I have a batch script that is in version control and can be checked out into any directory, but it should only work on the current directory:
#echo off
zip -9 Setup.zip Setup.exe SetupGuide.pdf
Now the batch file should retrieve from Setup.exe the version, check a network drive whether the file Setup.<versionstring>.zip exists and throw an error if it does, or else copy the Setup.zip to the network drive as Setup.<versionstring>.zip.
I found that I can get the version string using WMIC, but it seems to only take the full path name and furthermore needs double backslashes. How can I tell WMIC that I want a file from the current directory?
T:\Installer\SetupFiles>wmic datafile where name='.\\Setup.exe' get version
Keine Instanzen verfügbar.
I think you need to provide the full path to the executable:
wmic datafile where name="T:\\Installer\\SetupFiles\\Setup.exe" get version
Related
Simply put, I have a VBScript titled "tyrian_soundtest.vbs" that plays an .mp3 that is titled "tyrian_soundtest.mp3"
The VBScript code is below
Set Sound = CreateObject("WMPlayer.OCX.7")
Sound.URL = "tyrian_soundtest.mp3"
Sound.Controls.play
do while Sound.currentmedia.duration = 0
wscript.sleep 1
loop
wscript.sleep (int(Sound.currentmedia.duration)+1)*1000
When opened, it plays the .mp3. Simple enough.
The trouble comes in when I run a batch script titled "tyrian_soundtest.bat". Relative to it, the .vbs and .mp3 are in a folder called sfx. Here is what one iteration of that file contained.
#echo off
start %cd%\sfx\tyrian_soundtest.vbs
exit /b
The result is an error stating that Windows couldn't find the file path, likely due to it containing a space. Other attempts of the .bat were replacing line 2 with
start .\sfx\tyrian_soundtest.vbs
or
start "%cd%\sfx\tyrian_soundtest.vbs"
Any attempt I've made gives one of three results. Option 1: There is no error, but the audio simply never plays. Option 2: An error is thrown about the file directory not being found. Option 3: That file path opens up in a new cmd window, but the .vbs is never run.
Is there any way format the .bat to get the .vbs to run through the without an error being caused?
The main issue is that there is used in batch file and in the VBScript file the current directory path. The current directory on starting %SystemRoot%\System32\cmd.exe to process the batch file can be any directory.
The Windows Explorer sets the directory of the batch file as current directory on double clicking the batch file resulting in starting cmd.exe by explorer.exe to process the double clicked batch file of which full qualified file name is passed to cmd.exe after the option /c as additional argument. But if the batch file is stored on a network resource accessed using UNC path, the Windows command processor changes the current directory from the network resource to %SystemRoot% (the Windows directory) and the batch file fails to start Windows Script Host to process the VBS file. See also: CMD does not support UNC paths as current directories.
A batch file can be also started by right clicking on it and using Run as administrator. This can result in making the directory %SystemRoot%\System32 (the Windows system directory) the current directory. See also: Why does 'Run as administrator' change (sometimes) batch file's current directory?
That are just two of many examples where the current directory is different to the directory containing the batch file. So if a batch file references other files stored in same directory as the batch file itself or a subdirectory of the batch files directory, it is advisable to reference these files with the full path of the batch file instead of using a path relative to current directory.
Example:
The used files are stored in directory C:\Temp\Development & Test as follows:
sfx
tyrian_soundtest.vbs
tyrian_soundtest.mp3
tyrian_soundtest.bat
A user opens a command prompt window which usually results in making the directory referenced with %USERPROFILE% or with %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH% the current directory. A user executes next in the command prompt window:
"C:\Temp\Development & Test\tyrian_soundtest.bat"
So the current directory is definitely not the directory containing the batch file.
The batch file can be coded as follows to start nevertheless the Windows Script Host for processing the VBS file tyrian_soundtest.vbs and successfully play the MP3 file tyrian_soundtest.mp3.
#start "" /D "%~dp0sfx" %SystemRoot%\System32\wscript.exe //NoLogo "%~dp0sfx\tyrian_soundtest.vbs"
%~dp0 references the drive and path of argument 0 which is the full path of the currently processed batch file. The batch file path referenced with %~dp0 always ends with a backslash. For that reason the concatenation of %~dp0 with a file/folder name or wildcard pattern should be always done without using an additional backslash as that would result in two \ in series in complete argument string and the Windows file management would need to fix that small error by replacing \\ by just \ before passing the argument string to the file system. See also the Microsoft documentation about Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces which explains which automatic corrections are usually applied on file/folder strings before passing them to the file system.
