Batch file opens the program even if wrong selection is made - windows

Hello im currently trying to making a little program to practice and currently have this small issue.
everything else works fine but in the case that the user makes a wrong choice the program gives the error message but it still opens one of the programs either way
here's the code:
#echo off
echo Hola podrias decirme cual es tu nombre?
SET /p USERNAME=Entra tu nombre:
echo Hola %username% que programa te gustaria usar?:
echo.
echo 1. Disk Cleanup Manager
echo 2. Microsoft Paint
echo.
echo Autor:
echo.`your text`
set /p choice=Escribe el numero para abrir la aplicacion:
if %choice%== set choice=%choice:~0,1%
if %choice%==1 goto diskclean
if %choice%==2 goto paint
echo %choice% selecion no validad trata de nuevo
pause
:diskclean
start cleanmgr
goto end
:paint
start mspaint
goto end
searched the web but found no help

A fail-safe and secure batch file for this task would be:
#echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions DisableDelayedExpansion
cls
echo Hola podrias decirme cual es tu nombre?
set "NameUser="
:UserNamePrompt
set /P "NameUser=Entra tu nombre: " || goto UserNamePrompt
set "NameUser=%NameUser:"=%"
if not defined NameUser goto UserNamePrompt
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion & echo Hola !NameUser! que programa te gustaria usar?& endlocal
echo/
echo 1. Disk Cleanup Manager
echo 2. Microsoft Paint
echo/
if not exist %SystemRoot%\System32\choice.exe goto UseSetPrompt
:ChoicePrompt
%SystemRoot%\System32\choice.exe /C 12 /N /M "Escribe el numero para abrir la aplicacion:"
if errorlevel 2 goto Paint
if errorlevel 1 goto DiskCleanup
goto ChoicePrompt
:UseSetPrompt
set "UserChoice="
set /P "UserChoice=Escribe el numero para abrir la aplicacion: " || goto UseSetPrompt
set "UserChoice=%UserChoice:"=%"
if not defined UserChoice goto UseSetPrompt
if "%UserChoice%" == "2" goto Paint
if "%UserChoice%" == "1" goto DiskCleanup
goto UseSetPrompt
:DiskCleanup
start "" %SystemRoot%\System32\cleanmgr.exe
goto End
:Paint
start "" %SystemRoot%\System32\mspaint.exe
:End
endlocal
There should be read first the following chapters in this answer:
Issue 3: ECHO. could result in unwanted behavior
Issue 6: Batch file depends on environment defined outside
There is first defined the required execution environment completely with the first two command lines as every batch file written for usage by others should do.
There is next cleared the screen in case of a user runs this batch file from within a command prompt window instead of double clicking on the batch file in Windows File Explorer.
Please read How to stop Windows command interpreter from quitting batch file execution on an incorrect user input? It explains how to code a set /P user prompt safe and secure and how to use the
Windows command CHOICE for a choice prompt on being available as on Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista and all newer Windows versions (and on also my Windows XP computer). The code above contains also the code for the choice prompt done with set /P in case of this batch file is run by a user on Windows XP which does not have by default the executable choice.exe.
A user of the batch file could enter as name Asterix & Obelix which should be output exactly as entered by the user and should not result in interpreting & as unconditional command operator which is the reason for using delayed variable expansion just to output the text with the user input name. There is no space between usar? and the unconditional command operator & as that space would be otherwise output by ECHO as trailing space, too.
USERNAME is a predefined Windows environment variable which should not be redefined in a batch file.
choice is the name of a Windows command. The string choice should not be used for that reason as name of an environment variable or a label although that would be possible.
Please read How does the Windows Command Interpreter (CMD.EXE) parse scripts?
The word batch means one command line or command block after the other.
The Windows Command Processor cmd.exe processes a batch file therefore by
opening the batch file,
seeking to byte offset in batch file on which stopped reading the last time,
reading a line from the batch file,
parsing/interpreting/processing the read line,
finding out if more lines must be read and parsed or not and if no more lines to read,
remembering current byte offset in batch file,
closing the batch file and
executing the command line or series of commands on a single command line or in a command block.
There are the cmd internal commands CALL, EXIT, FOR, GOTO and IF to change the execution order from one command line after the other to something different. A line with a label does not stop processing a batch file line by line.
