Thanks to this community I have finally learned how to escape exlamation marks for immediate use in a batch delayedExpansion block.
(use two escape carets not just one, awesome)
But I can't seem to find or figure out how to pass the contents of a variable containing an exclamation mark as parameter to a batch subroutine.
example:
#echo off
setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set variable=Hello^^!
echo "!variable!"
call :subroutine "!variable:^^!=^^!!"
pause
exit
:subroutine
echo "%~1"
exit/b
Output:
"Hello!"
"Hello"
Press any key to continue . . .
I want the second "Hello" to include an exclamation mark.
I have tried various permutations of substring replacement on line 5 to no avail.
help
You need a different way for the variable replacing, and much more carets.
#echo off
setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set variable=Hello^^!
echo "!variable!"
call :subroutine %variable:!=^^^^^^^^^^!%
exit /b
:subroutine
echo %~1
exit /b
Or with quotes:
call :subroutine "%variable:!=^^^!%"
In your function you need to expand %1 without any quotes, as the number of carets are always odd in a CALL parameter.
But at all it's a bad idea to try such things.
I agree with Aacini, that you should use pass by reference instead.
This is the only way to handle any possible content.
#echo off
setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set variable=Hello^^!
echo "!variable!"
call :subroutine variable
exit /b
:subroutine
echo !%1!
exit /b
Maybe the problem is not how to pass the data to the subroutine, but how to get the data inside it
#echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set "var=Hello^!"
setlocal disabledelayedexpansion
echo %var%
call :echo1 %var%
call :echo2 var
endlocal
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
echo !var!
call :echo1 !var!
call :echo2 var
endlocal
endlocal
exit /b
:echo1
setlocal disabledelayedexpansion
echo %~1
endlocal
goto :eof
:echo2
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
echo !%~1!
endlocal
goto :eof
Related
#echo off
#chcp 65001
setlocal enableextensions enabledelayedexpansion
set test=qwert
goto start
:IsStrInStrFunc
setlocal
call set check=%%1:%2=%
echo %check%
endlocal
exit /b
:start
call :IsStrInStrFunc %test%, q
pause
The "check" variable must contain "wert". What's wrong?.......
if you want to set %check% to be "wert"
set check=%%1:%2=%
should be
set check=%test:~1%
For more info check command help set in Command Prompt
Perhaps this example will assist you:
#Echo Off
SetLocal EnableExtensions DisableDelayedExpansion
For /F "Delims==" %%G In ('"(Set _cp) 2> NUL"') Do Set "%%G="
For /F Tokens^=* %%G In ('"%SystemRoot%\System32\chcp.com"'
) Do For %%H In (%%G) Do Set "_cp=%%~nH"
If Not %_cp% Equ 65001 (Set "_cpc=TRUE"
"%SystemRoot%\System32\chcp.com" 65001 >NUL)
Set "test=qwert"
GoTo Start
:IsStrInStrFunc
Set "check=%~1"
Echo Before: %check%
SetLocal EnabledelayedExpansion
Set "check=!check:%~2=!"
EndLocal & Echo After: %check%
Exit /B
:Start
Call :IsStrInStrFunc "%test%" "q"
Pause
If Defined _cpc "%SystemRoot%\System32\chcp.com" %_cp% >NUL
GoTo :EOF
To do substring substitution on a variable, you need the variablename, not its value (see set /?), so your parameter in the call can't be %test% (which would pass the string quert), but must be test.
And as you are using delayed expansion anyway, why not using it?
#echo off
#chcp 65001
setlocal enableextensions enabledelayedexpansion
set "test=qwert"
goto start
:IsStrInStrFunc
setlocal
REM call set "check=%%%~1:%~2=%%"
set "check=!%~1:%~2=!"
echo %check%
endlocal
exit /b
:start
call :IsStrInStrFunc test q
PS: you don't need the ~ chars with your simple example, but they don't disturb either. Imagine you want to replace a string, you can simply do that with call :IsStrInStrFunc test "a string" (that's where the ~ are necessary. Good practice to include them anyway (just in case))
I have whittled down a more complex CMD script to the essentials. It reads an input file line by line, unquotes it (if quoted) and writes it out to another CMD file.
