Executing multiple commands from a Windows cmd script

Question

I'm trying to write a Windows cmd script to perform several tasks in series. However, it always stops after the first command in the script.

The command it stops after is a maven build (not sure if that's relevant).

How do I make it carry on and run each task in turn please?

Installing any software or configuring the registry etc is completely out of the question - it has to work on a vanilla Windows XP installation I'm afraid.

Ideally I'd like the script to abort if any of the commands failed, but that's a "nice to have", not essential.

Thanks.

Solution 1

When you call another .bat file, I think you need "call" in front of the call:

call otherCommand.bat

Solution 2

You can use the && symbol between commands to execute the second command only if the first succeeds. More info here http://commandwindows.com/command1.htm

Solution 3

Not sure why the first command is stopping. If you can make it parallel, you can try something like

start cmd.exe /C 1.bat      
start cmd.exe /C 2.bat

Solution 4

I have just been doing the exact same(ish) task of creating a batch script to run maven test scripts. The problem is that calling maven scrips with mvn clean install ... is itself a script and so needs to be done with call mvn clean install.

Code that will work

rem run a maven clean install
cd C:\rbe-ui-test-suite 
call mvn clean install
rem now run through all the test scripts
call mvn clean install -Prun-integration-tests -Dpattern=tc-login
call mvn clean install -Prun-integration-tests -Dpattern=login-1

Note rather the use of call. This will allow the use of consecutive maven scripts in the batch file.

Solution 5

Using double ampersands will run the second command, only if the first one succeeds:

cd Desktop/project-directory && atom .

Where as, using only one ampersand will attempt to run both commands, even if the first fails:

cd Desktop/project-directory & atom .

View more solutions

Comments

[Darren Greaves]

Thanks but I am unable to install any software. I wish I had access to something more powerful than the crappy Windows scripting language. :-(

[Ferruccio]

You can always use vbscript or javascript. They're built into the Windows scripting host.

[Darren Greaves]

Hi, in the original script I wasn't calling other .cmd files, but I have since split it into separate files so I could run each in turn. So, putting call in front of each command seems to have done the trick, thanks!

[Darren Greaves]

Thanks, I'll give that a try in conjunction with the accepted answer above.

[JellicleCat]

Use /K instead of /C if you want the shell to remain open after your command has executed.

[jfpoilpret]

As a matter of fact, on Windows, mvn is a .bat file by itself, thus you need to use call for it as in call mvn install; normally you don't need to create an extra cmd file.

[Varun Achar]

Will this stop the execution of the second script if maven build fails?

[kevinji]

That link is broken: "Backend server did not respond in time. App server is too busy and cannot handle requests in time."

[user66001]

No need to use cmd.exe and start, just start x.bat1 will do.

[Mitja]

Can someone explain to me why calc && echo foo results in the calculator being started and "foo" being printed immediately? How can I start calc in a way that it blocks the windows shell like the bash does without &?

[coderforlife]

@TheM Windows distinguishes between GUI-based and command-based applications (there is a flag in near the beginning of the EXE file). If you start a GUI-based application from the command line it always appears to end immediately since it is completely detached from the command-line. If you start a command-based program from a GUI program (like Explorer) it will always show a new command line. POSIX systems make no such distinction thus the behavior is more consistent.

[coderforlife]

@TheM To get around this you can use start /B /WAIT calc

[Mitja]

@coderforlife I agree that this behavior is somewhat inconsistent but at least there is a way to do it. Thank you!

[Pushkar]

Note that you don't need semicolons in batch files. And the reason why you need to use call is that mvn itself is a batch file and batch files need to call each other with call, otherwise control does not return to the caller.

[Ng2-Fun]

@Gulzar Nazim - Do you know if I can put all the commands in a single batch file with if-else statement as I don't want to maintain it in different batch files?

[Giridhar Karnik]

The irony here is the answer is pointing in the opposite direction of the question and still it gets 120 upvotes

[joshden]

I was trying to do something similar with npm updates and protractor tests. I didn't think this answer applied to me until I realized npm and protractor are .cmd files on Windows.