Every executable called by cmd.exe during processing of the batch file is referenced with its fully qualified file name. That makes batch file execution faster as cmd.exe does not need to search in file system for the executable files using the local environment variables PATH and PATHEXT. That makes the batch file also more fail-safe as Windows users sometimes corrupt their system and/or user environment variable Path which results in batch files depending on PATH to fail running correct.
To understand the commands used and how they work, open a command prompt window, execute there the following commands, and read the displayed help pages for each command, entirely and carefully.
choice /?
cls /?
echo /?
endlocal /?
goto /?
if /?
set /?
setlocal /?
start /?

Related

Question mark get url encoded in windows batch file

I'm having trouble with a batch script that worked a few days ago, but now doesnt work, even though no changes has been made!
I believe something has changed in the system without my knowledge.
The expected link is:
order.htm?order=12345
But it becomes like this: (notice the question mark becomes %3F)
order.htm%3Forder=12345
The code is as follows:
#echo off
echo.
set "drive=%~d0"
set "runningDir=%~dp0"
:start
ClS
Echo.
Set /P Job=Enter number:^>
#echo off
if exist c:\"Program Files (x86)"\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe goto program_files_x86
:program_files_x86
start c:\"Program Files (x86)"\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe --disable-print-preview --ignore-certificate-errors --disable-web-security --user-data-dir --allow-file-access-from-files %runningDir%\order.htm?order=%job%
goto end
:end
goto start
Any suggestions?
Best Regards
Niclas
Double quotes should be usually used around entire folder/file string and not just parts of it.
Command START interprets first double quoted string as title for the new command process. Therefore on starting a GUI application an empty title string specified with "" should be used on START command line to avoid interpreting the double quoted file name with path of the application to execute as title string.
The batch file path referenced with %~dp0 always ends with a backslash. Therefore don't specify an extra backspace after this string or an environment variable like runningDir with path of batch file. By the way: The current directory on running a batch file can be different to directory of batch file. For that reason the name runningDir is not good as misleading. A better name for the environment variable is BatchPath.
It is possible to use start as label in a batch file. But it is not advisable to do that because of command START which makes it difficult to search for label respectively search for command. It is better to use a label like Begin.
In an url the directory separator is / and therefore each backslash (directory separator on Windows) in batch file path should be substituted by a slash.
The url should start with the protocol like http:// (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and should be enclosed completely in double quotes.
And last echo/ or echo( is better than echo. for printing a blank line, see Difference between Echo[Special Character] for details.
The rewritten batch code:
#echo off
echo/
set "BatchPath=%~dp0"
set "BatchPath=%BatchPath:\=/%"
:Begin
clS
echo/
set /P "Job=Enter number: "
if exist "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" goto program_files_x86
:program_files_x86
start "" "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --disable-print-preview --ignore-certificate-errors --disable-web-security --user-data-dir --allow-file-access-from-files "http://%BatchPath%order.htm?order=%Job%"
goto end
:end
goto Begin
For understanding the used commands and how they work, open a command prompt window, execute there the following commands, and read entirely all help pages displayed for each command very carefully.
cls /?
echo /?
goto /?
if /?
set /?
start /?

%errorlevel% returning 0 in loop command

Ok, I've installed Dropbox but it didn't corresponded to what I was looking for so I uninstalled it with Revo Pro.
But, when i open the taskmanager there are still processes related to it running in my computer so I decided to make a batch to look out and delete all files that are related to it.
#echo off
cd c:\
:a
set /p a=Phrase that might be realted to it
for /r %%d IN (*.*) DO (
(
findstr /i /m /c:%a% "%%d"
if "%errorlevel%"=="0" del "%%d"
echo %errorlevel%
)
)
pause
The problem is: when I run findstr using loop even when there is no match for my variable "%a%" in an analized file %errorlevel% returns as 0. But when I use findstr alone and there isn't a match %ERRORLEVEL% returns as 1 and 0 for a match.
If I use it, I'll delete all my PC files haha. What's wrong with the code?
Within a parenthesised series of statements, any %var% is replaced by the value of that variable at the time the verb controlling that statement-sequence (or block) is encountered.
Here, the block is the entire sequence of statements controlled by the for. %errorlevel% is replaced by the status of errorlevel at the time the for is encountered, so probably 0.
