Related
Background
I want to use ROBOCOPY to backup folders. To learn this, I created a test source folder, containing other subfolders and dummy files.
F:\RoboCopy\RoboCopy_Files
I am able to ROBOCOPY the source folder from the Command line and PowerShell (with using Windows 10).
ROBOCOPY "RoboCopy_Files" "RoboCopy_Files_Testing" /MIR
It does exactly what I want.
Now I put the command into batch file Robocopy.cmd.
Problem symptoms
However, when I put the same command into Robocopy.cmd file, in the root F:\RoboCopy folder and run it, I get only flashing cmd window with my command repeated on ever increasing number of lines.
How can I put the command into a CMD file (e.g. Robocopy.cmd) for later use/share/schedule? How to prevent command prompt from flashing in endless loop without running the command?
Note: I feel this is more about learning how to put cmd scripts into files, than how to use ROBOCOPY.
Cause: File and Command have the same name
I wanted to use the ROBOCOPY command inside the ROBOCOPY file. This is a mistake.
The file ends up calling itself.
Solution 1: Rename batch file
One solution is to rename the batch file to be different from the command(s) in the file.
Solution 2: Use more explicit command call
Another solution could be to use ROBOCOPY.exe or explicitly specify the full path to the exe like C:...\robocopy.exe. This would prevent the "confusion" in calling the command vs calling the batch file itself.
Solution 1 x 2
The best solution (thx Mofi again) is to combine the 1 x 2 together. Use unique batch file name AND specify the full path to command (exe) inside the batch file.
Useful related commands: To determine the full path to command (exe), see the WHERE command (e.g. Where Robocopy.exe - This should be somewhere in windows folder.), system variables (e.g. SS64), or the command SET.
The full version in my case would be to run for example BackupRobocopyFiles.cmd with line:
%SystemRoot%\System32\robocopy.exe "RoboCopy_Files" "RoboCopy_Files_Testing" /MIR /R:2
Note: This would work only if the cmd file is in the root folder F:\RoboCopy. If I would like to run the cmd from different folder (or task sheduler), I would specify the full path to SOURCE_FOLDER and DESTINATION_FOLDER parameters of ROBOCOPY command.
Contributions
The answer was found based on comments by: "MC ND", "eryksun". "Mofi" did point out, that the original Q was not helpful. Thanks to all.
I am attempting to run a build task from a .cmd file where Powershell extracts a zip file, which helps bypass a problem with Visual Studio's limit on the number of directory characters. However, I am having problems getting the Powershell command to execute correctly. I've tried a number of variations with the quotations, and I either get a termination error, or the Powershell command outputs as a string with the zip file not extracted. Below is an example of my current .cmd file:
//%1% is a passed in command line argument for the absolute path, e.g. C:\path\to\dir
set Source=%1%directory.zip
set Destination=%1%directory
powershell -Command $pscmd = '{Add-Type -assembly "system.io.compression.filesystem";[io.compression.zipfile]::ExtractToDirectory("%Source%", "%Destination%");}'; Write-Host $pscmd;
I'm very open to a number of variations that can get this to work, provided that this task runs on the command line, uses Powershell, and can be executed from a .cmd file, which is triggered by our app's build process. I'll be happy to provide additional information if needed. Thanks!
This was a strange one. Your code above has some sort of hidden character in it. I took the code and opened it in notepad, saved as ANSI, and when you type it to command line or open it again in a new instance of notepad you can see the error.
Neither add-type nor ExtractToDirectory give output, so I removed your pscmd var.
I would open your existing script, save as ansi as a new file name, delete the original, rename the new one back to the original name.
Here is what I came up with to troubleshoot your script, and it works on my machine.
I named my script L:\util\unzip.cmd
setlocal
//%1% is a passed in command line argument for the absolute path, e.g. C:\path\to\dir
set _Source='%1\directory.zip'
set _Destination='%1\directory'
echo _Source=%_Source%
echo _Destination=%_Destination%
set _c1=Add-Type -assembly system.io.compression.filesystem;
set _c2=[io.compression.zipfile]::ExtractToDirectory(%_Source%, %_Destination%)
echo _c1=%_c1%
echo _c2=%_c2%
set _Command=^& {%_c1% %_c2%};
: to echo, use double quotes or cmd thinks text after & is another command
echo _Command="%_Command%"
pause
powershell -Command "%_Command%"
endlocal
I ran it like this, and it worked: unzip.cmd L:\util
I'll bet this this info, you are good to go.
