Windows 2000 batch file command reference

This command reference is based largely on Microsoft's documentation provided with Windows 2000, but has been rewritten to increase its usefulness and make it easier to read.

call  echo  endlocal  for  goto  if  pause  rem setlocal  shift  % (variable)

CALL
Calls one batch program from another without causing the parent batch program to stop. The call command now accepts labels as the target of the call. 
call [drive:][path] filename [batch-parameters]
call :label [arguments]

Parameters
[drive:][path] filename  Example: CALL F:\scripts\batchfile.bat
Specifies the location and name of the batch program you want to call. The filename parameter must have a .bat or .cmd extension.

batch-parameters Specifies any command-line information required by the batch program. See below under the arguments parameter for extensions to batch-parameters.

:label Specifies the label (a specified part in the program) to which you want ...

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the batch program control to jump. Using the call command with this parameter creates a new batch file context and passes control to the statement after the specified label. The first time the end of the batch file is encountered (after jumping to the label), control returns to the statement after the CALL statement. The second time the end of the batch file is encountered, the batch script is exited.

call  echo  endlocal  for  goto  if  pause  rem setlocal  shift  % (variable)

ECHO
Turns the command-echoing feature on or off, or displays a message.
echo [on | off] [message]

Parameters
on | off Specifies whether to turn the command-echoing feature on or off. To display the current echo setting, use the echo command without a parameter. 
message Specifies text you want Windows 2000 to display on the screen.

This example shows a batch program that includes a three-line message preceded and followed by a blank line:

If you want to turn echo off and you do not want to echo the echo command itself, include an at sign (@) before the command, as follows: @echo off

To echo a blank line on the screen, you can type echo and then a period (echo.). There must be no intervening space.

You can use the if and echo commands on the same command line, as follows:

To display a pipe (|) or redirection character (< or >) when using the echo command, use a caret character immediately before the pipe or redirection character (for example, ^>, ^<, or ^| ). If you need to use the caret character itself (^), use two in a row (^^).

call  echo  endlocal  for  goto  if  pause  rem setlocal  shift  % (variable)

ENDLOCAL

Ends localization of environment changes in a batch file, restoring environment variables to their values before the matching setlocal command. There is an implicit endlocal command at the end of the batch file.

endlocal
If command extensions are enabled (the default in Windows 2000), the endlocal command restores the enabled/disabled state of command extensions to what it was before the matching setlocal command was executed.

call  echo  endlocal  for  goto  if  pause  rem setlocal  shift  % (variable)

FOR 

Runs a specified command for each file in a set of files. You can use the for command within a batch program or directly from the command prompt.

To use for in a batch program, use the following syntax:
for %%variable in (set) do command [command-parameters]

To use for from the command prompt, use the following syntax:
for %variable in (set) do command [command-parameters]

Parameters
%%variable or %variable
Represents a replaceable parameter. The for command replaces %%variable (or %variable) with each text string in the specified set until the command (specified in the command-parameters) processes all of the files. Use %%variable to carry out the for command within a batch program. Use %variable to carry out for from the command prompt. Variable names are case sensitive.

(set) 
Specifies one or more files or text strings that you want to process with the specified command. The parentheses are required.

command
Specifies the command that you want to carry out on each file included in the specified set.

command-parameters
Specifies any parameters or switches that you want to use with the specified command (if the specified command uses any parameters or switches).

If command extensions are enabled (the default setting in Windows 2000), additional forms of the for command are supported.

If command extensions are enabled, the following additional forms of the for command are supported:

directories only

for /D [%% | %]variable in (set) do command [command-parameters]

If set contains wildcards (* and ?), specifies to match against directory names instead of file names.

Recursive
for /R [[drive :]path] [%% | %]variable in (set) do command [command-parameters]
Walks the directory tree rooted at [drive:]path, executing the for statement in each directory of the tree. If no directory is specified after /R then the current directory is assumed. If set is just a single period (.) character then it will only enumerate the directory tree.