If you use
findstr /i /m /c:%a% "%%d"
if not errorlevel 1 del "%%d"
echo %errorlevel%
then the run-time value of errorlevel is used (ie. as it changes through the operation of the loop) and the command means "if errorlevel is not (1 or greater than 1) do this..."
The findstr will set errorlevel to 0 on found, 1 on not found and 2 for file not found(IIRC) so NOT (1 or greater than 1) selects 0 only. Note that in certain esoteric circumstances, errorlevel may become negative, but after a findstr I believe 0..2 is the allowed range.
Not sure what's wrong with the code, but you can probably skip it using the && operand.
findstr /i /m /c:%a% "%%d" && del "%%d" echo %errorlevel%
Thanks to Stephan for correcting the example.
Whenever Windows command interpreter encounters ( being interpreted as begin of a command block, it parses the entire command block up to matching ) marking end of the command block and replaces all %variable% by current value of the variable.
This means in this case that before command FOR is the first time executed, everything from ( after DO up to last ) is processed already with replacing all %variable% references by current value of the appropriate variable. Then the already preprocessed block is executed one (on command IF) or more times (on command FOR).
This behavior can be seen by debugging the batch file. For debugging a batch file first #echo off must be removed or commented out with command REM or changed to #echo on. Then a command prompt window must be opened and the batch file is executed from within this command prompt window by typing its name with full path enclosed in double quotes if path or name contains a space character. The Windows command interpreter shows now all command lines and command blocks after preprocessing before executing and of course the standard messages and the error messages output by the commands or by Windows command interpreter itself in case of a syntax error in batch file.
Opening a command prompt window means running cmd.exe with option /K to Keep window open after execution of a command or a batch script. Double clicking on a batch file starts also cmd.exe for processing the batch file, but with parameter /C to Close the window automatically after batch processing terminated independent on cause - successful finished or an error occurred.
The command prompt window opened before running the batch file remains open after batch processing finished successfully or with an error except the batch file contains command EXIT without parameter /B. So experts in batch code writing test batch files always by running them from within a command prompt window instead of double clicking on them.
Delayed variable expansion is needed for variables set or modified and referenced within same command block as explained by help of command SET output on running in a command prompt window set /?.
#echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
cd /D C:\
:a
set /P "a=Phrase that might be realted to it: "
for /r %%d in (*) do (
%SystemRoot%\System32\findstr.exe /i /m /c:"%a%" "%%d"
if "!errorlevel!" == "0" del "%%d" >nul
)
endlocal
But for checking the exit code of a previous command there is also if errorlevel syntax as explained by Microsoft in support article Testing for a Specific Error Level in Batch Files.
#echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
cd /D C:\
:a
set /P "a=Phrase that might be realted to it: "
for /r %%d in (*) do (
%SystemRoot%\System32\findstr.exe /i /m /c:"%a%" "%%d" >nul
if not errorlevel 1 del "%%d" >nul
)
endlocal
if errorlevel X tests if exit code of previous command or application when it modifies the errorlevel variable at all is greater or equal X. By using if not errorlevel X the check is if last exit code is lower than X which is here a test if exit code is 0.
For understanding the used commands and how they work, open a command prompt window, execute there the following commands, and read entirely all help pages displayed for each command very carefully.
cd /?
del /?
echo /?
for /?
if /?
set /?
And see also
Microsoft's command-line reference
SS64.com - A-Z index of the Windows CMD command line
Microsoft article about Using command redirection operators
Answer on question Single line with multiple commands using Windows batch file
How to set environment variables with spaces?

is it possible to open a new cmd window with a batch file and use the new window as i live log?

I have created a batch file to help me write a script for an application I have on my phone that will automate touch tasks. The script I am creating will require 240x9 lines of the scripting language to complete the tasks I am wanting to complete, is there a way to open a new cmd line and output text to the new window?
So for instance right now I have each option in the batch file to write the screen touch coordinates required by the scripting language to execute my tasks out to a text file like this.
#ECHO :start>speedsearch.txt
Is it possible to pass these to a new window just to use it as a live log so if I loose my place I can refer to the log window to remind myself where I am in the creation of my script?
i do know that in a regular cmd window if i were to use.
