Batch Variable Range for %TIME% - windows

For school, I would like to be able to create a batch file that will check what the %TIME% variable is and if it 8:15-9:45, then goto my first period folder 9:45-10:30 to goto second period, etc. I know how to do this if there is a specific time, but not how to set a range of time. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

One way is to convert the time into HHMMSS format. Something like this
set timep=%time%
if "%timep:~1,1%" == ":" set timep=0%timep%
set timeval=%timep:~0,2%%timep:~3,2%%timep:~5,2%
Now set the default period to 0
set /a period=0
Since in string form 083000 is between 081500 and 094500, you can just stick to string comparisons without converting to numeric
...
if /i %timeval% geq 103000 set /a period=%period%+1
if /i %timeval% geq 094500 set /a period=%period%+1
if /i %timeval% geq 081500 set /a period=%period%+1
%period% will now hold 0 if the time is less than 0815, 1 if it is between 0815 and 0945 etc.

Related

How perform arithmetic (add,subtract) between two Date&Time timestamps?

I am trying to create an arbitrary time using batch files. I am trying to subtract set values (such as 1 day, 1 month, and 2000 years) from my code to display the system time subtracted by the set values stated previously. For the hours and minutes, I am subtracting 10 hours and 10 minutes (shown in code as different values). I am also aware that date and time are variables related to my system. ~ Please ignore
Important -
My problem now is with this part:
if %minb% EQU 60 set /a minb=%minb%-60 & set /a hourb=%hourb%+1
if %hourb% EQU 24 set /a hourb=%hourb%-24 & set /a dayb=%dayb%+1
if %dayb% EQU 30 set /a dayb=%dayb%-30 & set /a monthb=%monthb%+1
if %monthb% EQU 12 set /a monthb=%monthb%-12 & set /a yearb=%yearb%+1
I can't seem to be able to make the minutes reset to 0 and have the hours add 1 when the minute value hits 60, and same with the hour-day, day-month, month-year relationships, other than that, the problems with my code are mostly fixed. When I run the code and wait for the minutes (or add to the time difference) to reach 60, they just pass 60 and don't reset nor add to the hoursb value.
.
My date and time formats are:
Short date: M/d/yyyy
Long date: dddd, MMMM d, yyyy
Short time: h:mm
Long time: h:mm:ss
I am using Windows 10.
Please note that the values in the set /a do not match my description, but of course they can be changed around. They are set to the shown numbers for test purposes only.
EDIT:
Code:
#echo off
:start
set day=%date:~-7,2%
set month=%date:~-10,2%
set year=%date:~-4,4%
set hour=%time:~0,2%
set min=%time:~3,2%
set /a "hourb=%hour%-10"
set /a "minb=%min%+30"
set /a "dayb=%day%-1"
set /a "monthb=%month%-1"
set /a "yearb=%year%-2000"
if %minb% lss 10 set minb=0%minb%
if %hourb% lss 10 set hourb=0%hourb%
if %dayb% lss 10 set dayb=0%dayb%
if %monthb% lss 10 set monthb=0%monthb%
if %minb% EQU 60 set /a minb=%minb%-60 & set /a hourb=%hourb%+1
if %hourb% EQU 24 set /a hourb=%hourb%-24 & set /a dayb=%dayb%+1
if %dayb% EQU 30 set /a dayb=%dayb%-30 & set /a monthb=%monthb%+1
if %monthb% EQU 12 set /a monthb=%monthb%-12 & set /a yearb=%yearb%+1
cls
:: ———————————————————————–
#mode con cols=20 lines=6
title Arbitrary Clock
:time
echo.
echo. %hourb%:%minb%
echo.
echo. %dayb%-%monthb%-%yearb%
echo.
ping -n 2 0.0.0.0 >nul
cls
goto :start
Alright, so as you can see in the new edit to the code, I set the values to the stated at the beginning of this question. Subtracting 10 from the hours, subtracting 1 from the days and months, and subtracting 2000 from the years. I added 30 to the minutes to show the problem right now.
So my system time is 4:40, 1/5/2019. Alright?
The displayed time on the clock is 06:70, 04-00-19.
The desired outcome is 07:10, 04-12-18.
This was edited heavily. Thanks in advance.
You have a fundamental error in your description. When you subtract a number of days/months/years from a date, you are subtracting a date, not a number! For example, if today date is 05/01/2019 (obviously in DD/MM/YYYY format) and you want to subtract 1 month, the result should be 05/12/2018 because you are subtracting a date (1 month). If you subtract a number 1 from the month part, then the result will be 05/00/2019. For this reason, this problem should be solved via the well-known methods to add and subtract dates.
The problem with these methods is that they are valid just for a certain range of dates, and that ranges usually start in 1583. If you want to subtract 2000 from year 2018 and get 18, then such "year 18" is not a valid year in the usual date management methods. For this reason, besides to use the usual methods to manage dates, you also need to complete a couple small adjustments.
