When running a file which has an unknown extension (lets say test.nope) from the command line or a batch file - using test.nope, call test.nope or start test.nope - you are presented with a window asking you to "Choose the program you want to use to open this file" (in Windows 7, presumably in most Windows OS's).
Is it possible to suppress this window?
My initial thought was to check if the extension exists in the %PATHEXT% variable before attempting to open the file. However, this does not contain all known file extensions. For example, though the .py extension is not in my %PATHEXT% variable, Python scripts are still opened correctly.
An alternative to a direct registry query (as suggested by #Mitch) is to use the command line utility assoc
assoc .nope
If there is no application registered for the file extension it produces
C:\>assoc .nope
File association not found for extension .nope
If an association is found (for instance, for the .docx extension), it produces
C:\>assoc .docx
.docx=Word.Document.12
You might also find ftype useful. It returns the command line for the file type returned by assoc (I have Office installed in a non-default location, as you can see):
C:\>ftype Word.Document.12
Word.Document.12="D:\Microsoft Office\Office12\WINWORD.EXE" /n /dde
File types are registered in HKCR\ (full documentation available from MSDN). You can find out if a type is registered by checking for the existence of the key. In a batch file, you could use the reg command to do so.
reg query HKCR\.txt || echo This will never print
reg query HKCR\.foobartxt || echo Could not find foobartxt
That being said, file types can be defined and named without having a default handler. Further, those which have default handlers may not have command lines - the file may be launched via DDE or COM.
Related
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.
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'm trying to create a .cfg file for bcc32 compiler and I'm following the instructions. I have installed correctly and placed an environment path as instructed but when I type "edit bcc32.cfg" into the command prompt it says that edit isn't a valid command? What am I supposed to do?
You could also create a .bat file, edit.bat, to replace the 16-bit edit program (removed because x64 windows flavors won't run it) which would launch your favorite editor.
#echo off
notepad %1
#echo on
This is what I wound up doing as a simple patch so I could carry on the way I always had for the most part. Just type:
edit myfile.ext
in the command prompt to use it.
Note: notepad is not my favorite editor - this is just an example that will work with stock windows.
Note 2: #echo off and #echo on are shown for clarity. You may also shorten this by omitting the echo statements and simply placing the # before the command to be silenced.
#notepad %1
I just use notepad (since they took out the edit command) from the command window like so:
C:\Borland\BCC55\bin> notepad bcc32.cfg
The file will open in notepad for editing. When you've finished editing the file, save it and you're done.
I have found this works for seeing in-window text of a complete file, on a 64bit machine. Once your path is set in cmd prompt, type the word type... followed by "filename" do you see how I used the quotes around the filename only!
type "filename"
You type it just like this (changing filename for your files name) and you will be able to see the entire file text in the cmd window. Not sure how to edit from here on but maybe someone can figure it out from here and tell me.
Assuming you're using Windows 7 (where edit.exe and edlin.exe have been removed):
Use powershell.exe instead of cmd - thereby edit will be available via command line.
Take a look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_PowerShell
simple answer....
if your using an old version of windows (xp e.t.c...) you would be able to use edit
but since your using new version of windows, Microsoft has updated and removed the commands that they think are not relevant e.g.. (msg, edit) depending if its a bit32 bit64 or bit82...
It is possible to open a word document from the command line using this:
rundll32 url.dll,FileProtocolHandler path.to.word.document.doc
Unfortunately, that document needs an external data source, so the path of that data source has to be set manually once it is opened.
Is there a more convenient way to provide an additional parameter to point to the data source?
You can open a word document using
winword.exe <filepath>
To use winword in command prompt you need to set your path variable like this
set path=%path%;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14
In the cmd instance I opened the document but just typing in the document name in
"whatever it's called.docx"
If you use PowerShell, you can type "ii FileName". For example, "ii *.docx" will open all the .docx files in the folder. It works for all types of files, not just Word documents.
Say I've got a windows batch file with a file extension .batscript, and say I've got a web server set up to serve it with a content-type of application/x-batscript. How can I set up Firefox 4 to "always open" this file so that it runs as a standard batch file would? (I have access to the PCs but want avoid creating/installing external programs/extensions/plugins)
I can't use a straight .bat because Firefox doesn't allow those to be opened directly; they have to be saved and run separately (for obvious security reasons).
The standard way to run a batch file is cmd /c %1 where %1 is the path to the bat file, but this doesn't work when %1 is a path to a file with a custom file extension (such as .batscript) because cmd looks up what application %1 should be opened with, so adding a direct file association via the registry doesn't work (it recursively opens cmd prompts).
Instead, I found a work around where I temporarily copy my .batscript file to a .bat file and run it, using registry entries like this, which allows me to double click on a .batscript file to run it. But Firefox doesn't respect these platform file associations!
Ok, so Firefox wants me to define my file type associations separately for each content-type: fair enough, file extensions & content-types aren't always the same. But I can only get Firefox to run discrete applications, and a batch script needs to be run with cmd.exe /c %1 not just cmd %1.
Does anybody know of a way to force Firefox to either use the system file association or allow launching arbitrary programs with command line parameters?
(For those wondering, the use case is similar to "an internal web app which allows users to run a local program with a varying amount of command line parameters by clicking on a link" - alternative solutions to these small "breaking out of the sandbox" problems are also welcome!)
I think you need to edit the MimeTypes.rdf file. For more information see also this page.