TYPE C:\speedSearch.txt
it will print what is in the text file, so is there anyway to pass the command from my batch script to.
TYPE C:\speedSearch.txt
everytime i choose an option to add a line to the script in the file?
i already have the new window opening by using this at the beginning of my script.
start "LOGGING WINDOW" C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CMD.EXE
I just need a little help with how i pass commands to the new window, without disrupting my current session in the batch script.
This problem is about synchronization. There are several ways to start two or more execution threads in Batch files and exist several standard ways to solve the usual synchro problems. The difference in this case is that the second thread is started via a start command, so there is no way to redirect its standard input. The only way to accurately detect the end of the file in the second thread is inserting a particular line that indicate that point; in the code below, ":EOF" string is used for this purpose.
#echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
if "%~1" neq "" goto %1
echo :start> speedsearch.txt
rem Run View Log code simultaneously with Main code
start "View Log" "%~NX0" ViewLog
:Main
set "line="
set /P "line=Enter next line: "
if not defined line goto endMain
echo %line%>> speedsearch.txt
goto Main
:endMain
rem Send the "end of file" mark
echo :EOF>> speedsearch.txt
echo File complete
goto :EOF
:ViewLog
set i=0
call :Update < speedsearch.txt
goto :EOF
:Update
set "line="
set /P "line="
if "!line!" equ ":EOF" goto :EOF
if defined line (
set /A i+=1
echo !i!- !line!
)
goto :Update

How can I make an "are you sure" prompt in a Windows batch file?

I have a batch file that automates copying a bunch of files from one place to the other and back for me. Only thing is as much as it helps me I keep accidentally selecting that command off my command buffer and mass overwriting uncommitted changes.
What code would I need for my .bat file to make it output "Are you sure?", and make me type Y before it ran the rest of the file?
If anything other than Y is typed, it should exit execution on that line.
When I call exit, it closes cmd.exe which is not what I want.
You want something like:
#echo off
setlocal
:PROMPT
SET /P AREYOUSURE=Are you sure (Y/[N])?
IF /I "%AREYOUSURE%" NEQ "Y" GOTO END
echo ... rest of file ...
:END
endlocal
try the CHOICE command, e.g.
CHOICE /C YNC /M "Press Y for Yes, N for No or C for Cancel."
There are two commands available for user prompts on Windows command line:
set with option /P available on all Windows NT versions with enabled command extensions and
choice.exe available by default on Windows Vista and later Windows versions for PC users and on Windows Server 2003 and later server versions of Windows.
set is an internal command of Windows command processor cmd.exe. The option /P to prompt a user for a string is available only with enabled command extensions which are enabled by default as otherwise nearly no batch file would work anymore nowadays.
choice.exe is a separate console application (external command) located in %SystemRoot%\System32. File choice.exe of Windows Server 2003 can be copied into directory %SystemRoot%\System32 on a Windows XP machine for usage on Windows XP like many other commands not available by default on Windows XP, but available by default on Windows Server 2003.
It is best practice to favor usage of CHOICE over usage of SET /P because of the following reasons:
CHOICE accepts only keys (respectively characters read from STDIN) specified after option /C (and Ctrl+C and Ctrl+Break) and outputs an error beep if the user presses a wrong key.
CHOICE does not require pressing any other key than one of the acceptable ones. CHOICE exits immediately once an acceptable key is pressed while SET /P requires that the user finishes input with RETURN or ENTER.
It is possible with CHOICE to define a default option and a timeout to automatically continue with default option after some seconds without waiting for the user.
The output is better on answering the prompt automatically from another batch file which calls the batch file with the prompt using something like echo Y | call PromptExample.bat on using CHOICE.
The evaluation of the user's choice is much easier with CHOICE because of CHOICE exits with a value according to pressed key (character) which is assigned to ERRORLEVEL which can be easily evaluated next.
The environment variable used on SET /P is not defined if the user hits just key RETURN or ENTER and it was not defined before prompting the user. The used environment variable on SET /P command line keeps its current value if defined before and user presses just RETURN or ENTER.
The user has the freedom to enter anything on being prompted with SET /P including a string which results later in an exit of batch file execution by cmd because of a syntax error, or in execution of commands not included at all in the batch file on not good coded batch file. It needs some efforts to get SET /P secure against by mistake or intentionally wrong user input.