I taken the code segments linked in my comment and modified they slightly in order to solve this problem. I completed some tests and it seems to work correctly, but perhaps the method may fail in certain specific range of values.
#echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
rem Subtract a number of Days/Months/Years # Hours:Minutes:Seconds from a datetime stamp
rem Antonio Perez Ayala aka Aacini
rem Define the "Date in DDMMYYYY format" To "Julian Day Number" conversion "function"
set "DateToJDN(Date)=( a=1Date, y=a%%10000, a/=10000, m=a%%100, d=a/100-100, a=(m-14)/12, (1461*(y+4800+a))/4+(367*(m-2-12*a))/12-(3*((y+4900+a)/100))/4+d-32075 )"
set /P "stamp1=Enter base timestamp as DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM:SS "
set /P "stamp2=Enter timestamp to subtract in same format: "
set "adjust=0"
for /F "tokens=1-4" %%a in ("%stamp1% %stamp2%") do set "date1=%%a" & set "time1=%%b" & set "date2=%%c" & set "time2=%%d"
if 1%date2:~-4% lss 11600 (
set /A "adjust=1%date2:~-4%+1600"
set "date2=%date2:~0,-4%!adjust:~1!"
set "adjust=1600"
)
set /A "days=!DateToJDN(Date):Date=%date1:/=%! - !DateToJDN(Date):Date=%date2:/=%!, days1600=%DateToJDN(Date):Date=00001600%"
set /A "ss=(((1%time1::=-100)*60+1%-100) - (((1%time2::=-100)*60+1%-100)"
if %ss% lss 0 set /A "ss+=60*60*24, days-=1"
set /A "hh=ss/3600+100, ss%%=3600, mm=ss/60+100, ss=ss%%60+100"
if %days% lss %days1600% set /A days+=days1600, days1600=0
set /A "l=days+68569,n=(4*l)/146097,l=l-(146097*n+3)/4,i=(4000*(l+1))/1461001,l=l-(1461*i)/4+31,j=(80*l)/2447,D=l-(2447*j)/80+100,l=j/11,M=j+2-(12*l)+100,Y=100*(n-49)+i+l+10000+adjust"
if %days1600% equ 0 set /A Y-=1600
echo -----------------------
echo Result: %D:~1%/%M:~1%/%Y:~1% %hh:~1%:%mm:~1%:%ss:~1%
A small example:
Enter base timestamp as DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM:SS 05/01/2019 10:53:45
Enter timestamp to subtract in same format: 01/01/2000 10:10:00
-----------------------
Result: 04/12/0018 00:43:45
PS - I really would like to see a PowerShell solution for this problem. It seems that it would take just a simple and short line of code...
A simpler windows batch option is to call a PowerShell command from within your batch script to manipulate past and future dates.
Below, lines 8 and 9 create and format your arbitrary date.
:: Set the below 3 variables to generate an Arbitrary Clock
:: Use a negative number to subtract (-7), positive number to add (7)
set Altered_Days=-7
set Altered_Months=-10
set Altered_Years=-4
:: The script will merge days and years to determine the arbitrary date and print the Arbitrary date to the screen
set /a Altered_Days=(%Altered_Years%*356)+%Altered_Days%
powershell -command "(((Get-date).AddDays(%Altered_Days%)).AddMonths(%Altered_Months%)).ToString('HH:mm, MM-dd-yyyy')"
:: If you want to capture the value in a variable, use the below line
powershell -command "(((Get-date).AddDays(%Altered_Days%)).AddMonths(%Altered_Months%)).ToString('HH:mm, MM-dd-yyyy')">captureVar && set /p Arbitrary_Clock=<captureVar
echo Arbitrary Clock Prediction && echo %Arbitrary_Clock%
This will enable your batch script to create the end result you are looking for on your Windows 10 OS.
One of the great things about PowerShell is that it can easily be called from the cmd line and a batch script. To do so, enter
powershell -command "the powershell command(s)"
If the PowerShell command calls for quotes, you must use a single quote to avoid ending the PowerShell session. To escape characters, follow batch scripting rules. Batch variables can be read in the PowerShell command, but values created in PowerShell must be redirected for later use in your batch script. This can be done as in line 12 above, or by using PowerShell's Set-Content command to write to a file. I frequently use PowerShell in my batch scripts to manipulate file data.
powershell -command "(Get-Content 'file.txt') -replace 'string','' | Select-String -Pattern 'keep lines with string' -SimpleMatch) -replace 'another string','to somthing different' | Set-Content 'file.txt'"
In the case of adding or subtracting time, PowerShell makes the task easy. And it doesn't require you to create a different script. You can write everything else as batch, use PowerShell commands you find helpful, and save the windows' script as batch.
For detailed explanations on how Get-Date and addDays work, reference:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.utility/get-date?view=powershell-6
and
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/scripting/adding-and-subtracting-dates-with-powershell/