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, but on a standard windows commandline it does not work like this:
touch index.html app.js style.css
Is there a windows equivalent of the 'touch' command from the linux / mac os / unix world ? Do I need to create these files by hand (and modify them to change the timestamp) in order to implement this sort of command? I am working with node and that doesn't seem very ... node-ish...
An easy way to replace the touch command on a windows command line like cmd would be:
type nul > your_file.txt
This will create 0 bytes in the your_file.txt file.
This would also be a good solution to use in windows batch files.
Another way of doing it is by using the echo command:
echo.> your_file.txt
echo. - will create a file with one empty line in it.
If you need to preserve the content of the file use >> instead of >
> Creates a new file
>> Preserves content of the file
Example
type nul >> your_file.txt
You can also use call command.
Calls one batch program from another without stopping the parent batch program. The call command accepts labels as the target of the call.
Example:
call >> your_file.txt
---
or even if you don't want make it hard you can Just install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). Then, type.
wsl touch
or
wsl touch textfilenametoedit.txt
Quotes are not needed.
Windows does not natively include a touch command.
You can use any of the available public versions or you can use your own version. Save this code as touch.cmd and place it somewhere in your path
#echo off
setlocal enableextensions disabledelayedexpansion
(for %%a in (%*) do if exist "%%~a" (
pushd "%%~dpa" && ( copy /b "%%~nxa"+,, & popd )
) else (
type nul > "%%~fa"
)) >nul 2>&1
It will iterate over it argument list, and for each element if it exists, update the file timestamp, else, create it.
You can use this command: ECHO >> filename.txt
it will create a file with the given extension in the current folder.
UPDATE:
for an empty file use: copy NUL filename.txt
On windows Power Shell, you can use the following command:
New-Item <filename.extension>
or
New-Item <filename.extension> -type file
Note: New-Item can be replaced with its alias ni
The answer is wrong, it only works when the file does not exist. If the file exists, using the first does nothing, the second adds a line at the end of the file.
The correct answer is:
copy /b filename.ext +,,
I found it here: https://superuser.com/questions/10426/windows-equivalent-of-the-linux-command-touch/764721#764721
I'm surprised how many answers here are just wrong. Echoing nothing into a file will fill the file with something like ECHO is ON, and trying to echo $nul into a file will literally place $nul into the file. Additionally for PowerShell, echoing $null into a file won't actually make a 0kb file, but something encoded as UCS-2 LE BOM, which can get messy if you need to make sure your files don't have a byte-order mark.
After testing all the answers here and referencing some similar ones, I can guarantee these will work per console shell. Just change FileName.FileExtension to the full or relative-path of the file you want to touch; thanks to Keith Russell for the COPY NUL FILE.EXT update:
CMD w/Timestamp Updates
copy NUL FileName.FileExtension
This will create a new file named whatever you placed instead of FileName.FileExtension with a size of 0 bytes. If the file already exists it will basically copy itself in-place to update the timestamp. I'd say this is more of a workaround than 1:1 functionality with touch but I don't know of any built-in tools for CMD that can accomplish updating a file's timestamp without changing any of its other content.
CMD w/out Timestamp Updates
if not exist FileName.FileExtension copy NUL FileName.FileExtension
Powershell w/Timestamp Updates
if (!(Test-Path FileName.FileExtension -PathType Leaf)) {New-Item FileName.FileExtension -Type file} else {(ls FileName.FileExtension ).LastWriteTime = Get-Date}
Yes, it will work in-console as a one-liner; no requirement to place it in a PowerShell script file.
PowerShell w/out Timestamp Updates
if (!(Test-Path FileName.FileExtension -PathType Leaf)) {New-Item FileName.FileExtension -Type file}
Use the following command on the your command line:
fsutil file createnew filename requiredSize
The parameters info as followed:
fsutil - File system utility ( the executable you are running )
file - triggers a file action
createnew - the action to perform (create a new file)
filename - would be literally the name of the file
requiredSize - would allocate a file size in bytes in the created file
install npm on you machine
run the below command in you command prompt.
npm install touch-cli -g
now you will be able to use touch cmd.
You can replicate the functionality of touch with the following command:
$>>filename
What this does is attempts to execute a program called $, but if $ does not exist (or is not an executable that produces output) then no output is produced by it. It is essentially a hack on the functionality, however you will get the following error message:
'$' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
If you don't want the error message then you can do one of two things:
type nul >> filename
Or:
$>>filename 2>nul
The type command tries to display the contents of nul, which does nothing but returns an EOF (end of file) when read.