Here is a prompt example using preferred CHOICE and alternatively SET /P on choice.exe not available on used computer running Windows.
#echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions DisableDelayedExpansion
echo This is an example for prompting a user.
echo/
if exist "%SystemRoot%\System32\choice.exe" goto UseChoice
setlocal EnableExtensions EnableDelayedExpansion
:UseSetPrompt
set "UserChoice="
set /P "UserChoice=Are you sure [Y/N]? "
set "UserChoice=!UserChoice: =!"
if /I "!UserChoice!" == "N" endlocal & goto :EOF
if /I not "!UserChoice!" == "Y" goto UseSetPrompt
endlocal
goto Continue
:UseChoice
%SystemRoot%\System32\choice.exe /C YN /N /M "Are you sure [Y/N]?"
if not errorlevel 1 goto UseChoice
if errorlevel 2 goto :EOF
:Continue
echo So you are sure. Okay, let's go ...
rem More commands can be added here.
endlocal
Note: This batch file uses command extensions which are not available on Windows 95/98/ME using command.com instead of cmd.exe as command interpreter.
The command line set "UserChoice=!UserChoice: =!" is added to make it possible to call this batch file with echo Y | call PromptExample.bat on Windows NT4/2000/XP and do not require the usage of echo Y| call PromptExample.bat. It deletes all spaces from string read from STDIN before running the two string comparisons.
echo Y | call PromptExample.bat results in YSPACE getting assigned to environment variable UserChoice. That would result on processing the prompt twice because of "Y " is neither case-insensitive equal "N" nor "Y" without deleting first all spaces. So UserChoice with YSPACE as value would result in running the prompt a second time with option N as defined as default in the batch file on second prompt execution which next results in an unexpected exit of batch file processing. Yes, secure usage of SET /P is really tricky, isn't it?
choice.exe exits with 0 in case of the user presses Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Break and answers next the question output by cmd.exe to terminate the batch job with N for NO. For that reason the condition if not errorlevel 1 goto UserChoice is added to prompt the user once again for a definite answer on the prompt by batch file code with Y or N. Thanks to dialer for the information about this possible special use case.
The first line below the batch label :UseSetPrompt could be written also as:
set "UserChoice=N"
In this case the user choice input is predefined with N which means the user can hit just RETURN or ENTER (or Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Break and next N) to use the default choice.
The prompt text is output by command SET as written in the batch file. So the prompt text should end usually with a space character. The command CHOICE removes from prompt text all trailing normal spaces and horizontal tabs and then adds itself a space to the prompt text. Therefore the prompt text of command CHOICE can be written without or with a space at end. That does not make a difference on displayed prompt text on execution.
The order of user prompt evaluation could be also changed completely as suggested by dialer.
#echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions DisableDelayedExpansion
echo This is an example for prompting a user.
echo/
if exist "%SystemRoot%\System32\choice.exe" goto UseChoice
setlocal EnableExtensions EnableDelayedExpansion
:UseSetPrompt
set "UserChoice="
set /P "UserChoice=Are you sure [Y/N]? "
set "UserChoice=!UserChoice: =!"
if /I not "!UserChoice!" == "Y" endlocal & goto :EOF
endlocal
goto Continue
:UseChoice
%SystemRoot%\System32\choice.exe /C YN /N /M "Are you sure [Y/N]?"
if not errorlevel 2 if errorlevel 1 goto Continue
goto :EOF
:Continue
echo So you are sure. Okay, let's go ...
endlocal
This code results in continuation of batch file processing below the batch label :Continue if the user pressed definitely key Y. In all other cases the code for N is executed resulting in an exit of batch file processing with this code independent on user pressed really that key, or entered something different intentionally or by mistake, or pressed Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Break and decided next on prompt output by cmd not terminating the batch job.
For even more details on usage of SET /P and CHOICE for prompting user for a choice from a list of options see answer on How to stop Windows command interpreter from quitting batch file execution on an incorrect user input?
Some more hints:
IF compares the two strings left and right of the comparison operator with including the double quotes. So case-insensitive compared is not the value of UserChoice with N and Y, but the value of UserChoice surrounded by " with "N" and "Y".
