138

I'm new to script writing and can't get this one to work. I could if I moved the files to a path without a space in it, but I'd like it to work with the space if it could.

I want to extract a bunch of Office updates to a folder with a .cmd file. To make the batch file usable on any computer, I set a path variable which I only have to change in one place to run it on another machine. The problem is that the path has a space in it. If I put quotes around the path in the definition, cmd.exe puts them around the path before it appends the filename and switches and the batch fails with "Command line syntax error." Without quotes, it fails with, "is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program, or batch file."

For testing, I'm using the help switch until or if I can get it working. I can do it using an 8.3 file/folder name (e.g. My Documents as MyDocu~1), but can it be done a different way?

marcerickson
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  • The quotes must contain the path with the file name and the command line parameters must follow. Can you give some more details about how the command line gets created? Exactly waht do you mean by > If I put quotes around the path in the definition, cmd.exe puts them around the path before it appends the filename and switches – vladhorby Dec 05 '09 at 03:16

10 Answers10

118

Try something like this:

SET MY_PATH=C:\Folder with a space

"%MY_PATH%\MyProgram.exe" /switch1 /switch2
aqwert
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aphoria
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107

I use

set "VAR_NAME=<String With Spaces>"

when updating path:

set "PATH=%UTIL_DIR%;%PATH%"
koko
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    this should be the accepted answer. for some reason, calling set from an if block doesn't work if the value has a space and is unquoted. – Kevin Aug 01 '19 at 16:35
36

There are two options here. First, you can store the path unquoted and just quote it later:

set MyPath=C:\Program Files\Foo
"%MyPath%\foo with spaces.exe" something

Another option you could use is a subroutine which alles for un-quoting strings (but in this case it's actually not a very good idea since you're adding quotes, stripping them away and re-adding them again without benefit):

set MyPath="C:\Program Files\Foo"
call :foo %MyPath%
goto :eof

:foo
"%~1\foo.exe"
goto :eof

The %~1 removes quotation marks around the argument. This comes in handy when passing folder names around quoted but, as said before, in this particular case it's not the best idea :-)

Joey
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16

Try this;

  1. create a variable as below

    SET "SolutionDir=C:\Test projects\Automation tests\bin\Debug"**

  2. Then replace the path with variable. Make sure to add quotes for starts and end

    vstest.console.exe "%SolutionDir%\Automation.Specs.dll"
shA.t
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Shiran Jayawardena
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8

I always place the path in double quotes when I am creating a .bat file. (I just added the PAUSE so it wont close the screen.)

For example:

"C:\Program Files\PageTech\PCLReader64_131\PCLReader64.exe"
PAUSE
JoBaxter
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7

The proper way to do this is like so:

@ECHO off
SET MY_PATH=M:\Dir\^
With Spaces\Sub Folder^
\Dir\Folder
:: calls M:\Dir\With Spaces\Sub Folder\Dir\Folder\hello.bat
CALL "%MY_PATH%\hello.bat"
pause
djangofan
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5

The easiest way to fix this problem is to put the folder name in quotes:

(cd\New Folder\...) --> (cd\"New Folder"\...)

Hopes this helps.

user5528279
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4

I had this same problem recently, imagine...

Folder
  └  File1.txt
  └  File2.txt

Issue

You're right, if you add " " around the path...

SET RootFolder="C:\Folder with spaces"

it then makes it unusable if you want to then append filenames, etc (without doing some interim processing on the string...

FOR %%F IN * DO (COPY %%F "%RootFolder%\%%F")

❌ COPY File1.txt ""C:\Folder with spaces"\File1.txt"
❌ COPY File2.txt ""C:\Folder with spaces"\File2.txt"

Solution

The key is to still use " ", but put them around the entire SET statement (i.e. BEFORE the variable name)

SET "RootFolder=C:\Folder with spaces"

This will them work when you need to re-use the variable

FOR %%F IN * DO (COPY %%F "%RootFolder%\%%F")

✅ COPY File1.txt "C:\Folder with spaces\File1.txt"
✅ COPY File1.txt "C:\Folder with spaces\File2.txt"
Martin
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2

If you need to store permanent path (path is not changed when cmd is restart)

  1. Run the Command Prompt as administrator (Right click on cmd.exe and select run as administrator)

  2. In cmd setx path "%path%;your new path" then enter

  3. Check whether the path is taken correctly by typing path and pressing enter

Jon
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mpmpeiris
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    I think, the question is not about *the PATH* variable, but rather about *a path* variable. The OP apparently wants to store a particular path into a variable and use the value across the batch script. – Andriy M Jul 03 '11 at 00:21
1

also just try adding double slashes like this works for me only

set dir="C:\\\1. Some Folder\\\Some Other Folder\\\Just Because"

@echo on
MKDIR %dir%

OMG after posting they removed the second \ in my post so if you open my comment and it shows three you should read them as two......

Chris P
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Erwin
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