2>nul sends error-output (output 2) to nul (which ignores all input when written to). Obviously the second command (with 2>nul) is made redundant by the type command since it is quicker to type. But at least you now have the option and the knowledge.
as mentioned
echo >> index.html
it can be any file, with any extension
then do
notepad index.html
this will open your file in the notepad editor
No command – neither typenor echo– is necessary to emulate Unix's/Mac OS X's 'touch' command in a Windows Powershell terminal. Simply use the following shorthand:
$null > filename
This will create an empty file named 'filename' at your current location. Use any filename extension that you might need, e.g. '.txt'.
Source: https://superuser.com/questions/502374/equivalent-of-linux-touch-to-create-an-empty-file-with-powershell (see comments)
For a very simple version of touch which would be mostly used to create a 0 byte file in the current directory, an alternative would be creating a touch.bat file and either adding it to the %Path% or copying it to the C:\Windows\System32 directory, like so:
touch.bat
#echo off
powershell New-Item %* -ItemType file
Creating a single file
C:\Users\YourName\Desktop>touch a.txt
Directory: C:\Users\YourName\Desktop
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a---- 2020-10-14 10:28 PM 0 a.txt
Creating multiple files
C:\Users\YourName\Desktop>touch "b.txt,c.txt"
Directory: C:\Users\YourName\Desktop
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a---- 2020-10-14 10:52 PM 0 b.txt
-a---- 2020-10-14 10:52 PM 0 c.txt
Also
Works both with PowerShell and the Command Prompt.
Works with existing subdirectories.
Does not create a file if it already exists:
New-Item : The file 'C:\Users\YourName\Desktop\a.txt' already exists.
For multiple files, creates only the files that do not exist.
Accepts a comma-separated list of filenames without spaces or enclosed in quotes if spaces are necessary:
C:\Users\YourName\Desktop>touch d.txt,e.txt,f.txt
C:\Users\YourName\Desktop>touch "g.txt, 'name with spaces.txt'"
You can also use copy con [filename] in a Windows command window (cmd.exe):
C:\copy con yourfile.txt [enter]
C:\CTRL + Z [enter] //hold CTRL key & press "Z" then press Enter key.
^Z
1 Files Copied.
This will create a file named yourfile.txt in the local directory.
I use cmder (a command line emulator)
It allows you to run all Linux commands inside a Windows machine.
It can be downloaded from https://cmder.net/
I really like it
From the Terminal of Visual Code Studio on Windows 10, this is what worked for me to create a new file:
type > hello.js
echo > orange.js
ni > peach.js
As Raghuveer points out in his/her answer, ni is the PowerShell alias for New-Item, so you can create files from a PowerShell prompt using ni instead of touch.
If you prefer to type touch instead of ni, you can set a touch alias to the PowerShell New-Item cmdlet.
Creating a touch command in Windows PowerShell:
From a PowerShell prompt, define the new alias.
Set-Alias -Name touch -Value New-Item
Now the touch command works almost the same as you are expecting. The only difference is that you'll need to separate your list of files with commas.
touch index.html, app.js, style.css
Note that this only sets the alias for PowerShell. If PowerShell isn't your thing, you can set up WSL or use bash for Windows.
Unfortunately the alias will be forgotten as soon as you end your PowerShell session. To make the alias permanent, you have to add it to your PowerShell user profile.
From a PowerShell prompt:
notepad $profile
Add your alias definition to your profile and save.
If you have Cygwin installed in your PC, you can simply use the supplied executable for touch (also via windows command prompt):
C:\cygwin64\bin\touch.exe <file_path>
Assuming the file exists and you just need to update the timestamp.
type test.c > test.c.bkp && type test.c.bkp > test.c && del test.c.bkp
Use rem. > file.txt (notice the dot attached to the command "rem")
this creates an empty file
Shortest possible vanilla solution is :
.>myfile.txt
You will get an error , but file is created :
If you are using VS Code, there is a command line tool code to help you open a non-exist file in VS Code.
There is something missing in all of the other answers. The Linux touch command has a -t option, which lets you set the last modified time to any arbitrary date and time, not just the current time.
This sets the modification date of filename.txt to 20 December 2012 at 30 minutes after midnight.
touch -t 201212210030 filename.txt
To get the equivalent in Windows, you need to be in PowerShell, it can't be done in Cmd.
