Question

In DOS batch file how to check command line argument exists?

Asked by: philipjonathan

I'm writing a batch file. How do I check if a command line argument exists or not?

Example:
Run.bat abc def

How do I check in Run.bat that I have 2 input arguments?

IF %2% == "" THEN ...

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Asked On
2009-09-04 at 01:09:52ID24707024
Tags

dos

,

batch file

,

command line argument

,

batch

,

argument

Topic

MS DOS

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
5

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Answers

 

by: NetExpert-WarszawaPosted on 2009-09-04 at 01:15:01ID: 25257587

IF X%2% == X THEN ...

You can also try (Command Extensions required)
IF DEFINED variable

 

by: dragon-itPosted on 2009-09-04 at 01:21:18ID: 25257612

You need to make sure that both sides are the same BUT you can't check a blank, i.e. if %2 is blank then it becomes

if =="" then etc. which isn't legal (nothing on LHS) or equal.

I tend to wrap both sides in quotes:

if "%2"=="" then goto :help

exit /b
:help
echo You need to use
echo %0 thing1 thing2
exit /b

Steve

 

by: dragon-itPosted on 2009-09-04 at 01:21:37ID: 25257618

Sorry didn't refresh there...

 

by: dragon-itPosted on 2009-09-04 at 01:22:45ID: 25257623

And of course if you have a %2 set then %1 must be set otherwise it wouldn't know to set a %2 - you can specifically check %1 and %2 are correct values if needed of course.  

 

by: philipjonathanPosted on 2009-09-04 at 01:59:26ID: 31624834

I accept dragon-it's solution because it's neater, otherwise NetExpert-Warszawa's solution would have worked too

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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