The internal command START of cmd.exe interprets the first double quoted argument string as title string for the console window as it can be seen on running in a command prompt window start /? and reading the output help. For that reason it is not enough to use just:
#start "%~dp0sfx\tyrian_soundtest.vbs"
That would result in starting one more command process with its own console window with the full qualified file name of the VBS file as title of the console window.
The Windows Script Host processing a VBS file by default on Windows exists in two versions:
%SystemRoot%\System32\cscript.exe is the console version.
%SystemRoot%\System32\wscript.exe is the Windows GUI version.
The usage of the console version cscript.exe results usually in opening a console window by the parent process if the parent process is not itself a console application running already with an opened console window like on execution of a batch file processed by %SystemRoot%\System32\cmd.exe being also a console application.
The usage of the Windows GUI version wscript.exe results in no opening of a window by default at all. The processed script file must contain commands to open a window if that is wanted at all.
The difference can be also seen on running from within a command prompt window cscript /? and next wscript /?. The first command results in printing the help for the command line options of Windows Script Host in already opened command prompt window while the second command results in showing a graphic window by wscript.exe displaying the same usage help.
The usage help of Windows Script Host explains also how each user can define which version of Windows Script Host is the default for executing scripts. So it is not advisable to specify just the VBS file name with full path on the command line with start and let cmd.exe look up in Windows registry which version of Windows Script Host to run to process the VBS file. It is better to explicitly run the version of Windows Script Host most suitable for playing the MP3 file which is in this case the Windows GUI version wscript.exe opening by default no window at all to play the MP3 file in background.
So it would be possible to use:
#start "" %SystemRoot%\System32\wscript.exe //NoLogo "%~dp0sfx\tyrian_soundtest.vbs"
There is an empty title string defined with "" as the started executable wscript.exe is a Windows GUI application for which no console window is opened at all by cmd.exe. So the title string does not really matter and can be an empty string.
But there is left one problem with that command line. The VB script references the MP3 file without path which means with a path relative to current directory. The current directory is %USERPROFILE% and not C:\Temp\Development & Test\sfx which contains the MP3 file tyrian_soundtest.mp3. So the VB script would fail to find the MP3 file to play.
There are two solutions to fix this:
The usage of the following command line in the batch file:
#start "" /D "%~dp0sfx" %SystemRoot%\System32\wscript.exe //NoLogo "%~dp0sfx\tyrian_soundtest.vbs"
The option /D of command START is used to explicitly set the subdirectory sfx of the batch file directory as start in respectively current directory for the process wscript.exe which cmd.exe starts using the Windows kernel library function CreateProcess with an appropriate created structure STARTUPINFO.
The VBS file references the MP3 file tyrian_soundtest.mp3 with its full path which the VB script file determines itself from its own full qualified file name. That can be achieved in the VB script file tyrian_soundtest.vbs by using in the second line:
Sound.URL = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject").GetParentFolderName(WScript.ScriptFullName) + "\tyrian_soundtest.mp3"
Best would be using both possible solutions as in this case the VB script file would work also on being executed by a different process than cmd.exe processing the batch file tyrian_soundtest.bat and deletion of directory %~dp0sfx is not possible as long as started wscript.exe is running because of this directory is the current directory of running Windows Script Host.
So the batch file as well as the VB script file work now both independent on which directory is the current directory as both reference the files with full path determined by the scripts themselves from their full qualified file names.
I may be confusing current directory with working directory but regardless I am trying to make a batch file that runs the tree command from the folder it's currently in.
I have a folder called "Network_Switch_Backup" with a script, some other items and a subfolder called "backups".
This has worked for testing purposes:
tree U:\Desktop\Network_Switch_Backup\backups /f
But as I will be zipping it and sending it to different computers and users clearly this isn't practical since they could put the folder anywhere besides the desktop.
I've looked at other threads and amongst other things I tried, this looked the most promising (but still did not work):
tree %cd%\backups /f
However tree %cd%\downloads /f works perfectly fine when running from cmd so I'm just a bit confused.
It is advisable in batch files to reference executables to run with full qualified file name which means full path + file name + file extension, especially if the storage location of the executable is well known. That makes the batch file independent on the values of the environment variables PATHEXT and PATH. PATH is quite too often not correct defined on many computers running Windows.
The full qualified name of TREE is %SystemRoot%\System32\tree.com.
Environment variable SystemRoot is not defined as system or user environment variable like PATH and PATHEXT, but is nevertheless defined on execution of a batch file. So it is very safe to use this Windows environment variable.
What is the reason for '...' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file? explains very detailed how Windows command processor finds executables and scripts not specified with full qualified file name on command prompt or in a batch file.
There are two directories which need to be taken into account on coding an application or script:
The application/script directory is the directory containing the program or script.
The current directory or working directory is the directory from which the program or script is executed.