The problem is that if the input file contains exclamation marks (! or bang) the character gets stripped out somewhere along the line.
Here is the CMD script, BANG1.CMD:
#echo off
setlocal ENABLEEXTENSIONS ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
if exist bang2.cmd del bang2.cmd
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in (bang1.txt) do call :doit1 %%a
exit /b
:doit1
set P1=%1
if %P1%. EQU . exit /b
call :unquotex P1 %P1%
echo>>bang2.cmd echo P1:[%P1%]
exit /b
:unquotex
set X=%2
set Q=%X:~0,1%
if "!Q!" EQU ^""" SET X=!X:~1,-1!
set %1=%X%
exit /b
Here is the input file BANG1.TXT:
HelloWorld
"Hello World"
Hello!World
"Hello!World"
The resulting file BANG2.CMD ends up containing this:
echo P1:[HelloWorld]
echo P1:[Hello World]
echo P1:[HelloWorld]
echo P1:[HelloWorld]
The question is, what happened to the embedded bangs? I have tried with and without ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION. I have even tried escaping (^) the bangs in the input file, still with no luck.
Is there any way to preserve them?
Thanks.
The problem at all is delayed expansion here.
With delayed expansion, exclamation marks are used to expand variables, but when there is only one exclamation mark in a line it will be removed.
Specially in FOR /F loops delayed expansion is tricky to handle, as the expansion of the FOR parameter is directly affected by the delayed expansion. The only solution is to disable it temporarily.
The next problem is the CALL, you can't transfer content with CALL (without destroying it).
It's better to transfer the variable by reference (only the variable name) and then get the content in the called function.
The last problem in your code are the percent expansions, do not use them
when delayed expansion is enabled, as the delayed expansion is evaluated after the percent expansion an expanded line will be expanded a second time by the delayed expansion.
Sample.
Assume the content of var is Bang!
echo %var% expands to Bang! but then the delayed expansion will evaluate Bang! to Bang.
With echo !var! you simply get Bang!
#echo off
setlocal ENABLEEXTENSIONS ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
if exist bang2.cmd del bang2.cmd
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in (bang1.txt) do (
setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion
set "line=%%a"
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
call :doit1 line
endlocal
endlocal
)
exit /b
:doit1
set "P1=!%1!"
if "!P1!" EQU "" exit /b
call :unquotex P1
echo>>bang2.cmd echo P1:[!P1!]
exit /b
:unquotex
set "param=!%~1!"
if "!param:~0,1!" == ^""" (
set "param=!param:~1,-1!"
)
set "%1=!param!"
exit /b
Like this :
#echo off
(for /f "delims=" %%a in ('type bang1.txt') do echo echo P1:[%%~a])>bang2.cmd
Try this:
#echo off
if exist bang2.cmd del bang2.cmd
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in (bang1.txt) do call :doit1 %%a
exit /b
:doit1
set "P1=%1"
if %P1%.==. exit /b
call :unquotex P1 %P1%
echo>>bang2.cmd echo P1:[%P1%]
exit /b
:unquotex
set "%1=%~2"
exit /b
Using parameters, you can get the version without quotes using %~1 instead of %1. If %1 contains "hello world" for example, then %~1 contains hello world. This allows for an easier unquoting mechanism, removing the need for delayed expansion.
Code Excerpt of my batch file:
set stringOne=ABCDEF
echo %stringOne:~2,3%
This output is CDE
How can I dynamically echo the output for my start index and desired output length?
set stringOne=ABCDEF
set start=2
set len=3
you need two layers of variable expansion. That can be done by delayed expansion or by call:
#echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set "string=ABCDEFGH"
set "start=2"
set "len=3"
echo A with delayed expansion: !string:~%start%,%len%!
call echo A with using 'call': %%string:~%start%,%len%%%
FOR /F %%G IN ('dir /b "%~f0"') DO (
set /A "newStart=!Start!+2"
call echo B with 'call' and delayed : %%string:~!newStart!,!len!%%
call call echo B with double-'call': %%%%string:~%%newStart%%,%len%%%%%
)
FOR /F %%G IN ('dir /b "%~f0"') DO call :output
goto :eof
:output
set /A "newStart=Start+2"
echo C with subroutine and delayed expansion: !string:~%newStart%,%len%!
call echo C with subroutine andusing 'call': %%string:~%newStart%,%len%%%
goto :eof
EDITED to match your comment. You need a third layer of expansion. I expanded the code with some different methods.
