standard immediate expansion...
Nevertheless, since minval and maxval are constants in the script it is most intelligent to do the calculation maxval-minval+1 outside of FOR once only, like #KenWhite suggested.

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