Iterative
for /L [%% | %]variable in (start,step,end) do command [command-parameters]
The set is a sequence of numbers from start to end, by step amount. So (1,1,5) would generate the sequence 1 2 3 4 5 and (5,-1,1) would generate the sequence (5 4 3 2 1).

File parsing
for /F ["options"] [%% | %]variable in (filenameset) do command [command-parameters]
for /F ["options"] [%% | %]variable in ("literal string") do command [command-parameters]
for /F ["options"] [%% | %]variable in ('command') do command [command-parameters]
or, if usebackq option present:
for /F ["options"] [%% | %]variable in (filenameset) do command [command-parameters]
for /F ["options"] [%% | %]variable in ('literal string') do command [command-parameters]
for /F ["options"] [%% | %]variable in (`command`) do command [command-parameters]

The filenameset parameter specifies one or more file names. Each file is opened, read and processed before going on to the next file in filenameset.

Processing consists of reading in the file, breaking it up into individual lines of text and then parsing each line into zero or more tokens. The body of the for loop is then called with the variable value(s) set to the found token string(s). By default, /F passes the first blank separated token from each line of each file.

Blank lines are skipped. You can override the default parsing behavior by specifying the optional "options" parameter. This is a quoted string which contains one or more keywords to specify different parsing options. The keywords are:

Variable substitution
In addition, substitution modifiers for for variable references have been enhanced. You can now use the following optional syntax (for any variable I):

The modifiers can be combined to get compound results:

[IMAGE] Note

• In the above examples, %I and PATH can be replaced by other valid values. The %~ syntax is terminated by a valid for variable name.
• Using uppercase variable names such as %I can make your code more readable and avoid confusion with the modifiers, which are not case sensitive.

call  echo  endlocal  for  goto  if  pause  rem setlocal  shift  % (variable)

GOTO 

Directs Windows 2000 to a line in a batch program marked by a label you specify. The goto command directs Windows 2000 within a batch program to a line identified by a label. When Windows 2000 finds the label, it processes the commands beginning on the next line.

goto label

Parameter label
Specifies the line in a batch program to which Windows 2000 should go. If command extensions are enabled (the default setting in Windows 2000), goto changes as follows: Using the goto command with a target label of :EOF transfers control to the end of the current batch script file, exiting the batch script file without defining a label.

Valid values for label 
The label parameter can include spaces but cannot include other separators, such as semicolons or equal signs. When using goto with the EOF label, you must insert a colon before the label, for example:

Goto uses the first eight characters of each label
The goto command uses only the first eight characters of a label. Therefore, the labels ":hithere01" and ":hithere02" are both equivalent to ":hithere0."

Matching the label parameter with the label in the batch program
The label value you specify on the goto command line must match a label in the batch program. The label within the batch program must begin with a colon.If your batch program does not contain the label that you specify, the batch program stops and Windows 2000 displays the following message:

Windows 2000 recognizes a batch program line beginning with a colon (:) as a label and does not process it as a command. If a line begins with a colon, Windows 2000 ignores any commands on that line.

The following batch program formats a disk in drive A as a system disk. If the operation is successful, the goto command directs Windows 2000 to a label named "end."

call  echo  endlocal  for  goto  if  pause  rem setlocal  shift  % (variable)

IF

Performs conditional processing in batch programs. If the condition specified in an if command is true, Windows 2000 carries out the command that follows the condition. If the condition is false, Windows 2000 ignores the command in the if clause, and executes any command in the else clause, if one has been specified.

   if [not] errorlevel number command [else expression]
   if [not] string1==string2 command [else expression]
   if [not] exist filename command [else expression]

With command extensions enabled:

   if [/i] string1 compare-op string2 command [else expression]
   if cmdextversion number command [else expression]
   if defined variable command [else expression]

