Use the standard output as log path - windows

I need to run an external exe on windows machine, one of the arguments is a log path which the exe will write the progress info to
I would like to know if there is a way that i can make the external exe to write directly to the stdout instead of writing to a file
if I run the exe without any arguments it would not write anything to the stdout
There is no other argument that i could use

Related

Visual Studio Code Run build task in the Windows prompt with shortcut ctrl+shift+B

I have a C program and I need to run two batch file which manage all the compilation toolchain. The First one sets the enviroment variables and the next one to be executed performs the compilation and the linking. For some reason, eventhough I am setting all the needed enviroments variables with the first batch file, some .exe that are called by the second batch file are not recognized by the VS code internal terminal (extended error message: "file.exe" is not recognized as internal command or/and an executable program or a batch file"). I have tried to run in sequence this two batch files (by directly calling it, without any shortcut) in the Windows prompt opened in VS code and the C program is successfully compiled. Thus, Is there a way to run my build task (this batch file) in the Windows prompt opened in VS code by using the shortcut ctrl+shift+b? I have tried to set some option in the settings but they do not work.
The problem is that I was calling in sequence this two batch file, namely by defining in the task.json that the compilation batch file must be executed after the other batch. But in this way, the two batch files will be executed in two different instances of the prompt, so the enviroment variable will exist only in the first prompt. That is why when the compilation batch is executed I get that problem "'file.exe' is not recognized as internal command or/and an executable program or a batch file".
In order to execute these two batch files in the same prompt it is necessary to define a task in the task.json with this command:
command: "batch1 && batch2",

Location of Command Prompt Commands

Where are the commands located for Command Prompt? I know this is possible in Linux, but what about windows?
I want to rename certain commands so I can make my own using the original name.
Im doing this on a 32bit Windows XP if that helps.
More specifically, where can I find the tree command?
https://superuser.com/questions/312926/windows-equivalent-of-which-command-in-linux
in windows 7 there's the where command.
You can overwrite the standard commands, but this will break a lot of stuff.
You would also have to modify your path environment variable
in windows 7 tree is located in C:\Windows\System32\tree.com
This might be a useful site for you
http://ss64.com/nt/
Use a bat file of the same name to override an inbuilt external command. Some commands are internal so you have to specify .bat. Also if calling the overridden program specify the extension.
There are two types of commands in Windows command prompt. The internal commands are built-in inside the command processor program, that is called cmd.exe. You may inspect such commands if you open cmd.exe file with an Hex editor, or even directly with Notepad (although doing that requires a lot of patience!); to know the location of cmd.exe file, type: set comspec. Examples of internal commands are DIR, COPY, TYPE, MD, etc. (the simplest ones) and all Batch-file commands, like GOTO, IF, FOR, REM, etc. There is no way to change the name of an internal command, unless you modify the cmd.exe file (for example, using the same Hex editor) that, although possible, is NEVER recommended!!!
The external commands reside in disk files with .com or .exe extension that are grouped in certain subdirectories, usually in C:\Windows\System or C:\Windows\System32; these subdirectories must appear in %PATH% variable in order to execute the external commands directly in the command prompt. You may locate the folder where an executable file resides using the following command, that review folders included in PATH variable only (you can not use wild-cards in this case):
for %a in (tree.com tree.exe) do #echo/%~$PATH:a
You may directly change the name of any command-name.exe file; however, this practice is not recommended. A simpler option is create a Batch file with the same name of a standard command (and .bat extension) and place it in a folder that will be included in PATH variable before the standard commands folder (or in the current directory). For example, create a file named tree.bat and place it in C:\Users\MyName\MyCommands; then, modify PATH variable this way: path=C:\Users\MyName\MyCommands;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32. If you need to use the standard tree command inside your tree.bat file, just include the proper extension: tree.com.

prevent Windows .bat file from quiting

I have a very simple Windows .BAT file:
set PATH=c:\xxx;%PATH%
call foo.pl
set VAR=true
I thought "call" will start a new batch process, without affecting the current one. However, the batch file exited immediately after the foo.pl finished executing. The set VAR=true has never been called.
Is there a way to fix it?
foo.pl is not a batch file, it is a Perl script.
So you need to use
path c:\xxx;%PATH%
"Path to\Folder With\perl.exe" "foo.pl"
rem Additional batch code executed after Perl script execution finished.
In other words you have to run the console application perl.exe best with full path, or with just perl.exe if program files folder of Perl is not the same on all computers on which this batch file is used and hopefully PATH contains also the directory containing perl.exe.
If you specify on a command line or in a batch file just foo.pl, Windows looks in Windows registry which application is associated with .pl for action Open. If there is such a file association, Windows runs this application in a separate process like when using command start.
So using call foo.pl is like using start foo.pl.
PATH is not only an environment variable, but also an interal command written for changing the value of environment variable PATH at any time within a batch file. This is the reason why I removed set from first line. It is better to use internal command path for modifying environment variable PATH.

How to create an executable command prompt script

I usually perform actions in the 7zip command line program. I was thinking about creating a small script to do everything automatically, but I have never written any Windows shell script before and therefore don't even know where to begin.
I would like to make an executable script file which, when a user double-clicks on it, will call the 7zip command line and perform some actions.
First of all, is this possible? And if it is, what is the best way to do this?
You can create a batch script to do this.
It's basically command line commands that run one after another so you don't have to keep typing them in :)
Put the commands you would normally use for 7zip in a notepad file and save it with the extension .bat, then run it.
7z blah blah params
7z more params and args
All your commands will be executed automatically when the previous one finishes.
There are other programming languages you could do this in (or even VBScript) but batch would be perfectly suited to this, and you don't need to install anything extra.
Batch files can run a series of command line commands. Simply create a text file and name it with the .bat extension.
There are plenty of resources on the internet which will provide you with help.

running a perl script from a windows scheduled task

I have awstats installed on windows 2008 server.
I schedule the Updatestats.bat file to run every day, the task runs fine without error, but the script is not being executed or is throwing an error that I cannot see.
-- If I run the bat file directly from command line then it works fine. --
I have tried various alternatives to the windows scheduler, such as "nncron" and "Freebyte Task Scheduler", nncron had the same issue, but the freebyte app worked, but sadly it does not run as a service so is of no use.
here is the contents of the bat file, all lines look like this.
c:\strawberry\perl\bin\perl.exe D:\AWStats\wwwroot\cgi-bin\awstats.pl config=earlsmere.co.uk -update
anyone got any ideas ?
Your unattended environment is obviously different from you command line. Check if the following are set:
Script's working directory, if it reads anything from it or uses relative paths.
PERL*_LIB environment variables if your script uses any modules.
PATH environment variable, if your script calls any external scripts/binaries.
User that is running scheduled tasks have sufficient rights for everything you want to do.
As a quick workaround you can set them directly in script using chdir function, lib module, and $ENV{PATH} entry.
You also can try to capture standard output and error with following redirections before you start doing anything else:
open(STDOUT, '>>', '/full/path/to/out.log') || die "Error stdout: $!";
open(STDERR, '>>', '/full/path/to/err.log') || die "Error stderr: $!";
Note that you really should use full paths there in case you indeed have working directory set wrong. And make sure target directory/file is writable for anyone.
Looks like the output gets lost in space...
I suggest redirecting the output of the command to a file, like this:
c:\strawberry\perl\bin\perl.exe D:\AWStats\wwwroot\cgi-bin\awstats.pl config=earlsmere.co.uk -update > c:\my_log.txt 2>&1
(courtesy of Anders Lindahl: Redirect stdout and stderr to a single file in DOS)

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