The IF comparison operators EQU and NEQ are designed primary for comparing two integers in range -2147483648 to 2147483647 and not for comparing two strings. EQU and NEQ work also for string comparisons, but result on comparing strings in double quotes after a useless attempt to convert left string to an integer. EQU and NEQ can be used only with enabled command extensions. The comparison operators for string comparisons are == and not ... == which work even with disabled command extensions as even command.com of MS-DOS and Windows 95/98/ME supported them. For more details on IF comparison operators see Symbol equivalent to NEQ, LSS, GTR, etc. in Windows batch files.
The command goto :EOF requires enabled command extensions to really exit batch file processing. For more details see Where does GOTO :EOF return to?
For understanding the used commands and how they work, open a command prompt window, execute there the following commands, and read entirely all help pages displayed for each command very carefully.
choice /?
echo /?
endlocal /?
goto /?
if /?
set /?
setlocal /?
See also:
This answer for details about the commands SETLOCAL and ENDLOCAL.
Why is no string output with 'echo %var%' after using 'set var = text' on command line?
It explains the reason for using syntax set "variable=value" on assigning a string to an environment variable.
Single line with multiple commands using Windows batch file for details on if errorlevel X behavior and operator &.
Microsoft documentation for using command redirection operators explaining the redirection operator | and handle STDIN.
Wikipedia article about Windows Environment Variables for an explanation of SystemRoot.
DosTips forum topic ECHO. FAILS to give text or blank line - Instead use ECHO/
The choice command is not available everywhere. With newer Windows versions, the set command has the /p option you can get user input
SET /P variable=[promptString]
see set /? for more info
Here a bit easier:
#echo off
set /p var=Are You Sure?[Y/N]:
if %var%== Y goto ...
if not %var%== Y exit
or
#echo off
echo Are You Sure?[Y/N]
choice /c YN
if %errorlevel%==1 goto yes
if %errorlevel%==2 goto no
:yes
echo yes
goto :EOF
:no
echo no
Here's my go-to method for a yes/no answer.
It's case-insensitive also.
This just checks for the errors given by the input and sets the choice variable to whatever you require so it can be used below in the code.
#echo off
choice /M "[Opt 1] Do you want to continue [Yes/No]"
if errorlevel 255 (
echo Error
) else if errorlevel 2 (
set "YourChoice=will not"
) else if errorlevel 1 (
set "YourChoice=will"
) else if errorlevel 0 (
goto :EOF
)
echo %YourChoice%
pause
You can also use 'Choice' command
#echo off
echo Sure?
CHOICE /C YN
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 1 goto CONTINUE
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 2 goto END
:END
exit
:CONTINUE
echo hi
pause
If you want to the batch program to exit back to the prompt and not close the prompt (A.K.A cmd.exe) you can use "exit /b".
This may help.
set /p _sure="Are you sure?"
::The underscore is used to ensure that "sure" is not an enviroment
::varible
if /I NOT "_sure"=="y" (
::the /I makes it so you can
exit /b
) else (
::Any other modifications...
)
Or if you don't want to use as many lines...
Set /p _sure="Are you sure?"
if /I NOT "_sure"=="y" exit /b
::Any other modifications and commands.
Hope this helps...
Here is a simple example which I use in a backup (.bat / batch) script on Windows 10, which allows me to have different options when making backups.
...
:choice
set /P c=Do you want to rsync the archives to someHost[Y/N]?
if /I "%c%" EQU "Y" goto :syncthefiles
if /I "%c%" EQU "N" goto :doonotsyncthefiles
goto :choice
:syncthefiles
echo rsync files to somewhere ...
bash -c "rsync -vaz /mnt/d/Archive/Backup/ user#host:/home/user/Backup/blabla/"
echo done
:doonotsyncthefiles
echo Backup Complete!
...
You can have as many as you need of these blocks.
You can consider using a UI confirmation.
With yesnopopup.bat
#echo off
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%# in ('yesnopopup.bat') do (
set "result=%%#"
)
if /i result==no (
echo user rejected the script
exit /b 1
)
echo continue
rem --- other commands --
the user will see the following and depending on the choice the script will continue:
with absolutely the same script you can use also iexpYNbutton.bat which will produce similar popup.