Parameters

not 
Specifies that Windows 2000 should carry out the command only if the condition is false.

errorlevel number
Specifies a true condition only if the previous program run by Cmd.exe returned an exit code equal to or greater than number.

command
Specifies the command that Windows 2000 should carry out if the preceding condition is met.

string1==string2
Specifies a true condition only if string1 and string2 are the same. These values can be literal strings or batch variables (%1, for example). Literal strings do not need quotation marks.

exist filename
Specifies a true condition if filename exists.

compare-op
one of the following three-letter comparison operators:

/i
The /i switch, when specified, forces string comparisons to ignore case. The /i switch can also be used on the string1==string2 form of if. These comparisons are generic, in that if both string1 and string2 are both comprised of all numeric digits, then the strings are converted to numbers and a numeric comparison is performed.

cmdextversion number
The cmdextversion conditional works just like errorlevel, except it is comparing against an internal version number associated with the Command Extensions feature of Cmd.exe. The first version is 1. It will be incremented by one when significant enhancements are added to the command extensions. The cmdextversion conditional is never true when command cxtensions are disabled.

defined variable
The defined conditional works just like exist except it takes an environment variable name and returns true if the environment variable is defined. Three variables are added with this conditional: %errorlevel%, %cmdcmdline%, and %cmdextversion%.

%errorlevel% expands into a string representation of the current value of errorlevel, provided that there is not already an environment variable with the name ERRORLEVEL, in which case you will get its value instead. After running a program, the following illustrates errorlevel use:

You can also use the comparison operators listed above at compare-op:

%cmdcmdline% expands into the original command line passed to Cmd.exe prior to any processing by Cmd.exe, provided that there is not already an environment variable with the name cmdcmdline, in which case you will get its value instead.

%cmdextversion% expands into the a string representation of the current value of cmdextversion, provided that there is not already an environment variable with the name CMDEXTVERSION, in which case you will get its value instead.

expression
In an else clause, an expression consists of a Windows 2000 command and any parameters to be passed to the command.

Using if to verify the presence of a file
The following message appears if Windows 2000 cannot find the file Product.dat: 

Using if to post a message when an error occurs
The following example displays an error message if an error occurs during formatting of the disk in drive A:

If no error occurs, the error message is skipped.

Using if to verify the presence of a directory
The following example tests for the existence of a directory. The if command cannot be used to test directly for a directory, but the null (NUL) device does exist in every directory. Therefore, you can test for the null device to determine whether a directory exists.

Using the else clause
The else clause must occur on the same line as the command after the if. For example:

The following does not work, because the del command must be terminated by a newline:

The following does not work, because the else command must be on the same line as the end of the if command:

The following form of the original statement works, if you want to format it all on a single line:

call  echo  endlocal  for  goto  if  pause  rem setlocal  shift  % (variable)

PAUSE

Suspends processing of a batch program and displays a message prompting the user to press any key to continue.

Prompting the user to continue the program
Windows 2000 displays the following message in response to the pause command:

Dividing a batch file into sections
If you press CTRL+C to stop a batch program, Windows 2000 displays the following message:
If you press Y (for yes) in response to this message, the batch program ends and control returns to the operating system. Therefore, you can insert the pause command before a section of the batch file you may not want to process. While pause suspends processing of the batch program, you can press CTRL+C and then Y to stop the batch program

Suppose you want a batch program to prompt the user to change disks in one of the drives. To do this, you might create the following file:

In this example, all the files on the disk in drive A are copied to the current directory. After the displayed comment prompts you to place another disk in drive A, the pause command suspends processing so that you can change disks and then press any key to resume processing. This particular batch program runs in an endless loop. The goto BEGIN command sends the command interpreter to the begin label of the batch file. To stop this batch program, press CTRL+C and then Y.

call  echo  endlocal  for  goto  if  pause  rem setlocal  shift  % (variable)

REM

Enables you to include comments (remarks) in a batch file or in your configuration files. This is useful for documentation, and explaining what each section of your batch file does. (Trust me, you'll forget what your programming logic was a year from now.)

rem [comment]

Parameter comment 
Specifies any string of characters you want to include as a comment

Using the echo command to display comments
The rem command does not display comments on the screen. You must use the echo on command in your batch or Config.nt file to display comments on the screen.