(btw: please don't post code in comments, it's nearly impossible to read. And if your question changes, better ask a follow-up question next time)
I am trying to pass file names as FOR loop parameters to a separate batch file. The problem is, if a file name contains special characters (especially %), the parameter doesnt go to the called script. EG -
The FIRST_SCRIPT.bat is as follows -
cd "C:\theFolder"
for /R %%a in (*.*) do call SECOND_SCRIPT "%%~a"
The SECOND_SCRIPT.bat is as follows -
ECHO %1
If a file name contains % eg. "% of STATS.txt", the output ends up being
of STATS.txt
Which is wrong. I have tried using Setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion but with little success
Setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion
for /R %%a in (*.*) do (
SET "var=%%~a"
Setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
call TEST_UPGRADE "%var%" "%%~a"
)
There are other stackoverflow answers, but they all need the % character to be known before hand. Since the file names are not in our control, these solutions won't work for us. Is there any way of handling this?
Thanks!
platform: cmd.exe for Windows XP
Aacini shows a solution that would work with % and also ! but it fails with carets ^.
But the solution is simple.
First it's necessary to disable the delayed expansion to handle the exclamation marks.
The filename is now exactly in the var variable.
The problems with carets and percents are caused by the CALL.
This can be solved with the CALL itself by use only the second percent expansion phase of the CALL by using %%var%%.
Setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion
for /R %%a in (*.*) do (
SET "var=%%~a"
call TEST_UPGRADE "%%var%%"
)
The next problem is in the second.bat to display the filename.
This should be done with delayed expansion enabled to avoid problems with special characters, or you need always quotes.
set "var=%~1"
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
echo Filename: !var!
solution with a temp file:
first.bat
#ECHO OFF &SETLOCAL
REM to escape the '%' use a second '%'
SET "var=40%% &off!.txt"
REM get a random temp file name
:loop
SET "tname=%temp%%random%%random%"
IF EXIST "%tname%" GOTO :loop
SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
REM save the variable in the file
>"%tname%" (ECHO(!var!)
CALL "second.bat" "%tname%"
ENDLOCAL
second.bat
#ECHO OFF &SETLOCAL
SET "tname=%~1"
<"%tname%" set/p"var="
SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
ECHO !var!
DEL "%tname%" /F /Q
..output is:
40% &off!.txt
EDIT: I added the enable/disable delayed expansion technique to avoid problems with exclamation-mark character.
#echo off
setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion
for /F "delims=" %%a in ('dir /B *.txt') do echo %%a
echo/
for %%a in (*.txt) do (
SET "var=%%a"
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
call :TEST_UPGRADE "!var:%%=%%%%!" "%%~a"
endlocal
)
goto :EOF
:TEST_UPGRADE
ECHO First: %1 Second: %2
exit /B
Output example:
% of STATS.txt
Discount of 10% in all.txt
Normal file.txt
First: "% of STATS.txt" Second: " of STATS.txt"
First: "Discount of 10% in all.txt" Second: "Discount of 10 in all.txt"
First: "Normal file.txt" Second: "Normal file.txt"
I have this batch script and I am calling another batch script "Strip_Batch.bat" and passing %Stripped_Name% variable as parameter. But this parameter doesnt work. Any idea how I can pass this variable?
#echo off
setlocal enableextensions enableDelayedExpansion
set CONFIGURATIONS=HAVING_FUN_WITH_COLLEGUES
for %%i in (%CONFIGURATIONS%) do (
set Original_Name=%%i
echo !Original_Name!
set Stripped_Name=!Original_Name:~0,-14!
echo !Stripped_Name!
call Strip_Batch.bat %%i %Stripped_Name%
if errorlevel 1 goto error_exit
)
:the_end
endlocal
exit /b 0
:error_exit
endlocal
exit /b 1
according to my comment I'd suggest first:
call Strip_Batch.bat %%i !Stripped_Name!
and second (better, works also for parameter with spaces):
call Strip_Batch.bat "%%i" "!Stripped_Name!"