With buttons.bat you can try the following script:
#echo off
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%# in ('buttons.bat "Yep!" "Nope!" ') do (
set "result=%%#"
)
if /i result==2 (
echo user rejected the script
exit /b 1
)
echo continue
rem --- other commands --
and the user will see:
I would do it in the following way to make sure the testing and variables are correct during looping etc..
:: rem at the top of the script
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
:: choice example
CHOICE /C YNC /M "Continue? Press Y for Yes, N for No or C for Cancel."
If /I "[!errorlevel!]" NEQ "[1]" ( GOTO START_OVER )
There are so many answers, but none of them seems to be simple and straight forward. This is the code I am using:
choice /M "Do you want to continue?"
if %errorlevel% EQU 1 (
... run your code lines here
)
First, open the terminal.
Then, type
cd ~
touch .sure
chmod 700 .sure
Next, open .sure and paste this inside.
#!/bin/bash --init-file
PS1='> '
alias y='
$1
exit
'
alias n='Taskkill /IM %Terminal% /f'
echo ''
echo 'Are you sure? Answer y or n.'
echo ''
After that, close the file.
~/.sure ; ENTER COMMAND HERE
This will give you a prompt of are you sure before continuing the command.
Open terminal. Type the following
echo>sure.sh
chmod 700 sure.sh
Paste this inside sure.sh
#!\bin\bash
echo -n 'Are you sure? [Y/n] '
read yn
if [ "$yn" = "n" ]; then
exit 1
fi
exit 0
Close sure.sh and type this in terminal.
alias sure='~/sure&&'
Now, if you type sure before typing the command it will give you an are you sure prompt before continuing the command.
Hope this is helpful!

Is there a way in a batch script to keep the console open only if invoked from Windows Manager?

I have a DOS batch script that invokes a java application which interacts with the user through the console UI. For the sake of argument, let's call it runapp.bat and its contents be
java com.example.myApp
If the batch script is invoked in a console, everything works fine. However, if the script is invoked from the Window Manager, the newly opened console closes as soon as the application finishes executing. What I want is for the console to stay open in all cases.
I know of the following tricks:
add a pause command at the end of the script. This is a bit ugly in case runapp.bat is invoked from the command line.
create a new shell using cmd /K java com.example.myApp This is the best solution I found so far, but leaves an extra shell environment when invoked from the command line, so that calling exit doesn't actually close the shell.
Is there a better way?
See this question: Detecting how a batch file was executed
This script will not pause if run from the command console, but will if double-clicked in Explorer:
#echo off
setlocal enableextensions
set SCRIPT=%0
set DQUOTE="
:: Detect how script was launched
#echo %SCRIPT:~0,1% | findstr /l %DQUOTE% > NUL
if %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 set PAUSE_ON_CLOSE=1
:: Run your app
java com.example.myApp
:EXIT
if defined PAUSE_ON_CLOSE pause
I prefer using %cmdcmdline% as posted in the comment to Patrick's answer to the other question (which I didn't find although looked). That way, even if someone decides to use quotes to call the batch script, it won't trigger the false positive.
My final solution:
#echo off
java com.example.myApp %1 %2
REM "%SystemRoot%\system32.cmd.exe" when from console
REM cmd /c ""[d:\path\script.bat]" " when from windows explorer
#echo %cmdcmdline% | findstr /l "\"\"" >NUL
if %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 pause
cmd /K java com.example.myApp & pause & exit
will do the job. The & will execute the command one after another. If you use && you can break if one fails.
