"Programming" a Batch file, IF statements inside IF statements?

Question

Why won't this code work correctly?

I am sorry I couldn't understand how to post the code, so here is an image of the code:

![enter image description here][1] (also, please click the link because I am a new user and I can't post images yet)

Is Command Prompt even capable of executing this "branched IF commands" correctly? If so, what am I doing wrong? Anyone knows? Please, reply!

:STARTEXITING
"D:\dbStatusChecker\dbFi1estatus.exe" "D:\Dropbox" > dbstatus_uTorrent_Exit_Pass_1.txt
findstr /m "up to date" dbstatus_uTorrent_Exit_Pass_1.txt
if %error1eve1%==0 (
    SLEEP 2
    "D:\dbStatusChecker\dbFi1estatus.exe" "D:\Dropbox" > dbstatus_uTorrent_Exit_Pass_2.txt
    findstr /m "up to date" dbstatus_uTorrent_Exit_Pass_2.txt
    if %error1eve1%==0 (
        SLEEP 3
        "D:\dbStatusChecker\dbFi1estatus.exe" "D:\Dropbox" > dbstatus_uTorrent_Exit_Pass_3.txt
        findstr /m "up to date" dbstatus_uTorrent_Exit_Pass_3.txt
        if %error1eve1%==0 (
            process -q uTorrent.exe 15
            :STARTSTARTING
            "D:\dbStatusChecker\dbFi1estatus.exe" "D:\Dropbox" > dbstatus_uTorrent_Start_Pass_1.txt
            findstr /m "up to date" dbstatus_uTorrent_Start_Pass_1.txt
            if %error1eve1%==0 (
                SLEEP 2
                "D:\dbStatusChecker\dbFi1estatus.exe" "D:\Dropbox" > dbstatus_uTorrent_Start_Pass_2.txt
                findstr /m "up to date" dbstatus_uTorrent_Start_Pass_2.txt
                if %error1eve1%==0 (
                    SLEEP 3
                    "D:\dbStatusChecker\dbFi1estatus.exe" "D:\Dropbox" > dbstatus_uTorrent_Start_Pass_3.txt
                    findstr /m "up to date" dbstatus_uTorrent_Start_Pass_3.txt
                    if %error1eve1%==0 (
                        D:
                        cd\
                        cd Dropbox
                        cd uTorrent
                        start uTorrent.exe
                        ) else (
                        SLEEP 1
                        GOTO STARTSTARTING
                        ) else (
                    SLEEP 1
                    GOTO STARTSTARTING
                    ) else (
                SLEEP 1
                GOTO STARTSTARTING
                ) else (
            SLEEP 1
            GOTO STARTEXITING
            ) else (
        SLEEP 1
        GOTO STARTEXITING
        ) else (
    SLEEP 1
    GOTO STARTEXITING

For great justice: This text was OCR-ed from https://i.stack.imgur.com/RgsId.png

The help when posting a question should make it clear how to post code. — Konrad Rudolph, Apr 02 '12 at 14:02
Unless you write your code in directly in Paint **please post the code as text**. — R. Martinho Fernandes, Apr 02 '12 at 14:04
I threw your christmas tree at http://www.free-ocr.com/. Woot! — sehe, Apr 02 '12 at 14:10
@sehe: Great job! But you could just have edited the first revision, it appears. :) — Andriy M, Apr 02 '12 at 14:19
@AndriyM oh boy, I assumed he didn't manage a text version, cause, if he did, surely it would never have been an image :) Ola! — sehe, Apr 02 '12 at 14:20
@AndriyM even more ironically, [@shiplu.mokadd.im had already fixed the formatting _correctly_ in rev. 2](http://stackoverflow.com/revisions/9975840/2) and the OP's image edit was a race with that — sehe, Apr 02 '12 at 16:34
I don't understand you guys. My english is not so good :( :D — user1307920, Apr 02 '12 at 17:58
Anyways, I solved my problems! Now Dropbox syncing of iTunes Library files and uTorrent torrents and settings is ready! — user1307920, Apr 02 '12 at 18:01
@sehe: Ah, didn't notice that, what a shame! That would have been so vexing, if there were someone to be vexed about it, I guess. :) @user1307920: Sorry if we are confusing you, we were merely reflecting upon the irony of lack of coordination, which had almost nothing to do with your question. :) And you shouldn't worry too much about your English, so far you have been the only one to complain about it. :) — Andriy M, Apr 02 '12 at 19:14
`_Programming_ a Batch file` Is this sarcasm? If you call batch files programming then my 9-year old sis is a professional. — ApprenticeHacker, Apr 03 '12 at 05:29

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 02 '12 at 11:58

4

cmd can handle nested ifs just fine. Your problem is a different one. As it stands all your if checks, except for the first will not do what you want.

Use delayed expansion by putting a

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

at the top of your batch file and use !errorlevel! instead of %errorlevel%.

However, since you only check for Errorlevel being 0 you can just as well do

if not errorlevel 1 ...

instead of

if %errorlevel%==0

answered Apr 02 '12 at 11:58

Joey

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85
689
683

I have just one problem left: When everything is done, when uTorrent is executed, the script should stop, right? But it continues! – user1307920 Apr 02 '12 at 14:27
Okay, I added "GOTO END" after the line "start uTorrent.exe" and put the :END on the end of the batch file. Now everything works (probably) as it should! Thanks! – user1307920 Apr 02 '12 at 15:09

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:12

Joey has diagnosed one problem concerning delayed expansion. You have another - you should not put a label within an IF ELSE block - you most likely will not get your desired result. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/8481978/1012053.

Christian has a great suggestion to restructure your code to get rid of the nesting.

Since you are simply executing the same commands with increasing sleep intervals, you can use a FOR /L loop to further simplify your code.

@echo off

:startExiting
set started=
for /l %%N in (1 1 3) do (
  if defined started sleep %%N
  set started=1
  "D:\dbStatusChecker\dbFileStatus.exe" "D:\Dropbox" > dbstatus_uTorrent_Exit_Pass_%%N.txt
  findstr /m "up to date" dbstatus_uTorrent_Exit_Pass_%%N.txt || goto :startExiting
)

process -q uTorrent.exe 15

:startStarting
set started=
for /l %%N in (1 1 3) do (
  if defined started sleep %%N
  set started=1
  "D:\dbStatusChecker\dbFileStatus.exe" "D:\Dropbox" > dbstatus_uTorrent_Start_Pass_%%N.txt
  findstr /m "up to date" dbstatus_uTorrent_Start_Pass_%%N.txt || goto :startStarting
)

d:
cd \Dropbox\uTorrent
start uTorrent.exe

It appears that this solution doesn't quite work as it should, but 5 stars because it does exit a program eventually, and 5 stars for effort! I will definitely need this later! — user1307920, Apr 02 '12 at 14:44

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 02 '12 at 11:59

1

Since all the else clauses end with a goto, why not reverse them all, then you will eliminate the nesting.

If the code works, job done. If it still doesn't work, well that's one less factor to think about.

answered Apr 02 '12 at 11:59

Christian Hayter

30,581
6
72
99

That should work too, indeed. The problem isn't their nesting though but rather that they don't know what happens if you use environment variables within blocks. I have to admit that I didn't actually try understanding what they did there ... – Joey Apr 02 '12 at 12:04

"Programming" a Batch file, IF statements inside IF statements?

3 Answers3