Change the creation date/timestamp of a file named filename.txt:
(Get-Item "D:\Test\filename.txt").CreationTime=("21 December 2012 00:30:00")
Change the last write date/timestamp of a file named filename.txt:
(Get-Item "D:\Test\filename.txt").LastWriteTime=("21 December 2012 00:30:00")
Change the last accessed date/timestamp of a file named filename.txt:
(Get-Item "D:\Test\filename.txt").LastAccessTime=("21 December 2012 00:30:00")
Using PowerShell, type: ni index.html or ni style.css or ni app.js
ni <filename>.<extension>
If you have WSL with the appropriate distro like Ubuntu you can have the touch command in the CMD and not just the bash terminal. It works for me on Windows 10 & 11 Windows Terminal
Easy, example with txt file
echo $null >> filename.txt
Yes you can use Node for Touch I just use that and its working all fine in windows Cmd or gitbash
Use type instead of touch
type YOUR_FILE_NAME
However, it is limited to just a single file
I am a beginner in VBScript. I googled it & got to know that we can run VBScript from command line by executing below command:
For Example my vbscript name is Converter.vbs & it's present in folder D:\VBS.
I can run it through following methods:
CScript "D:\VBS\Converter.vbs"
OR
WScript "D:\VBS\Converter.vbs"
Now I would like to execute above VBScript without Cscript or Wscript command by simply typing the name of VBscript name i.e. Converter.
I DON'T WANT TO SPECIFY THE FULL PATH OF VBSCRIPT EVERYTIME.
Can anyone please guide me on how to do that ?
I'll break this down in to several distinct parts, as each part can be done individually. (I see the similar answer, but I'm going to give a more detailed explanation here..)
First part, in order to avoid typing "CScript" (or "WScript"), you need to tell Windows how to launch a * .vbs script file. In My Windows 8 (I cannot be sure all these commands work exactly as shown here in older Windows, but the process is the same, even if you have to change the commands slightly), launch a console window (aka "command prompt", or aka [incorrectly] "dos prompt") and type "assoc .vbs". That should result in a response such as:
C:\Windows\System32>assoc .vbs
.vbs=VBSFile
Using that, you then type "ftype VBSFile", which should result in a response of:
C:\Windows\System32>ftype VBSFile
vbsfile="%SystemRoot%\System32\WScript.exe" "%1" %*
-OR-
C:\Windows\System32>ftype VBSFile
vbsfile="%SystemRoot%\System32\CScript.exe" "%1" %*
If these two are already defined as above, your Windows' is already set up to know how to launch a * .vbs file. (BTW, WScript and CScript are the same program, using different names. WScript launches the script as if it were a GUI program, and CScript launches it as if it were a command line program. See other sites and/or documentation for these details and caveats.)
If either of the commands did not respond as above (or similar responses, if the file type reported by assoc and/or the command executed as reported by ftype have different names or locations), you can enter them yourself:
C:\Windows\System32>assoc .vbs=VBSFile
-and/or-
C:\Windows\System32>ftype vbsfile="%SystemRoot%\System32\WScript.exe" "%1" %*
You can also type "help assoc" or "help ftype" for additional information on these commands, which are often handy when you want to automatically run certain programs by simply typing a filename with a specific extension. (Be careful though, as some file extensions are specially set up by Windows or programs you may have installed so they operate correctly. Always check the currently assigned values reported by assoc/ftype and save them in a text file somewhere in case you have to restore them.)
Second part, avoiding typing the file extension when typing the command from the console window.. Understanding how Windows (and the CMD.EXE program) finds commands you type is useful for this (and the next) part. When you type a command, let's use "querty" as an example command, the system will first try to find the command in it's internal list of commands (via settings in the Windows' registry for the system itself, or programmed in in the case of CMD.EXE). Since there is no such command, it will then try to find the command in the current %PATH% environment variable. In older versions of DOS/Windows, CMD.EXE (and/or COMMAND.COM) would automatically add the file extensions ".bat", ".exe", ".com" and possibly ".cmd" to the command name you typed, unless you explicitly typed an extension (such as "querty.bat" to avoid running "querty.exe" by mistake). In more modern Windows, it will try the extensions listed in the %PATHEXT% environment variable. So all you have to do is add .vbs to %PATHEXT%. For example, here's my %PATHEXT%:
C:\Windows\System32>set pathext
PATHEXT=.PLX;.PLW;.PL;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.COM;.EXE;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC;.PY
Notice that the extensions MUST include the ".", are separated by ";", and that .VBS is listed AFTER .CMD, but BEFORE .COM. This means that if the command processor (CMD.EXE) finds more than one match, it'll use the first one listed. That is, if I have query.cmd, querty.vbs and querty.com, it'll use querty.cmd.