Restrictions on batch file comments 
You cannot use a redirection character "(" or ")" or pipe (|) in a batch file comment.

Using rem to add vertical spacing
Although you can use rem without a comment to add vertical spacing to a batch file, you can also use blank lines. Windows 2000 ignores the blank lines when processing the batch program.

Examples
The following example shows a batch file that uses remarks for both explanations and vertical spacing:

Suppose you want to include in your Config.nt file an explanatory comment before the prompt command. To do this, add the following lines to Config.nt:

call  echo  endlocal  for  goto  if  pause  rem setlocal  shift  % (variable)

SETLOCAL

Allows you to create a environment variable for use within a batch file. This variable lasts until a matching endlocal command is encountered, or the until end of the batch file.

setlocal option

Parameter option
When command extensions are enabled (the default in Windows 2000), the setlocal batch command accepts an optional argument, which can be either enableextensions or disableextensions. This enables or disables the command extensions until the matching endlocal command, regardless of their setting prior to the setlocal command.

The setlocal command also sets the errorlevel value when it is passed an argument. The errorlevel value is set to zero (0) if one of the two valid arguments is given and set to one (1) otherwise.

call  echo  endlocal  for  goto  if  pause  rem setlocal  shift  % (variable)

SHIFT

Changes the position of replaceable parameters in a batch file.

shift
When command extensions are enabled (the default setting in Windows 2000), the shift command supports the /n switch, which tells the command to start shifting at the nth argument, where n can be a value from zero to eight.

For example,  would shift %3 to %2, %4 to %3, and so on, and leave %0 and %1 unaffected

How the shift command works
The shift command changes the values of the replaceable parameters %0 through %9, by copying each parameter into the previous one. In other words, the value of %1 is copied to %0, the value of %2 is copied to %1, and so on. This is useful for writing a batch file that performs the same operation on any number of parameters.

Working with more than 10 command-line parameters
You can also use the shift command to create a batch file that can accept more than 10 parameters. If you specify more than 10 parameters on the command line, those that appear after the tenth (%9) will be shifted one at a time into %9.

Shifting parameters back
There is no backward shift command. After you carry out the shift command, you cannot recover the first parameter (%0) that existed before the shift.

Example
The following batch file, testcopy.bat, shows how to use the shift command with any number of parameters. It copies a list of files to a specific directory. The parameters are the directory name followed by any number of file names.

call  echo  endlocal  for  goto  if  pause  rem setlocal  shift  % (variable)

% (variable)

A variable is a replaceable parameter. The parameters %0 and %1 to %9 can be placed anywhere within a batch file. When the batch file is run, %0 is replaced by the name of the batch file, and the argument variables %1 to %9 are replaced by the corresponding parameters entered on the command line.

For example, to copy the contents of one folder to another, you would add the following statement in your batch file:

xcopy %1\*.* %2

When you run the file, you would type the following:

mybatch.bat C:\afolder D:\bfolder.

The effect is the same as if you had written xcopy C:\afolder \*.* D:\bfolder in the batch file.

The % parameter expands the batch script argument variables (%0, %1, ..., %9) as follows:

%* in a batch script is a wildcard reference to all the arguments. For individual argument variables, the expansion options are explained in the following tables.

The modifiers can be combined to get compound results:

In the above examples %1 and PATH can be replaced by other valid values. The %~ syntax must be terminated by a valid argument number. The %~ modifiers may not be used with %*.

call  echo  endlocal  for  goto  if  pause  rem setlocal  shift  % (variable)

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