When executing
echo 0 > test.txt
in cmd.exe, the output in test.txt is
0_
where _ means space. Why is there a space appended? Any way to prevent the appending of the space? Thanks!
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1possible duplicate of [How to echo "2" (no quotes) to a file, from a batch script?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7225630/how-to-echo-2-no-quotes-to-a-file-from-a-batch-script) – Raymond Chen Mar 26 '12 at 16:52
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Yes, however from the title one wouldn't expect it's the same. – stefan.at.kotlin Mar 28 '12 at 21:04
1 Answers
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The space that gets appended is the space between the "0" and the ">" in your command line. There is a non-obvious way to get rid of it: prepend the redirection to the command instead:
>test.txt echo 0
Jon
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1You can also just leave the space out (echo 0>test.txt) but your way is cuter. – Harry Johnston Mar 26 '12 at 23:33
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1@HarryJohnston: Yes, you can, but did you try that command? Did you see the output? Single-digit numbers are special case when they are immediately followed by redirection. (They are treated as file handles.) – Andriy M Mar 27 '12 at 06:08
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@Jon: Works great thank you! Harry: I also tried that once, but like Andriy said - not working ;-) – stefan.at.kotlin Mar 28 '12 at 21:03
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Hmm while this appends no space it appends a new line - any way to get rid of that? – stefan.at.kotlin Apr 08 '12 at 14:13
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@stefan.at.wpf: See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/245395/hidden-features-of-windows-batch-files/374361#374361. – Jon Apr 08 '12 at 14:38