Now, if you want to do this all the time without having to keep setting %PATHEXT%, you'll have to modify the system environment. Typing it in a console window only changes it for that console window session. I'll leave this process as an exercise for the reader. :-P
Third part, getting the script to run without always typing the full path. This part, in relation to the second part, has been around since the days of DOS. Simply make sure the file is in one of the directories (folders, for you Windows' folk!) listed in the %PATH% environment variable. My suggestion is to make your own directory to store various files and programs you create or use often from the console window/command prompt (that is, don't worry about doing this for programs you run from the start menu or any other method.. only the console window. Don't mess with programs that are installed by Windows or an automated installer unless you know what you're doing).
Personally, I always create a "C:\sys\bat" directory for batch files, a "C:\sys\bin" directory for * .exe and * .com files (for example, if you download something like "md5sum", a MD5 checksum utility), a "C:\sys\wsh" directory for VBScripts (and JScripts, named "wsh" because both are executed using the "Windows Scripting Host", or "wsh" program), and so on. I then add these to my system %PATH% variable (Control Panel -> Advanced System Settings -> Advanced tab -> Environment Variables button), so Windows can always find them when I type them.
Combining all three parts will result in configuring your Windows system so that anywhere you can type in a command-line command, you can launch your VBScript by just typing it's base file name. You can do the same for just about any file type/extension; As you probably saw in my %PATHEXT% output, my system is set up to run Perl scripts (.PLX;.PLW;.PL) and Python (.PY) scripts as well. (I also put "C:\sys\bat;C:\sys\scripts;C:\sys\wsh;C:\sys\bin" at the front of my %PATH%, and put various batch files, script files, et cetera, in these directories, so Windows can always find them. This is also handy if you want to "override" some commands: Putting the * .bat files first in the path makes the system find them before the * .exe files, for example, and then the * .bat file can launch the actual program by giving the full path to the actual *. exe file. Check out the various sites on "batch file programming" for details and other examples of the power of the command line.. It isn't dead yet!)
One final note: DO check out some of the other sites for various warnings and caveats. This question posed a script named "converter.vbs", which is dangerously close to the command "convert.exe", which is a Windows program to convert your hard drive from a FAT file system to a NTFS file system.. Something that can clobber your hard drive if you make a typing mistake!
On the other hand, using the above techniques you can insulate yourself from such mistakes, too. Using CONVERT.EXE as an example.. Rename it to something like "REAL_CONVERT.EXE", then create a file like "C:\sys\bat\convert.bat" which contains:
#ECHO OFF
ECHO !DANGER! !DANGER! !DANGER! !DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!
ECHO This command will convert your hard drive to NTFS! DO YOU REALLY WANT TO DO THIS?!
ECHO PRESS CONTROL-C TO ABORT, otherwise..
REM "PAUSE" will pause the batch file with the message "Press any key to continue...",
REM and also allow the user to press CONTROL-C which will prompt the user to abort or
REM continue running the batch file.
PAUSE
ECHO Okay, if you're really determined to do this, type this command:
ECHO. %SystemRoot%\SYSTEM32\REAL_CONVERT.EXE
ECHO to run the real CONVERT.EXE program. Have a nice day!
You can also use CHOICE.EXE in modern Windows to make the user type "y" or "n" if they really want to continue, and so on.. Again, the power of batch (and scripting) files!
Here's some links to some good resources on how to use all this power:
http://ss64.com/
http://www.computerhope.com/batch.htm
http://commandwindows.com/batch.htm
http://www.robvanderwoude.com/batchfiles.php
Most of these sites are geared towards batch files, but most of the information in them applies to running any kind of batch (* .bat) file, command (* .cmd) file, and scripting (* .vbs, * .js, * .pl, * .py, and so on) files.
When entering the script's full file spec or its filename on the command line, the shell will use information accessibly by
assoc | grep -i vbs
.vbs=VBSFile
ftype | grep -i vbs
VBSFile=%SystemRoot%\System32\CScript.exe "%1" %*
to decide which program to run for the script. In my case it's cscript.exe, in yours it will be wscript.exe - that explains why your WScript.Echos result in MsgBoxes.
