Questions tagged [batch-file]
A batch file is a text file containing a series of commands that are executed by the command interpreter on MS-DOS, IBM OS/2, or Microsoft Windows systems.
53,942
questions
1436
votes
20
answers
2.5m
views
How can I pass arguments to a batch file?
I need to pass an ID and a password to a batch file at the time of running rather than hardcoding them into the file.
Here's what the command line looks like:
test.cmd admin P@55w0rd > test-log....
1344
votes
24
answers
1.5m
views
How do I run two commands in one line in Windows CMD?
I want to run two commands in a Windows CMD console.
In Linux I would do it like this
touch thisfile ; ls -lstrh
How is it done on Windows?
1266
votes
7
answers
1.3m
views
What does %~dp0 mean, and how does it work?
I find %~dp0 very useful, and I use it a lot to make my batch files more portable.
But the label itself seems very cryptic to me... What is the ~ doing? Does dp mean drive and path? Does the 0 refer ...
1156
votes
12
answers
1.7m
views
How to "comment-out" (add comment) in a batch/cmd?
I have a batch file that runs several python scripts that do table modifications.
I want to have users comment out the 1-2 python scripts that they don't want to run, rather than removing them from ...
1001
votes
7
answers
619k
views
Split long commands in multiple lines through Windows batch file
How can I split long commands over multiple lines in a batch file?
895
votes
12
answers
567k
views
Windows batch files: .bat vs .cmd?
As I understand it, .bat is the old 16-bit naming convention, and .cmd is for 32-bit Windows, i.e., starting with NT. But I continue to see .bat files everywhere, and they seem to work exactly the ...
882
votes
29
answers
2.6m
views
How to sleep for five seconds in a batch file/cmd [duplicate]
Windows's Snipping tool can capture the screen, but sometimes I want to capture the screen after five seconds, such as taking an image being displayed by the webcam. (Run the script and smile at the ...
868
votes
18
answers
1.1m
views
How to run multiple .BAT files within a .BAT file
I'm trying to get my commit-build.bat to execute other .BAT files as part of our build process.
Content of commit-build.bat:
"msbuild.bat"
"unit-tests.bat"
"deploy.bat"
This seems simple enough, ...
790
votes
27
answers
1.3m
views
How can I echo a newline in a batch file?
How can you you insert a newline from your batch file output?
I want to do something like:
echo hello\nworld
Which would output:
hello
world
755
votes
25
answers
1.4m
views
Batch file to delete files older than N days
I am looking for a way to delete all files older than 7 days in a batch file. I've searched around the web, and found some examples with hundreds of lines of code, and others that required installing ...
725
votes
11
answers
1.2m
views
How to capture cURL output to a file?
I have a text document that contains a bunch of URLs in this format:
URL = "sitehere.com"
What I'm looking to do is to run curl -K myfile.txt, and get the output of the response cURL ...
685
votes
10
answers
2.5m
views
How do I shutdown, restart, or log off Windows via a bat file?
I've been using Remote Desktop Connection to get into a workstation. But in this environment, I cannot use the power options in Start Menu. I need an alternative way to shutdown or restart.
How do I ...
678
votes
21
answers
1.0m
views
How to prevent auto-closing of console after the execution of batch file
What command can I put at the end of a batch file to prevent auto-closing of the console after the execution of the file?
657
votes
34
answers
574k
views
How do I measure execution time of a command on the Windows command line?
Is there a built-in way to measure execution time of a command on the Windows command line?
647
votes
9
answers
858k
views
What is the current directory in a batch file?
I want to create a few batch files to automate a program.
My question is when I create the batch file, what is the current directory?
Is it the directory where the file is located or is it the same ...
637
votes
30
answers
1.7m
views
How do I get current date/time on the Windows command line in a suitable format for usage in a file/folder name?
Update: Now that it's 2016 I'd use PowerShell for this unless there's a really compelling backwards-compatible reason for it, particularly because of the regional settings issue with using date. See @...
