asked on

Batch scripting :Argument reading

PROBLEM 1 :
I want to run a batch script (xyz.bat ) that takes ,say, 3 tags and their corresponding values :
Example of the command : xyz.bat -a 12 -b 23 -c 14

How can i check how many arguments i have passed to this script and iterate over each and every argument .

I would want the script to take parse the command line arguments and perform the task based on the tag
The exact operation to be done :

Parse ( command line arguments )
if ( -a ) :
set variable1 to 12
if ( -b ) :
set variable2 to 23
if ( -c ) :
set variable3 to 14

end

PROBLEM 2 :

how to check if the 2nd argument is a string and not null similar to
if [ -n $2 ] check , in shell scripts.

knightEknight

REM - This batch file will set an environment variable for each tag you pass in.
REM - An empty tag will not create a variable, so if you pass in -a 12 -b -c 14 ... there would be no "b" variable set.

@echo off

:loop

if "%1"=="" goto done
set token=%1

if "%token:~0,1%"=="-" (set tag=%token:~1% & set val=) else (set val=%1)
set %tag: =%=%val%
shift

goto :loop

:done

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

knightEknight

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bhaskar20001

ASKER

Thanks a lot for the solution.I would like to know the following check also in batch :

if(2nd argument is string and not null )
{
do something
}

Thanks

knightEknight

There isn't really such a thing as a "null" argument to a batch file. If by this you mean there is no matching value for a tag argument, you can do this if you know ahead of time what the possible tag values will be.

REM example: C:\> xyz.bat -a 11 -b -c 33 -d 44

@echo off

setlocal

:loop

if "%1"=="" goto done
set token=%1

if "%token:~0,1%"=="-" (set tag=%token:~1%) else (set %tag: =%=%1)

shift

goto :loop

:done

if "%a%"=="" (echo parameter a is null) else (echo parameter a is %a%)

if "%b%"=="" (echo parameter b is null) else (echo parameter b is %b%)

if "%c%"=="" (echo parameter c is null) else (echo parameter c is %c%)

if "%d%"=="" (echo parameter d is null) else (echo parameter d is %d%)

:end

endlocal

bhaskar20001

ASKER

Thanks a lot for your help.It solved the problem

bhaskar20001

ASKER

Thanks a lot for your help.It solved the problem