Batch: Return filename with highest integer

If I have a directory full of text files such as
01.text.sql
02text.sql
3text.sql
how would I return the file name with the highest integer e.g. 3.text.sql? As you can see the numbers might not be prefixed with 0 and might be missing a . after the integer. I know I have to loop through the directory with something like this
Choose Highest Numbered File - Batch File
however, this does not take into account different file name formats. Is there any way a batch script can loop through a directory and automatically pull the file with the highest integer or do I have to store the file names and compare them with each other in a separate loop?
Currently I have something like this but it returns 3text instead of just 3
SETLOCAL enabledelayedexpansion
SET max=0
FOR %%x in (*.sql) DO (
SET "FN=%%~nx"
SET "FN=!FN:*-=!"
IF !FN! GTR !max! SET max=!FN!
)
ECHO Highest script number is %max%
Updated loop:
SETLOCAL enabledelayedexpansion
SET scriptmax=0
FOR %%x in (*.sql) DO (
SET "FN=%%~nx"
SET a=1000!FN!
SET /A FN=a %% 1000
IF !FN! GTR !max! SET max=!FN!
)
set /A a=b will interpret everything in b up to the first non numeric character as a number, so
set FN=03text.txt
set /A a=FN
will set %a% nicely to 3. But we have an additional problem here: Numbers prefixed with a 0 will be interpreted as octal, so 08 and 09 are illegal. To fix this:
set FN=09text.txt
set t=1!FN!
set /A a=t-100
will yield 9.
However, this will only work if you know how many digits to expect, maybe you have to check for a leading zero first (if "%FN:~0,1%" == "0" ...), and/or even chop off leading zeroes (set FN=%FN:~1%)
Edit: a better way:
set FN=09text.txt
set a=1000!FN!
set /A FN=a %% 1000
will work for anything up to 999.