624
votes
4
answers
1.2m
views
Defining and using a variable in batch file
I'm trying to define and use a variable in a batch file. It looks like it should be simple:
@echo off
set location = "bob"
echo We're working with "%location%"
The output I get ...
610
votes
30
answers
1.2m
views
How can you find and replace text in a file using the Windows command-line environment?
I am writing a batch file script using Windows command-line environment and want to change each occurrence of some text in a file (ex. "FOO") with another (ex. "BAR"). What is the simplest way to do ...
601
votes
14
answers
942k
views
Create folder with batch but only if it doesn't already exist
Can anybody tell me how to do the following in in a Windows batch script? (*.bat):
Create a folder only if it doesn't already exist
In more detail, I want to create a folder named VTS on the C:\ ...
564
votes
3
answers
1.4m
views
How to check if a file exists from inside a batch file [duplicate]
I need to run a utility only if a certain file exists. How do I do this in Windows batch?
514
votes
14
answers
1.5m
views
In Windows cmd, how do I prompt for user input and use the result in another command?
I have a Windows .bat file which I would like to accept user input and then use the results of that input as part of the call to additional commands.
For example, I'd like to accept a process ID from ...
490
votes
13
answers
489k
views
How to get list of arguments?
I'd like to find a Windows batch counterpart to Bash's $@ that holds a list of all arguments passed into a script.
Or I have to bother with shift?
454
votes
17
answers
829k
views
Iterate all files in a directory using a 'for' loop
How can I iterate over each file in a directory using a for loop?
And how could I tell if a certain entry is a directory or if it's just a file?
452
votes
30
answers
223k
views
I want to delete all bin and obj folders to force all projects to rebuild everything
I work with multiple projects, and I want to recursively delete all folders with the name 'bin' or 'obj' that way I am sure that all projects will rebuild everything (sometimes it's the only way to ...
450
votes
32
answers
622k
views
Displaying Windows command prompt output and redirecting it to a file
How can I run a command-line application in the Windows command prompt and have the output both displayed and redirected to a file at the same time?
If, for example, I were to run the command dir >...
433
votes
8
answers
477k
views
How to get the path of the batch script in Windows?
I know that %0 contains the full path of the batch script, e.g. c:\path\to\my\file\abc.bat
I want path to be equal to c:\path\to\my\file.
How can I achieve that?
427
votes
30
answers
1.2m
views
'adb' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file
I am trying to run google map v2 on emulator, I am following this tutorial.
When I was trying to install required apk file on emulator, I am getting below error.
I tried to solve this using this ...
418
votes
9
answers
435k
views
What does %~d0 mean in a Windows batch file?
I'm looking at a batch file which defines the following variables:
set _SCRIPT_DRIVE=%~d0
set _SCRIPT_PATH=%~p0
What do %~d0 or %~p0 actually mean?
Is there a set of well-known values for things ...
405
votes
16
answers
1.3m
views
How to delete files/subfolders in a specific directory at the command prompt in Windows
Say, there is a variable called %pathtofolder%, as it makes it clear it is a full path of a folder.
I want to delete every single file and subfolder in this directory, but not the directory itself.
...
389
votes
9
answers
820k
views
How to set commands output as a variable in a batch file [duplicate]
Is it possible to set a statement's output of a batch file to a variable, for example:
findstr testing > %VARIABLE%
echo %VARIABLE%
388
votes
4
answers
630k
views
Get current batchfile directory
Firstly, I saw this topic but I couldn't understand that.
Question :
There is a batch file in D:\path\to\file.bat with following content :
echo %cd%
pause
Output is :
C:\
It must be D:\path\to
...
376
votes
9
answers
344k
views
How do I make a batch file terminate upon encountering an error?
I have a batch file that's calling the same executable over and over with different parameters. How do I make it terminate immediately if one of the calls returns an error code of any level?
...
