Stan Brown <
the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> wrote:
Windows 10 Pro version 21H2 OS build 19044.2604
I entered this command:
for /d %X in (dv*) do echo %X
and the result was
Dvorák, Antonin (1841-1904)
except with an upside-down caret over the r. That's identical to what
File Explorer shows.
Then I redirected the output to a batch file:
for /d %X in (dv*) do echo cd %X >foo.bat
I executed foo in the same command window and got "The system cannot
find the path specified." I then entered
type foo.bat
and the response was
cd Dvorák, Antonin (1841-1904)
with _no_ accent mark on the r.
chcp tells me that the active code page is 437, for what relevance
that may have. I could understand if the r-with-upside-down-caret
didn't display in the command window, since CP437 doesn't include it <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_page_437>. But it did display
there, only was changed to a regular r in redirection.
Can someone explain what's going on here? Thanks!
Did you format the partition using NTFS?
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/intl/character-sets-used-in-file-names
"NTFS stores file names in Unicode. In contrast, the older FAT12, FAT16,
and FAT32 file systems use the OEM character set. For more information,
see Code Pages."
Another reason for not finding a path to a file is that the path has
spaces, but you didn't account for them in your variables. Obviously:
Dvorák, Antonin (1841-1904)
has 2 space characters, but the 'cd' command is only going to see the
first argument (Dvorák) as the folder name. You cannot use 'cd' to concurrently or sequentually open or move to multiple folders. 'cd'
works on just 1 folder at a time.
'echo' is displaying the entire string in the x variable. 'cd' only
sees the first argument as a folder name. You need to double-quote the variable in the 'echo' command, like:
for /d %X in (dv*) do echo cd "%X" > foo.bat
However, running the 'for' command in a command shell at the prompt is
not the same as when running it inside a batch file. You need to double-percent inside the batch file for the interpreter to properly
parse the command when passed to the shell. So, inside of a .bat file,
use:
for /d %%X in (dv*) do echo cd "%%X" > foo.bat
The first percent sign is the escape character, so the command shell
will see %x, and then the command interpreter will see %x instead of x.
Also, while the for-loop is creating an array it stores in x,
environment variables are addressed by /enclosing/ them in percent
signs. Try the following in a command shell:
set x=123
echo %x
echo %x%
The first doesn't work, because you haven't used the percent sign to
designate an environment variable. A first percent sign is an escape
character to designate the next percent sign is to signify an
environment variable. %x% is the environment variable. So, inside the
.bat file, change to:
for /d %%x in (dv*) do echo cd "%x%" > foo.bat
or
for /d %%x in (dv*) do echo cd "%%x%%" > foo.bat
This is off the top of my head. I'd have to test to verify %%x is
needed to identify a variable inside a batch file, and %x% is needed to identify an environment variable. Possibly you have to change the 'cd'
arg to "%%x%" for the first percent to escape the second percent, so
when the command gets parsed and sent to the command intpreter, that
will see it as "%x%" to know %x% in an environment variable.
'for' generates a list. Each item in that list is piped into the
environment variable, but percent is an escape character inside a batch
file, and why you have to double them where you want a single percent
sign. For each item in the list generated by 'for', and copied into the
X environment variable, the do-statement gets executed, but again you
likely need double precent signs, so the first one escapes the second
one, and the second survives parsing to pass the string to the command interpreter.
Bascially, in a command line you run at the prompt in a command shell,
enclose strings in double-quotes in a batch file to account for possible
space characters in the strings (and your's can have 2, or maybe more).
Also double the percent signs since, in a batch file, a percent sign is
the escape character applied to the next character. At the command
line, you can use %, but inside a batch you need to use %%. After all,
to allow escaping of character (to represent special characters), some character had to be chosen as the escape character.
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