Reference for writing .bat/.cmd files in windows

batch.md

Windows batch (.bat/.cmd) reference

Some other resources:

• http://steve-jansen.github.io/guides/windows-batch-scripting/part-10-advanced-tricks.html
• https://www.tutorialspoint.com/batch_script/batch_script_quick_guide.htm
• https://ss64.com/nt/

Flow control examples

SET foo="bar"
if "%foo%"=="bar" (goto isbar) else (goto isnotbar)
echo.

:isbar
echo foo is bar
goto endbar

:isnotbar
echo foo is not bar

:endbar

:choicestart
SET /p choice="Enter 1: "
if NOT %choice%==1 (goto choicestart)

Variable reference

• Current directory: %CD%
• Path to the batch file: %~dp0
• Command line parameters of the batch file: %1 - %9

Zip/unzip

Unzip (Win 10 1903 (Jan 2018) or later): tar -xf "myfile.zip"

Unzip (can be run in cmd): powershell Expand-Archive myfile.zip output/ -Force

Zip (can be run in cmd): powershell Compress-Archive -path mypath -destinationpath -mydestpath

Download a file

Win 10 1903 or later: curl "https://.../file.zip" -o myfile.zip

Download (can be run in a cmd): powershell Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://file-examples-com.github.io/uploads/2017/02/file_example_JSON_1kb.json" -OutFile c:\test.json

Copy all files from one location to another (in this example, up one directory)

robocopy .\currentFolder\ .\ /E /MOVE /NFL /NDL /NJH /NJS /NC /NS /NP

Restart the batch file (maybe something in the PATH changed)

start "" "%~f0"

Check if something is in the PATH

for %%X in (wt.exe) do (set FOUNDWT=%%~$PATH:X)
if defined FOUNDWT (goto found) else (goto notfound)

Open a website in default browser

start https://www.google.com

Run a commandline command in this window

start "" /wait /b ping www.google.com

Get file hash

certutil -hashfile myfile.zip MD5

MD4, MD5, SHA1, SHA256, and SHA512 are allowed

To get only the hash returned: certutil -hashfile myfile.zip MD5 | findstr /V ":" as the only line without a colon is the hash

Rename all files to a different file type

ren *.rar *.cbr

Take control of all files in directory (after reinstalling Windows for example)

takeown /f %1 /r /d y
icacls %1 /grant administrators:F /t

Put every .mp3 file in the folder and all sub folders into a .m3u playlist

for /R %%X in (*.mp3) do (echo %%X >> playlist.m3u)

Turn off echoing every command

@echo off

The @ makes the current command also silent; echo off turns off all subsequent echoes, but not itself

Write an empty line to a text file

echo. >> out.txt

Note the period after echo - echo.

Write the contents of a text file to another text file

append to the end or create if it doesn't exist: type "filename.txt" >> out.txt

overwrite or create if it doesn't exist: type "filename.txt" > out.txt

Write comments

:: this is a comment

Alternatively, rem this is a comment

Wait/sleep for 9 seconds

ping -n 9 127.0.0.1 > NUL

Wait for user to press any key before closing (useful when intended to be run by double-clicking)

pause

Redirecting stdout and stderr

[command] >NUL - pipe stdout to null

[command] 2>&1 - pipe stderr to stdout