369
votes
12
answers
421k
views
Assign output of a program to a variable using a MS batch file
I need to assign the output of a program to a variable using a MS batch file.
So in GNU Bash shell I would use VAR=$(application arg0 arg1). I need a similar behavior in Windows using a batch file.
...
367
votes
16
answers
1.3m
views
Batch script loop
I need to execute a command 100-200 times, and so far my research indicates that I would either have to copy/paste 100 copies of this command, OR use a for loop, but the for loop expects a list of ...
366
votes
14
answers
858k
views
Windows shell command to get the full path to the current directory?
Is there a Windows command line command that I can use to get the full path to the current working directory?
Also, how can I store this path inside a variable used in a batch file?
350
votes
26
answers
258k
views
Batch script: how to check for admin rights
How do I check if the current batch script has admin rights?
I know how to make it call itself with runas but not how to check for admin rights. The only solutions I've seen are crude hack jobs or ...
331
votes
10
answers
372k
views
Which comment style should I use in batch files?
I've been writing some batch files, and I ran into this user guide, which has been quite informative. One thing it showed me was that lines can be commented not just with REM, but also with ::. It ...
327
votes
18
answers
839k
views
How can you zip or unzip from the script using ONLY Windows' built-in capabilities?
In Windows you can zip some files by
right click → Send to → Compressed (zipped) folder
And unzip by double clicking on the .zip file and extract the files.
Is there a way to apply ...
324
votes
6
answers
560k
views
Batch not-equal (inequality) operator
According to this, !==! is the not-equal string operator.
Trying it, I get:
C:\> if "asdf" !==! "fdas" echo asdf
!==! was unexpected at this time.
What am I doing wrong?
323
votes
27
answers
647k
views
Create an empty file on the commandline in windows (like the linux touch command)
On a windows machine I get this error
'touch' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
I was following these instructions which seem to be linux specific,...
318
votes
14
answers
595k
views
Logical operators ("and", "or") in DOS batch
How would you implement logical operators in DOS Batch files?
317
votes
27
answers
458k
views
How to echo with different colors in the Windows command line
I know that the color bf command sets the colors of the whole command line window but I wanted to to print one single line in a different color.
313
votes
18
answers
958k
views
Stop and Start a service via batch or cmd file?
How can I script a bat or cmd to stop and start a service reliably with error checking (or let me know that it wasn't successful for whatever reason)?
307
votes
6
answers
450k
views
How to do something to each file in a directory with a batch script
How do you iterate over each file in a directory with a .bat or .cmd file?
For simplicity please provide an answer that just echoes the filename or file path.
306
votes
20
answers
777k
views
How to check if a process is running via a batch script
How can I check if an application is running from a batch (well cmd) file?
I need to not launch another instance if a program is already running. (I can't change the app to make it single instance ...
302
votes
18
answers
495k
views
What is the proper way to test if a parameter is empty in a batch file?
I need to test if a variable is set or not. I've tried several techniques but they seem to fail whenever %1 is surrounded by quotes such as the case when %1 is "c:\some path with spaces".
...
300
votes
24
answers
391k
views
Quickly create large file on a Windows system
In the same vein as Quickly create a large file on a Linux system,
I'd like to quickly create a large file on a Windows system. By large I'm thinking 5 GB. The content doesn't matter. A built-in ...
297
votes
12
answers
648k
views
How do you loop through each line in a text file using a windows batch file?
I would like to know how to loop through each line in a text file using a Windows batch file and process each line of text in succession.
296
votes
20
answers
334k
views
Windows batch: echo without new line
What is the Windows batch equivalent of the Linux shell command echo -n which suppresses the newline at the end of the output?
The idea is to write on the same line inside a loop.
292
votes
10
answers
1.6m
views
Batch file to copy files from one folder to another folder
I have a storage folder on a network in which all users will store their active data on a server. Now that server is going to be replaced by a new one due to place problem so I need to copy sub ...