I have this string, call it str, which may look like this XinfoX. i want a command, using batch, which replaces the 'X's with this symbol '|' (a pipe symbol). i have tried this, but the cmd keeps closing/crashing.
thanks in advance
use variable edit/replace see here for details
set str=XinfoX
echo %str:X=^|%
C:\>echo %str:X=^|%
|info|
Your command is crashing because the | character functions as the pipe operator. But you want to use it as a literal character instead. The character must either be escaped or quoted.
set str=XinfoY
:: using quotes
set "str=%str:X=|%"
:: using escape
set str=%str:Y=^|%
The situation can get complicated if your string contains quotes such that some of the string is quoted and some is not. The solution is to use delayed expansion.
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
set str="Xinfo1X"info2X
set "str=!str:X=|!"
Related
My goal / problem
The following batch program can be used to display my problem:
echo first param: %1 third param: %3
echo '%2'
my goal is to get the following output for param2 (I am aware that it would be a little easier as last parameter but that's not what is needed):
'<body><p style="font-familiy:Arial,Cascadia">MyText</p></body>'
My question is how to call it correctly or change the cmd-code so that the 2nd parameter is not interpreted as multiple parameters
First try: backslashes as escape character
if I escape the double quotes with a backslash like so:
demo p1 "<body><p style=\"font-family:Arial,Cascadia\">MyText</p></body>" p3
the output for param2 is
''"<p style="font-family:Arial'
and the rest of the HTML code is in param3.
Second try: double double quotes as escape character
My second attempt was to escape with double dobule quotes:
demo p1 "<body><p style=""font-family:Arial,Cascadia"">MyText</p></body>" p3
this produces the following output for param2 where the double quotes are not changed at all:
"'<body><p style=""font-family:Arial,Cascadia"">MyText</p></body>'"
The ugly workaround
I managed to get the desired output by replacing from "" to " like so:
set x=%2
echo '%x:""="%'
I wonder if this is the recommended way or if there is an easier way. I read a lot on this subject
with https://www.robvanderwoude.com/escapechars.php and http://www.windowsinspired.com/understanding-the-command-line-string-and-arguments-received-by-a-windows-program/ being cited most often but unfortunately neither did help.
As already mentioned, only double quotes can be used to escape a full argument, but the quotes itself can't be escaped inside an argument.
If you still insist on using double quotes in your arguments, the double double quote seems to be one of the best solutions.
But to get and handle the arguments in a safe way, you should switch to delayed expansion, because delayed expanded content isn't parsed anymore (contrary to percent expansion).
set "arg1=%~1"
set "arg2=%~2"
..
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set "arg1=!arg1:""="!"
set "arg2=!arg2:""="!"
echo !arg1! !arg2!
I am writing a bat file to automate the process of the below Codeception command.
php vendor/bin/codecept run tests/acceptance/SigninCest.php:^anonymousLogin$
The problem is that I cannot output the ^ character for example:
set functionNamePrefix=^^
set output=php vendor/bin/codecept run tests/acceptance/SigninCest.php:
set functionName=anonymousLogin
set functionNamePostFix=$
set command=%output%%functionNamePrefix%%functionName%%functionNamePostFix%
the $ symbol is correctly displayed but the ^ is not.
Any advice?
Thanks
Enclose the variable in quotes:
set "functionNamePrefix=^^"
Now the variable %functionNamePrefix% will contain ^.
Special characters such as the %|^ are seen as operators to cmd.
When you set functionNamePrefix=^^ and try to echo it, you effectively allow cmd to utilize the special character. Therefore, echo %functionNamePrefix% will give the more prompt, as cmd is expecting the next input line because of the ^.
When however you double quote a string, you are excluding the character in the current cmd run. It is however also recommended to double quote strings when using set to ensure you eliminate unwanted whitespace. For instance:
set var=value
Note the accidental space after value, this space will form part of the value as long as it exists, so enclose everything in double quotes to play safe and to ensure the special characters are not becoming functions in the current batch run.
set "functionNamePrefix=^^"
set "output=php vendor/bin/codecept run tests/acceptance/SigninCest.php:"
set "functionName=anonymousLogin"
set "functionNamePostFix=$"
set "command=%output%%functionNamePrefix%%functionName%%functionNamePostFix%"
The Problem
In a main batch file, values are pulled from a .txt file (and SET as values of variables within this batch file). These values may each contain % characters.
These are read from the .txt file with no issues. However, when a variable with a value containing a % character is passed to a second batch file, the second batch file interprets any % characters as a variable expansion. (Note: There is no control over the second batch file.)
Example
echo %PERCENTVARIABLE%
Output: I%LOVE%PERCENT%CHARACTERS%
When passed to a second file and then echo'ed, would (probably) become IPERCENT, as it interprets %LOVE% and %CHARACTERS% as unset variables.
Research
I found the syntax to find and replace elements within a string in a batch file, as I thought I could potentially replace a % character with %% in order to escape it. However I cannot get it to work.
The syntax is -
set string=This is my string to work with.
set string=%string:work=play%
echo %string%
Where the output would then be This is my string to play with..
Questions
Is it possible to escape % characters using the find and replace syntax
in a variable? (If not, is there another way?)