As
cscript /?
Usage: CScript scriptname.extension [option...] [arguments...]
Options:
//B Batch mode: Suppresses script errors and prompts from displaying
//D Enable Active Debugging
//E:engine Use engine for executing script
//H:CScript Changes the default script host to CScript.exe
//H:WScript Changes the default script host to WScript.exe (default)
//I Interactive mode (default, opposite of //B)
//Job:xxxx Execute a WSF job
//Logo Display logo (default)
//Nologo Prevent logo display: No banner will be shown at execution time
//S Save current command line options for this user
//T:nn Time out in seconds: Maximum time a script is permitted to run
//X Execute script in debugger
//U Use Unicode for redirected I/O from the console
shows, you can use //E and //S to permanently switch your default host to cscript.exe.
If you are so lazy that you don't even want to type the extension, make sure that the PATHEXT environment variable
set | grep -i vbs
PATHEXT=.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.py;.pyw;.tcl;.PSC1
contains .VBS and there is no Converter.cmd (that converts your harddisk into a washing machine) in your path.
Update wrt comment:
If you 'don't want to specify the full path of my vbscript everytime' you may:
put your CONVERTER.VBS in a folder that is included in the PATH environment variable; the shell will then search all pathes - if necessary taking the PATHEXT and the ftype/assoc info into account - for a matching 'executable'.
put a CONVERTER.BAT/.CMD into a path directory that contains a line like cscript p:\ath\to\CONVERTER.VBS
In both cases I would type out the extension to avoid (nasty) surprises.
I am wondering why you cannot put this in a batch file. Example:
cd D:\VBS\
WSCript Converter.vbs
Put the above code in a text file and save the text file with .bat extension. Now you have to simply run this .bat file.
Why don't you just stash the vbscript in a batch/vbscript file hybrid. Name the batch hybrid Converter.bat and you can execute it directly as Converter from the cmd line. Sure you can default ALL scripts to run from Cscript or Wscript, but if you want to execute your vbs as a windows script rather than a console script, this could cause some confusion later on. So just set your code to a batch file and run it directly.
Check the answer -> Here
And here is an example:
Converter.bat
::' VBS/Batch Hybrid
::' --- Batch portion ---------
rem^ &#echo off
rem^ &call :'sub
rem^ &exit /b
:'sub
rem^ &echo begin batch
rem^ &cscript //nologo //e:vbscript "%~f0"
rem^ &echo end batch
rem^ &exit /b
'----- VBS portion -----
Dim tester
tester = "Convert data here"
Msgbox tester
You may follow the following steps:
Open your CMD(Command Prompt)
Type 'D:' and hit Enter. Example: C:\Users\[Your User Name]>D:
Type 'CD VBS' and hit Enter. Example: D:>CD VBS
Type 'Converter.vbs' or 'start Converter.vbs' and hit Enter. Example: D:\VBS>Converter.vbs Or D:\VBS>start Converter.vbs
I would like to know what are the approaches that you use to manage the executables in your system. For example I have almost everything accessible through the command line, but now I come to the limit of the path string, so i can't add any more dir.
So what do you recommend?
A long time ago, I tried to use softLinks of the executables in a Dir that belonged to the path, but that approach didn't work.
Throw the "executable only" to a known Dir,has the problems that almost any application require a set of files, so this also is bad.
Throw the executable and all his files to a known Dir, mmm this will work, but the possibility to get a conflict in the name of the files is very very high.
Create a HardLink? i don't know. What do you think?
This will parse your %PATH% environment variable and convert each directory to its shortname equivalent and then piece it all back together:
#echo off
SET MyPath=%PATH%
echo %MyPath%
echo --
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
SET TempPath="%MyPath:;=";"%"
SET var=
FOR %%a IN (%TempPath%) DO (
IF exist %%~sa (
SET "var=!var!;%%~sa"
) ELSE (
echo %%a does not exist
)
)
echo --
echo !var:~1!
Take the output and update the PATH variable in environment variables.
One way I can think of is to use other environment variables to store partial paths; for example, if you have
C:\this_is_a\long_path\that_appears\in_multiple_places\subdir1;
C:\this_is_a\long_path\that_appears\in_multiple_places\subdir2;
then you can create a new environment variable such as
SET P1=C:\this_is_a\long_path\that_appears\in_multiple_places
after which your original paths become
%P1%\subdir1;
%P1%\subdir2;
EDIT: Another option is to create a bin directory that holds .bat files that point to the appropriate .exe files.