Get local time from different Timezone using batchfile

I do not want to use any scripting language, but just plain command line commands/scripting.
I can solve this using a (prepared) TZ table (e.g. format: UTC+06:00 + 'TZ name'), then use TZUTIL to collect their resp UTC values and calculate the Timezone's local time (preferably taking DST into account).
I am just hoping that somebody already did this in a more "proper" way. Searched this/other sites, but found nothing so far.
ps: no 'external' tools/etc, since the final batch-file needs to be distributed EMEA-wise.
get the local date and time (wmic)
get the local offset (wmic)
convert the local time to UTC with the help of #2
get the offset of a TZ. (tzutil /l)
convert the result of #3 and #4 not to mention the change of date (this is where it gets complicated).
I think I have not forgotten something? :)
I had a need to obtain time zone information in a specific format from MS Windows systems via a batch file. I could not find what I needed so I developed my own. Thought I would share for others to use. Use the code and adjust as necessary.
#echo off
REM Obtain the ActiveBias value and convert to decimal
for /f "tokens=3" %%a in ('reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation /v ActiveTimeBias ^| grep -i "ActiveTimeBias"') do set /a abias=%%a
for /f "tokens=3-8" %%n in ('reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation /v TimeZoneKeyName') do set tzn=%%n %%o %%p %%q %%r 2>NUL
REM Set the + or - sign variable to reflect the timezone offset
IF "%abias:~0,1%"=="-" (set si=+) ELSE (set si=-)
for /f "tokens=1 delims=-" %%t in ('echo %abias%') do set tzc=%%t
REM Calculate to obtain floating points (decimal values)
set /a tzd=100*%tzc%/60
REM Calculate the active bias to obtain the hour
set /a tze=%tzc%/60
REM Set the minutes based on the result of the floating point calculation
IF "%tzd%"=="0" (set en=00 && set si=)
IF "%tzd:~1%"=="00" (set en=00) ELSE IF "%tzd:~2%"=="00" (set en=00 && set tz=%tzd:~0,2%)
IF "%tzd:~1%"=="50" (set en=30) ELSE IF "%tzd:~2%"=="50" (set en=30 && set tz=%tzd:~0,2%)
IF "%tzd:~1%"=="75" (set en=45) ELSE IF "%tzd:~2%"=="75" (set en=45 && set tz=%tzd:~0,2%)
REM Adding a 0 to the beginning of a single digit hour value
IF %tze% LSS 10 (set tz=0%tze%)
REM Display timezone name and offset
echo %tzn% %si%%tz%%en%

Get a random sentence from a selection each time in Batch

Is there a way of making it so instead of saying the same echo that you set every time, you can give a list of echos and it chooses a random one to say each time it reaches that echo command?
Yep. Here's a proof of concept.
#echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set string[0]=This is the first random line.
set string[1]=This is the second random line.
set string[2]=This is the third random line.
set /a idx=%random% * 3 / 32768
echo !string[%idx%]!
Here's more info on generating random numbers in Windows batch scripting.
#echo OFF
SETLOCAL
SET message0=message zero
SET message1=message one
SET message2=message two
SET message3=message three
SET message4=message four
:: running 10 times
FOR /l %%i IN (1,1,10) DO CALL :showme
GOTO :eof
:showme
SET /a select=%RANDOM% %% 5
CALL SET message=%%message%select%%%
ECHO %message%
GOTO :eof

How long does a batch file take to execute?