Is it advisable to do so? (Could using these escape characters cause any issue in the second batch file which (as mentioned above) we would have no control over?)
Is there another way to handle this issue, if the above is not possible?
There are no simple rules that can be applied in all situations.
There are a few issues that make working with string literals in parameters difficult:
Poison characters like &, |, etc. must be escaped or quoted. Escaping is difficult because it can be confusing as to how many times to escape. So the recommendation is to usually quote the string.
Token delimiters like <space>, <tab>, =, ; and , cannot be included in a parameter value unless it is quoted.
A CALL to a script will double any quoted % characters, and there is no way to prevent this. Executing a script without CALL will not double the % characters. But if a script calls another script and expects control to be returned, then CALL must be used.
So we have a catch-22: On the one hand, we want to quote parameters to protect against poison characters and spaces (token delimiters). But to protect percents we don't want to quote.
The only reliable method to reliably pass string literals without concern of value corruption is to pass them by reference via environment variables.
The value to be passed should be stored in an environment value. Quotes and/or escapes and/or percent doubling is used to get the necessary characters in the value, but it is very manageable.
The name of the variable is passed in as a parameter.
The script accesses the value via delayed expansion. For example, if the first parameter is the name of a variable containing the value, then it is accessed as !%1!. Delayed expansion must be enabled before that syntax can be used - simply issue setlocal enableDelayedExpansion.
The beauty of delayed expansion is you never have to worry about corruption of poison characters, spaces, or percents when the variable is expanded.
Here is an example that shows how the following string literal can be passed to a subroutine
"<%|,;^> This & that!" & the other thing! <%|,;^>
#echo off
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
set "parm1="^<%%^|,;^^^^^> This ^& that^^!" & the other thing^! <%%|,;^^^>"
echo The value before CALL is !parm1!
call :test parm1
exit /b
:test
echo The value after CALL is !%1!
-- OUTPUT --
The value before CALL is "<%|,;^> This & that!" & the other thing! <%|,;^>
The value after CALL is "<%|,;^> This & that!" & the other thing! <%|,;^>
But you state that you have no control over the 2nd called script. So the above elegant solution won't work for you.
If you were to show the code of the 2nd script, and show exactly what value you were trying to pass, then I might be able to give a solution that would work in that isolated situation. But there are some values that simply cannot be passed unless delayed expansion is used with variable names. (Actually, another option is to put the value in a file and read the value from the file, but that also requires change to your 2nd script)
may be...?
input.txt
I%LOVE%PERCENT%CHARACTERS%
batch1.bat
#echo off
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
set/P var=<input.txt
echo(In batch 1 var content: %var%
set "var=!var:%%=%%%%!"
call batch2.bat "%var%"
endlocal
exit/B
batch2.bat
#echo off
set "var=%~1"
echo(In batch 2 var content: %var%
exit/B
I am trying to get escape character like below:
C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Java\\jdk1.7.0_25
Here is the code in batch script:
set AGNT_JAVA_HOME=%JAVA_HOME% SET
set AGNT_JAVA_HOME=%AGNT_JAVA_HOME:\\=\\\\%
But the value coming is :
AGNT_JAVA_HOME value is C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.7.0_25
Any idea what need to be added here to get the value as first line.
The escape character for batch is ^, not \.
The \ literal does not require escaping.
So all you need is:
set AGNT_JAVA_HOME=%AGNT_JAVA_HOME:\=\\%
But it is safer to enclose the entire SET assignment in quotes, just in case AGNT_JAVA_HOME contains a poison character like &.
set "AGNT_JAVA_HOME=%AGNT_JAVA_HOME:\=\\%"
I need to run a command in a DOS batch file that contains a double colon AND set the output to a variable. Like this
set /a TDR = C:\InCharge\CONSOLE\smarts\bin\dmctl -s SSA-SAM invoke SM_System::SM-System nameToAddr %SM_OBJ_InstanceName%
I keep getting "Missing operator". I assume that is due to those double-colons. How do I escape these? I tried back-slashes but that didn't work. I've tried putting the whole command in double-quotes and that also didn't work.
I can run the command by itself, ie without the "set /a TDR" and the output is correct. But I need to use that output as the value of a variable hence the "set /a"
Normal output for dmctl is this
{ "10.28.112.74" }
I am using dmctl to get the ip address for the hostname. I figured once I got the output I could strip off the brackets and quotations, but I haven't figured out how to grab the output.
Thank you in advance.
Colons do not need to be escaped. See Batch files - Escape Characters for details on what characters need to be escaped, and how to escape them.
"Missing operator" is being returned because SET /A only works with arithmetic operations, so it is looking for an arithmetic operator.
To assign the output of a command to a variable, you have to use the FOR command, similar to the following:
for /f "delims=" %%i in ('C:\InCharge\CONSOLE\smarts\bin\dmctl -s SSA-SAM invoke SM_System::SM-System nameToAddr %SM_OBJ_InstanceName%') do set myresult=%%i
See Reading the output of a command into a batch file variable
To trim 3 characters from the beginning and end of a string:
set mystring=%mystring:~3,-3%
This will remove the curly braces, spaces, and quotation marks that delimit the IP address in the output.
I found this at DOS - String Manipulation.