For example a batch file is stored in directory "%UserProfile%\Desktop". Windows sets the directory of the batch file as current directory on simply double clicking the batch file on user's desktop. Therefore the script directory is the current directory on execution of the batch file. But if this batch file is executed by right clicking on the batch file and left clicking on context menu option Run as administrator, the batch file stored in "%UserProfile%\Desktop" is usually executed from directory %SystemRoot%\System32 depending on user account permissions and on user account control setting of current user. The reason for making %SystemRoot%\System32 the current directory before executing the batch file is explained in detail by answer on Why does 'Run as administrator' changes (sometimes) batch file's current directory?
The MSDN article Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces explains in detail how to reference files and folders relative to current directory. The current directory is simply not included in file/folder argument string or alternatively represented by .\.
In case of drive and path of current directory needs to be known, for example to output it on running a batch file, there is the dynamic environment variable CD (short for Current Directory). %CD% or !CD! with delayed expansion enabled expands to full path of current directory which does not end with a backslash, except the current directory is the root directory of a drive. The help output on running in a command prompt window set /? explains dynamic environment variable CD briefly on last help page.
Batch files need to be designed very often to reference files or folders with a path relative to directory of the batch file. In this case it is not advisable to use the current directory because the current directory can be really any directory.
The help output on running call /? in a command prompt window explains how arguments of a batch file can be referenced from within a batch file. Argument 0 is always the batch file itself.
%~dp0 references drive and path of the batch file. This file path ends always with a backslash, but of course can contain a space or one of these characters &()[]{}^=;!'+,`~ which require entire file/folder argument string to be enclosed in double quotes. So %~dp0 must be concatenated in a batch file without an additional backslash after that string and the entire argument string must be enclosed in double quotes to work safely.
So the command line to use to reference the subdirectory Backups in directory of the batch file independent on which directory is the current directory is:
%SystemRoot%\System32\tree.com "%~dp0Backups" /F
A bug of cmd.exe explained in detail on What is the reason for batch file path referenced with %~dp0 sometimes changes on changing directory? should be taken into account on using %~dp0 in a batch file.
I want to create a batch/shell script for windows and mac that will take few different files with different types and will compress it to a .zip file.
I already saw a few questions and answers about it, but all of them either compress all the files in the folder or compress them individually.
Example (look at attached image):
I have a folder that contains 1.txt, 2.xml, a sub directory.
And I want to turn all of them into a .zip file.
If possible to get a solution both for windows and Mac.
On Windows there is the file 7zip.chm in directory %ProgramFiles%\7-Zip which is the help file of 7-Zip. Double click on this file to open the help.
On Contents tab there is the list item Command Line Version with the help pages:
Syntax ... Command Line Syntax
Commands ... Command Line Commands
Switches ... Command Line Switches
The target is to compress everything in folder test into a ZIP file with name of the folder as file name.
This could be done for example with the command line:
"%ProgramFiles%\7-Zip\7z.exe" a -bd -mx=9 -r -y -- test.zip "C:\Path to Directory\test\*"
This command line adds (a) everything in directory C:\Path to Directory\test recursive (-r) to a ZIP file with name test.zip in current working directory without progress indicator (-bd) using best ZIP compression (-mx=9) with assuming Yes on all queries (-y).
In other words the file test.zip in current directory contains after execution the subdirectory main with everything inside and the files 1.txt and 2.xml.
I need to make a batch file that detects what drive and directory it is in. When I run the the file normally, it is in the correct directory/drive already. But when it is run as admin, it starts in system32. Is there a command that goes to the directory or drive the batch came from?
You could use
Pushd "%~dp0"
This changes the current directory to the path of the batch file.
Quoting the argument makes it safe against special characters in the pathname like "C:\Documents & Settings"
well a workaround is to use \ before the path to give absolute path.
So, if you need to run a file c:\temp\xyz.exe and even if you are in directory c:\winodws\system32 still when you do cd \temp\xyz.exe still the file will run properly
I need to write a batch to rename a folder in Program Files.
I'm able to do it through the Explorer, so I guess I have all required rights.
But when I write something like this in a command line :
move "C:\Program Files\Ceebot4\train" train_old
I get the following error : Access denied.
Is it possible to do it ?
A batch file runs in MS-Dos mode and so is subject to different access rights to Windows Explorer. Try running your batch file or Dos prompt as an administrator should work
You are trying to move the contents to a directory named train_old right under the directory where you currently are when executing the command. If you want to rename the directory in current place you will have to use:
move "C:\Program Files\Ceebot4\train" "C:\Program Files\Ceebot4\train_old"
move moves things, so either do what Anders said (giving the full path in both places; but be careful the target name doesn't already exist), or use ren instead:
ren "C:\Program Files\Ceebot4\train" train_old