How can I write a script to calculate the time the script took to complete?
I thought this would be the case, but obviously not..
#echo off
set starttime=%time%
set endtime=%time%
REM do stuff here
set /a runtime=%endtime%-%starttime%
echo Script took %runtime% to complete
Two things leap out about the original batch file. but neither is going to help in the long run.
Whatever your benchmark method, be sure to capture the start time before the operation, and the end time after the operation. Your sample doesn't do that.
%time% evaluates to something like "12:34:56.78", and the SET /A command can't subtract those. You need a command that produces a simple scalar time stamp.
I was going to say it can't be done, but the batch language is a lot more powerful than it is given credit for, so here is a simple implementation of TIMER.BAT. For the record, Pax beat me to an answer showing the string splitting while I was fiddling around, and Johannes Rössel suggested moving the arithmetic outside of the measured region:
#echo off
setlocal
rem Remeber start time. Note that we don't look at the date, so this
rem calculation won't work right if the program run spans local midnight.
set t0=%time: =0%
rem do something here.... but probably with more care about quoting.
rem specifically, odd things will happen if any arguments contain
rem precent signs or carets and there may be no way to prevent it.
%*
rem Capture the end time before doing anything else
set t=%time: =0%
rem make t0 into a scaler in 100ths of a second, being careful not
rem to let SET/A misinterpret 08 and 09 as octal
set /a h=1%t0:~0,2%-100
set /a m=1%t0:~3,2%-100
set /a s=1%t0:~6,2%-100
set /a c=1%t0:~9,2%-100
set /a starttime = %h% * 360000 + %m% * 6000 + 100 * %s% + %c%
rem make t into a scaler in 100ths of a second
set /a h=1%t:~0,2%-100
set /a m=1%t:~3,2%-100
set /a s=1%t:~6,2%-100
set /a c=1%t:~9,2%-100
set /a endtime = %h% * 360000 + %m% * 6000 + 100 * %s% + %c%
rem runtime in 100ths is now just end - start
set /a runtime = %endtime% - %starttime%
set runtime = %s%.%c%
echo Started at %t0%
echo Ran for %runtime%0 ms
You could simplify the arithmetic and be a little more honest about the overall accuracy of this by not bothering with the 100ths of a second part. Here it is in action, assuming you have a sleep command or some other time waster:
C:> TIMER SLEEP 3
Script took 3000 ms to complete
C:>
Edit: I revised the code and its description as suggested in a comment.
I think that when the NT team replaced COMMAND.COM with CMD.EXE, they thought they wouldn't get away with making it very different. But in effect, it is almost an entirely new language. Many of the old favorite commands have new features if the extensions are enabled.
One of those is SETLOCAL which prevents variables from modifying the caller's environment. Another is SET /A which gives you a remarkable amount of arithmetic. The principle trick I've used here is the new substring extraction syntax where %t:~3,2% means the two characters starting at offset 3 in the value of the variable named t.
For a real shocker, take a look at the full description of set (try SET /? at a prompt) and if that doesn't scare you, look at FOR /? and notice that it can parse text out of files...
Edit 2: Fixed mis-handling of time fields containing 08 or 09 reported by Frankie in comments. Tweaked a couple of things, and added some comments.
Note that there is a glaring oversight here that I'm probably not going to fix. It won't work if the command starts on a different day than it ends. That is, it will do some math related to the time of day and report a difference, but the difference won't mean much.
Fixing it to at least warn about this case is easy. Fixing it to do the right thing is harder.
Edit 3: Fixed error where the %h% is not set properly for single digit hours. This is due to %time% returning " 9:01:23.45". Notice the space. Using %time: =0% replaces the space with a leading zero and %h% will be set correctly. This error only occurred when a script ran from one single digit hour to the next.
This is kind of tangential, but it may help you out.
Microsoft has a timeit.exe program that works more or less like an enhanced version of the unix 'time' command. It comes in the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit, and it has pretty much replaced all the times I've wanted to do something like what you're suggesting.
It may be worth a look.
Excellent little routine. However, if the calculation spans across two days, the calculation is incorrect.
The result needs subtracting from 24 hours (8640000 centiseconds).
Also remove one of the duplicate 'set' commands in the relevant line.
Note that regional settings affect the format of the TIME function, the decimal being a fullstop in UK rather than a comma.
The lines
rem we might have measured the time inbetween days
if %ENDTIME% LSS %STARTTIME% set set /A DURATION=%STARTTIME%-%ENDTIME%
need changing to
rem we might have measured the time across days
if %ENDTIME% LSS %STARTTIME% set /A DURATION=8640000 - (%STARTTIME% - %ENDTIME%)
My own personal preference is to install Cygwin and use the time command but, if you actually have to do it as a batch file, you can't just subtract the strings, you have to treat them as parts.
The following script will time a 10-second ping command with the ability to cross a single day boundary without getting tied up in negative numbers. A slight enhancement would allow it to cross many day boundaries.
#echo off
setlocal enableextensions enabledelayedexpansion
set starttime=%time%
ping -n 11 127.0.0.1 >nul: 2>nul:
set endtime=%time%
set /a hrs=%endtime:~0,2%
set /a hrs=%hrs%-%starttime:~0,2%
set /a mins=%endtime:~3,2%
set /a mins=%mins%-%starttime:~3,2%
set /a secs=%endtime:~6,2%
set /a secs=%secs%-%starttime:~6,2%
if %secs% lss 0 (
set /a secs=!secs!+60
set /a mins=!mins!-1
)
if %mins% lss 0 (
set /a mins=!mins!+60
set /a hrs=!hrs!-1
)
if %hrs% lss 0 (
set /a hrs=!hrs!+24
)
set /a tot=%secs%+%mins%*60+%hrs%*3600
echo End = %endtime%
echo Start = %starttime%
echo Hours = %hrs%
echo Minutes = %mins%
echo Seconds = %secs%
echo Total = %tot%
endlocal
Check out this script that will retrieve time through WMI so it's Regional Setting independent.
#echo off
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
::  TimeDiff v1.00 by LEVENTE ROG       ::
::       www.thesysadminhimself.com     ::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 
::[ EULA ]:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
::  Feel free to use this script. The code can be redistributed  ::
::  and edited, but please keep the credits.                     ::
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 
::[ CHANGELOG ]::::::::::::::
::  v1.00 - First Version  ::
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 
 
