Windows Scripting

directory of current script

change to the directory of the executed script:

chdir /D %~dp0

The /D allows to change drives too.

save the current directory and return to it

set DIR_START=%cd%
cd whereEver/AndDoStuff
cd %DIR_START%

functions

@echo off
echo 1
call :func_1 2
call :func_1 3
echo 4
exit /B

:func_1
echo %1 (called in a function)
exit /B 0

Output:

>test
1
2 (called in a function)
3 (called in a function)
4

parameters

• Parameters to a script are %1 to %9
• %0 is the call and should contain the script name
• %10 does not exist
• %* "is" all parameters, even if there are 15
• if you want to have more than 9 parameters, google for shift or use something like

FOR %%A IN (%*) DO (
  echo xxx %%A xxx
)

Output:

>test 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
x 1 x
x 2 x
x 3 x
x 4 x
x 5 x
x 6 x
x 7 x
x 8 x
x 9 x
x 10 x
x 11 x
x 12 x
x 13 x

test for parameters

@echo off

if [%1]==[] (
  echo Parameter 1 missing!
) else (
  echo Paramater 1 found: %1
)

• '[' and ']' around "%1" are just for the case it is empty. You can use anything you want:

 if xx%1xx==xxxx (

• you need a space between "[]" and '(' in the if condition
• the "(" must be on the same line as the if
• the ") else (" can not be on multiple lines

text color

The documentation from MS is here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/console/console-virtual-terminal-sequences?redirectedfrom=MSDN

You will need to output a certain character which is just called ESC. It is the "character" with the number 27 in the ASCII table, so you can create it on the console if you hold ALT and enter with the numlock digits "027". When you release ALT afterwards you should get "^[". You can try it but it will be of not much use. It would be:

• ALT + 027
• [92m
• <return>

Now your prompt should be green. To get back to normal:

• ALT + 027
• [0m
• <return>

Try the following script: (create a test.cmd and execute it from the command line)

@echo off

for /F %%a in ('echo prompt $E ^| cmd') do set "ESC=%%a"
set GREEN=%ESC%[92m
set DEFAULT=%ESC%[0m
set ERROR=%ESC%[101;93m

call :out Dies ist ein erster Test.
call :out Dies ist ein zweiter Test.
call :outError This is not a test, please leave this script immediately!

set ESC=
set ERROR=
SET GREEN=
exit /B
:out
  echo %GREEN% %* %DEFAULT%
  exit /B
  
:outError
  echo %ERROR% %* %DEFAULT%
  exit /B  

You can create the ESC variable with

set ESC=

then use ALT+0+2+7 to get the correct "character" at that spot. It will look like:

set ESC=ESC

but the second ESC will look different, because it "is" just one character. Copy/paste will be a burden and just looking at such a script will not tell you how to recreate it. That is the reason the variant where you create the ESC with the for (I got the idea from someone called Aacini in a forum) is much much better in my opinion.

output empty line

Put a period immediately after the echo. No space between echo and period.

@echo off
echo Normal 1
echo.
echo Normal 2

calling another script and keeping the variables it creates

call %~dp0\SetDateTimeToVariables-Europe.cmd

In this call we call a script in the same directory as the calling script. Keep in mind that the working directory does not have to be the directory of the working script, so we have to be more exact when we call the 2nd script.

Creating files with current date/time in the name

Get the current date/time in European format into a variable

Create the file "SetDateTimeToVariables-Europe.cmd":

@echo off
rem v2 (2022-11-23), use this for dates like "2022-11-23"
for /f "tokens=1-3 delims=- " %%a in ('date /T') do set year=%%a
for /f "tokens=1-3 delims=- " %%a in ('date /T') do set month=%%b
for /f "tokens=1-3 delims=- " %%a in ('date /T') do set day=%%c
set TODAY=%year%-%month%-%day%
rem @echo today: %TODAY% year: %year% month: %month% day: %day%

for /f "tokens=1 delims=: " %%h in ('time /T') do set hour=%%h
for /f "tokens=2 delims=: " %%m in ('time /T') do set minutes=%%m
set NOW=%hour%-%minutes%
rem @echo %NOW%

Use the earlier created script in one of your normal scripts

In this example we create a backup of a Tekkit-Lite installation:

set DIR_SAVES_PARENT=d:\Games\MineCraft\Technic\installed\modpacks\tekkitlite\
set DIR_SAVES="saves"
set DIR_ARCHIVE=d:\data\_temp-backup\
set PATH_7_ZIP=%~dp0\32\7za
set BACKUP_NAME="MC-Tekkit-Lite-All-Worlds"


set DIR_START=%cd%
call %~dp0\SetDateTimeToVariables-Europe.cmd
cd  /D %DIR_SAVES_PARENT%
rem echo %TODAY%
%PATH_7_ZIP% a -tzip %DIR_ARCHIVE%\%TODAY%--%NOW%-%BACKUP_NAME%.zip -r %DIR_SAVES%
cd /D %DIR_START%

The above script is complete and working. Of course you have to have 7zip in the correct directory and bla, bla bla. You get it. Right?

The relevant parts are:

call %~dp0\SetDateTimeToVariables-Europe.cmd

and

%PATH_7_ZIP% a -tzip %DIR_ARCHIVE%\%TODAY%--%NOW%-%BACKUP_NAME%.zip -r %DIR_SAVES%

The call to SetDateTimeToVariables-Europe.cmd creates variables and fills them with content and later we use these variables to create a meaningful filename.

escape character

If you want to output certain symbols, Windows will not allow it because they have a meaning are interpreted. The Escape character for the normal Windows command shell is '^'.

@echo off
echo abc def ^<xxx^>

count of arguments

create a helper script "create-argCount.cmd":

set argCount=0
for %%x in (%*) do Set /A argCount+=1

create a script "test.cmd" that uses it:

@echo off
call create-argCount.cmd %*
echo Count of arguments: %argCount%

call it:

test 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Count of arguments: 15