Include this line in a batch file and double click on the batch file in explorer:
cmd /k "script commands within these quotes seperated by &&"
For example
cmd /k "cd ../.. && dir && cd some_directory"
The full complement of options to cmd can be found here
I frequently use alternate shells (primarily TCC/LE from jpsoft.com) and subshells. I've found that this code works for a wider, more general case (and it doesn't require FINDSTR):
#echo off & setlocal
if "%CMDEXTVERSION%"=="" ( echo REQUIRES command extensions & exit /b 1 ) &:: REQUIRES command extensions for %cmdcmdline% and %~$PATH:1 syntax
call :_is_similar_command _FROM_CONSOLE "%COMSPEC%" %cmdcmdline%
if "%_PAUSE_NEEDED%"=="0" ( goto :_START )
if "%_PAUSE_NEEDED%"=="1" ( goto :_START )
set _PAUSE_NEEDED=0
if %_FROM_CONSOLE% equ 0 ( set _PAUSE_NEEDED=1 )
goto :_START
::
:_is_similar_command VARNAME FILENAME1 FILENAME2
:: NOTE: not _is_SAME_command; that would entail parsing PATHEXT and concatenating each EXT for any argument with a NULL extension
setlocal
set _RETVAL=0
:: more than 3 ARGS implies %cmdcmdline% has multiple parts (therefore, NOT direct console execution)
if NOT [%4]==[] ( goto :_is_similar_command_RETURN )
:: deal with NULL extensions (if both NULL, leave alone; otherwise, use the non-NULL extension for both)
set _EXT_2=%~x2
set _EXT_3=%~x3
if NOT "%_EXT_2%"=="%_EXT_3%" if "%_EXT_2%"=="" (
call :_is_similar_command _RETVAL "%~2%_EXT_3%" "%~3"
goto :_is_similar_command_RETURN
)
if NOT "%_EXT_2%"=="%_EXT_3%" if "%_EXT_3%"=="" (
call :_is_similar_command _RETVAL "%~2" "%~3%_EXT_2%"
goto :_is_similar_command_RETURN
)
::if /i "%~f2"=="%~f3" ( set _RETVAL=1 ) &:: FAILS for shells executed with non-fully qualified paths (eg, subshells called with 'cmd.exe' or 'tcc')
if /i "%~$PATH:2"=="%~$PATH:3" ( set _RETVAL=1 )
:_is_similar_command_RETURN
endlocal & set "%~1=%_RETVAL%"
goto :EOF
::
:_START
if %_FROM_CONSOLE% EQU 1 (
echo EXEC directly from command line
) else (
echo EXEC indirectly [from explorer, dopus, perl system call, cmd /c COMMAND, subshell with switches/ARGS, ...]
)
if %_PAUSE_NEEDED% EQU 1 ( pause )
Initially, I had used if /i "%~f2"=="%~f3" in the _is_similar_command subroutine. The change to if /i "%~$PATH:2"=="%~$PATH:3" and the additional code checking for NULL extensions allows the code to work for shells/subshells opened with non-fully qualified paths (eg, subshells called with just 'cmd.exe' or 'tcc').
For arguments without extensions, this code does not parse and use the extensions from %PATHEXT%. It essentially ignores the hierarchy of extensions that CMD.exe uses when searching for a command without extension (first attempting FOO.com, then FOO.exe, then FOO.bat, etc.). So, _is_similar_command checks for similarity, not equivalence, between the two arguments as shell commands. This could be a source of confusion/error, but will, in all likelyhood, never arise as a problem in practice for this application.
Edit: Initial code was an old version. The code is now updated to the most recent version which has: (1) a swapped %COMSPEC% and %cmdcmdline% in the initial call, (2) added a check for multiple %cmdcmdline% arguments, (3) echoed messages are more specific about what is detected, and (4) a new variable %_PAUSE_NEEDED% was added.
It should be noted that %_FROM_CONSOLE% is set based specifically on whether the batch file was excecuted directly from the console command line or indirectly through explorer or some other means. These "other means" can include a perl system() call or by executing a command such as cmd /c COMMAND.
The variable %_PAUSE_NEEDED% was added so that processes (such as perl) which execute the batch file indirectly can bypass pauses within the batch file. This would be important in cases in which output is not piped to the visible console (eg, perl -e "$o = qx{COMMAND}"). If a pause occurs in such a case, the "Press any key to continue . . ." pause prompt would never be displayed to the user and the process will hang waiting for unprompted user input. In instances where user interaction is either not possible or not allowed, the %_PAUSE_NEEDED% variable can be preset to "0" or "1" (false or true respectively). %_FROM_CONSOLE% is still set correctly by the code, but the value of %_PAUSE_NEEDED% is not subsequently set based upon %_FROM_CONSOLE%. It is just passed through.
And also note that the code will incorrectly detect execution as indirect (%_FROM_CONSOLE%=0) within a subshell if that subshell is opened with a command containing switches/options (eg, cmd /x). Generally this isn't a big problem as subshells are usually opened without extra switches and %_PAUSE_NEEDED% can be set to 0, when necessary.
Caveat codor.
#echo %CMDCMDLINE% | find /I " /c " >nul && pause

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