FOR /F "skip=1 tokens=1-6" %%A IN ('WMIC Path Win32_LocalTime Get Day^,Hour^,Minute^,Second /Format:table ^| findstr /r "."') DO (
 set Milisecond=%time:~9,2%
 set Day=%%A
 set Hour=%%B
 set Minute=%%C
 set Second=%%D
)
set /a Start=%Day%*8640000+%Hour%*360000+%Minute%*6000+%Second%*100+%Milisecond%
 
::
::
:: PUT COMMANDS HERE
ping www.thesysadminhimself.com
::
::
 
FOR /F "skip=1 tokens=1-6" %%A IN ('WMIC Path Win32_LocalTime Get Day^,Hour^,Minute^,Second /Format:table ^| findstr /r "."') DO (
 set Day=%%A
 set Hour=%%B
 set Minute=%%C
 set Second=%%D
)
set Milisecond=%time:~9,2%
set /a End=%Day%*8640000+%Hour%*360000+%Minute%*6000+%Second%*100+%Milisecond%
set /a Diff=%End%-%Start%
set /a DiffMS=%Diff%%%100
set /a Diff=(%Diff%-%DiffMS%)/100
set /a DiffSec=%Diff%%%60
set /a Diff=(%Diff%-%Diff%%%60)/60
set /a DiffMin=%Diff%%%60
set /a Diff=(%Diff%-%Diff%%%60)/60
set /a DiffHrs=%Diff%
 
:: format with leading zeroes
if %DiffMS% LSS 10 set DiffMS=0%DiffMS!%
if %DiffSec% LSS 10 set DiffMS=0%DiffSec%
if %DiffMin% LSS 10 set DiffMS=0%DiffMin%
if %DiffHrs% LSS 10 set DiffMS=0%DiffHrs%
 
echo %DiffHrs%:%DiffMin%:%DiffSec%.%DiffMS%
You can't do time arithmetic directly in batch scripting, so you'll either need an external program to calculate the time difference, or extract each part of the time and do arithmetic that way.
Take a look at the bottom of this forum thread for an example of how to do the latter. Excerpted here:
#echo off
cls
REM ================================================== ======
REM = Setting Date Time Format =
REM ================================================== ======
set DT=%DATE% %TIME%
set year=%DT:~10,4%
set mth=%DT:~4,2%
set date=%DT:~7,2%
set hour=%DT:~15,2%
set min=%DT:~18,2%
set sec=%DT:~21,2%
set newDT=%year%_%mth%_%date% %hour%%min%%sec%
set hour=14
set min=10
REM ===============================
REM = Getting End Time =
REM ===============================
set EndTime=%TIME%
set EndHour=%EndTime:~0,2%
set EndMin=%EndTime:~3,2%
REM ===============================
REM = Finding Difference =
REM ===============================
set /a Hour_Diff=EndHour - hour >nul
set /a Min_Diff=EndMin - min >nul
REM ===============================
REM = Hour Hand Change? =
REM ===============================
IF [%Hour_Diff]==[0] (
Set Duration=%Min_Diff%
) ELSE (
Set /a Duration=60-%Min_Diff% >nul
)
echo Start Time = %hour% : %min%
echo End Time = %EndHour% : %EndMin%
echo.
echo Min Diff = %Min_Diff%
echo.
echo time difference (mins) = %Duration%
I also assume it's a typo, but you do want to be sure to set endtime after processing.

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