EDIT 2: Ben Voigt's comment to another answer mentions that using other environment variables as suggested might not reduce the length of %PATH% because they would be expanded prior to being stored. This may be true and I have not tested for it. Another option though is to use 8dot3 forms for longer directory names, for example C:\Program Files is typically equivalent to C:\PROGRA~1. You can use dir /x to see the shorter names.
EDIT 3: This simple test leads me to believe Ben Voigt is right.
set test1=hello
set test2=%test1%hello
set test1=bye
echo %test2%
At the end of this, you see output hellohello rather than byehello.
EDIT 4: In case you decide to use batch files to eliminate certain paths from %PATH%, you might be concerned about how to pass on arguments from your batch file to your executable such that the process is transparent (i.e., you won't notice any difference between calling the batch file and calling the executable). I don't have a whole lot of experience writing batch files, but this seems to work fine.
#echo off
rem This batch file points to an executable of the same name
rem that is located in another directory. Specify the directory
rem here:
set actualdir=c:\this_is\an_example_path
rem You do not need to change anything that follows.
set actualfile=%0
set args=%1
:beginloop
if "%1" == "" goto endloop
shift
set args=%args% %1
goto beginloop
:endloop
%actualdir%\%actualfile% %args%
As a general rule, you should be careful about running batch files from the internet, since you can do all sorts of things with batch files such as formatting your hard drive. If you don't trust the code above (which I wrote), you can test it by replacing the line
%actualdir%\%actualfile% %args%
with
echo %actualdir%\%actualfile% %args%
Ideally you should know exactly what every line does before you run it.
if you are using windows vista or higher, you can make a symbolic link to the folder. for example:
mklink /d C:\pf "C:\Program Files"
would make a link so c:\pf would be your program files folder. I shaved off 300 characters from my path by using this trick.
In case anyone's interested...
I find I never really need all those paths at once, so I create a bunch of "initialization" batch files which modify the path accordingly.
For example, if I wanted to do some C++ development in Eclipse, I would do:
> initmingw
> initeclipse
> eclipse
This is also handy for avoiding conflicts between executables with the same name (such as the C++ and D compilers, which both have a make.exe).
My batch files typically look like this:
#echo off
set PATH=C:\Path\To\My\Stuff1;%PATH%
set PATH=C:\Path\To\My\Stuff2;%PATH%
I find this approach relatively clean and have yet to run into any problems with it.
I generally don't have to worry about this (I haven't run into a path size limit - I don't even know what that is on modern Windows systems), but here's what I might do to avoid putting a program's directory in the path:
most command line utilities get thrown into a c:\util directory that's on the path
otherwise, I'll add a simple cmd/batch file to the c:\util directory that looks something like:
#"c:\program files\whereever\foo.exe" %*
which essentially creates an alias for the command. It's not necessarily perfect. Some programs really insist on being in the path (that's pretty rare nowadays), and other programs that try to invoke it might not find it properly. But for most uses it works well.
But generally, I haven't had to worry about avoiding adding directories to the path.
Another idea: Use DIR /X to determine the short names generated for non-8dot3 file
names. Then use these in your %PATH%.
For example, 'C:\Program Files' becomes 'C:\PROGRA~1'.
USe the App Path registry key instead of the path variable for application-specific paths:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee872121(v=vs.85).aspx
I wrote and use on a every-time basis a standard stream (stdin/stderr/stdout) & exit code PROXY program (called dispatcher https://github.com/131/dispatcher)
All CLI program i use (node, php, python, git, svn, rsync, plink ...) i'm using are actually the same exe file (around 10kb, that i just name differently), that i put in the same directory. A dummy static clear text file do the "proxy file name to real exe mapping".
Dispatcher use low level Process management win32 API to be absolutly transparent.
Using this software, i only do have ONE additionnal directory set in my PATH for all programs i might use.
Creating a folder c:\bin adding to your path and hardlinking like you said could shorten the string. Maybe add a variable pf to system vars with value c:\Program Files then replace c:\Program Files with %pf% in path.
Edit:
Create a virtual drive.
subst p: "c:\program files"
I follow these steps to make the entries manageable:
Created different users for different combination of software packages usage.
Example: (a) Created a user web for making available all the web development software; (b) Created a user database for making available all the database and data warehousing software packages. Remember some software may create more than one entry. Or sometime I break this into oracle specific and MSSQL specific and oracle specific users. I put MySQL/PostgreSQL, tomcat, wamp, xamp all into the user account webr.
If possible install common packages like office, photoshop, .. as system specific available for all users and special packages as user specific. Of course I had to log into different users and install them. Not all software may provide this option. If "install for this user only" option is not available, install it for the whole system.
I avoid installing programs in to the folder Program File (x86) or in to Program File. I always install into the base directory. For example MySQL 64 bit goes into "C:\mysql64" and MySQL 32 bit goes into "C:\mysql" folder. I always assume adding a suffix 64 only for 64bit software. If no suffix, then it is a 32 bit. I follow the same thing to Java and others. This way my path will be shorter, not including "C:\Program File (x86)". For some software the configuration file may need to be edited to show where exactly the .exe file is. Only program that demands to be installed into "C:\Program File (x86)" will be installed into that folder. Always I remember to shorten the names. I avoid version number like tomcat/release/version-2.5.0.3 such details. If I need to the know version, I create a file by name version and put it into the tomcat folder. In general shorten the link as much as possible.
Include any batch to replace abbreviated link to the path, if all the above steps passed the Windows limit.
Then Log into usage specific (mobile application, or database/data warehousing or web-development.. ..) user and do the relevant tasks.
You can also create virtual windows within windows. As long as you have one licensed OS copy, creating multiple virtual windows with same key is possible. You can put packages specific for a particular task in that machine. You have to launch separate VM each time. Some memory intensive packages like 3D animation movie makers all should be put into the main machine, not into VM as VM will have only a part of the RAM available for its use. It is a pain to boot each VM though.
The solutions above only work if you can trim down your path. In my case, that wasn't really an option, and it was a hassle to have to run a script every time I opened a command prompt. So I wrote a simple script that runs automatically when opening the command prompt, and appends the contents of a text file to your path.
There are also some contexts where having this script run breaks things (say, in a github or cygwin shell), so I also added a file that contains a list of paths that, if the command prompt is started in them, the path variable isn't changed via the startup script that normally updates the path.
#echo off
:: Modify these to the actual paths of these two files
set dontSetupFile=C:\Users\Yams\Dontsetup.txt
set pathFile=C:\Users\Yams\Path.txt
:: Retrieve the current path (for determining whether or not we should append to our path)
set curDir=%cd%
:: Be done if the current path is listed in the dontSetupFile
SetLocal EnableDelayedExpansion
for /F "delims=" %%i in (%dontSetupFile%) do (
if "%%i"=="%curDir%" GOTO AllDone
)
:: Append the pathFile to our current PATH
set pathAppend=
for /F "delims=" %%i in (%pathFile%) do (set pathAppend=!pathAppend!%%i)
set PATH=%PATH%;%pathAppend%
:: The only way to actually modify a command prompt's path via a batch file is by starting
:: up another command prompt window. So we will do this, however, if this script is
:: automatically called on startup of any command prompt window, it will infinately
:: recurse and bad things will happen.
:: If we already ran, we are done
if "%yams%"=="onion" GOTO AllDone
:: Otherwise, flag that we just ran, and then start up a new command prompt window
:: with this flag set
set yams=onion
cmd \K set PATH=%PATH%;
:: When that command prompt exits, it will load back up this command prompt window, and
:: then the user will need to exit out of this as well. This causes this window to
:: automatically exit once the cmd it just spawned is closed.
exit()
:: Path is set up, we are done!
:AllDone
#echo on
And Path.txt will look something like
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\google_appengine;
C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static;
C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn;
C:\Program Files\Microsoft DNX\Dnvm;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Windows Performance Toolkit;
While Dontsetup.txt will look something like
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Windows Performance Toolkit
C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\cmd
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\bin
To make this run automatically on startup, open regedit, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Command Processor, then right click on the right and press new -> Multi-String Value. Name it AutoRun. Set it's value to
C:\Users\Yams\setUpPath.bat
or wherever else you stored the batch file above.
Didn't try it, but will splitting PATH in parts work and joining them in final variable work?
Example initially let's say you have something like
PATH={LONGPATH1};{LONGPATH2};....{2048th char}....{LONGPATH_N-1};{LONGPATH_N}
Instead you create:
_PATH1 = {LONGPATH1};{LONGPATH2};....{2048 char}
_PATH2 = {2049th char}...{LONGPATH_N-1};{LONGPATH_N}
rem // may be more parts
PATH = %_PATH1%;%_PATH2%