Processing Semicolon on Command line

windows batch-file cmd

12,743

Solution 1

I found a little trick to get around the way the shell is interpreting the value of "%1" in the FOR /F loop: instead of parsing the string, parse the output of the command ECHO %1, like this:

FOR /F "tokens=1,2 delims=:" %%a IN ( 'ECHO %1' ) DO ECHO Switch: %%a Value: %%b

This works if you put the password in quotes on the command line (call script2.bat -pw="my;password"), so we'll have to remove the quotes as follows:

SET VALUE=%VALUE:~1,-1%

So this is the code I came up with:

ECHO OFF

ECHO Arguments: %1

FOR /F "tokens=1,2 delims=:" %%a IN ( 'ECHO %1' ) DO (
    SET SWITCH=%%a
    SET VALUE=%%b
)

ECHO SWITCH: %SWITCH%

SET VALUE=%VALUE:~1,-1%
ECHO VALUE: %VALUE%

...which returns the following results:

Arugments: -pw:"my;Password"
SWITCH: -pw
VALUE: my;Password

Solution 2

Try escaping the ; with a ^.

call script2.bat "-pw:my^;Password"

12,743

Author by

Joe Simon

Updated on August 07, 2022

Comments

Joe Simon over 1 year
I have two batch files which is used to run a large C++ build, the first one starts the processes, creating directories and figuring out what to send to the second script. If certain information is presented to the first script, I have a routine that pops up a window and asks for a password. This is passed to the second script by calling the second script like this
```
call script2.bat -pw:myPassword
```
where myPassword is something the user entered. now, i have been testing this script and one of my users password contains a semicolon, so we get this
```
call script2.bat -pw:my;Password
```
I found by putting in quotes I can get this into the second script OK
```
call script2.bat -pw:"my;Password"
```
However, the command line parsing breaks when I try to do this
```
for /F "tokens=1,2 delims=:" %%a in ( "%1" ) DO SET switch=%%a&value=%%b
```
if I echo %1 it shows like this
```
-pw:"my;Password"
```
But with echo on when the script runs I see
```
for /F "tokens=1,2 delims=:" %%a in ( "-pw:"my Password"" ) DO SET switch=%%a&value=%%b
```
and it parses as switch=-pw and value="my

What I eventually need is for value to contain my;Password so I can pass it to another program

Any ideas on how to get this to parse correctly

Here re 2 batch file that issulstrate the problem:

a.bat:
```
echo on

call b.bat -pw:eatme
call b.bat -pw:eat;me
call b.bat -pw:"eat;me"
call "b.bat -pw:\"eat;me\""
```
b.bat:
```
echo on

echo %1

for /F "tokens=1,2 delims=: " %%a in ( "%1" ) DO SET switch=%%a&SET value=%%b 

echo switch=%switch% 
echo value=%value%
```
Joe Simon about 14 years

I must not be understanding something, I thought I did put the command in double quotes, -pw:"my;Password" when it get to the FOR statement, hgowever it shows up as "-pm:"my Password"", the semi-colon is gone. It seems to have something to do with the "for" statement, since when in do echo %1 immediately before the "for" it shows up as -pw:"my;Password".
Joe Simon about 14 years

Putting the quotes around the whole command line (other than the call) results in an error "The filename, directory name, or volume lable syntax is incorrect"
Joe Simon about 14 years

Here are 2 batch files that issulstrate the problem a.bat: echo on call b.bat -pw:eatme call b.bat -pw:eat;me call b.bat -pw:"eat;me" call "b.bat -pw:\"eat;me\"" b.bat echo on echo %1 for /F "tokens=1,2 delims=: " %%a in ( "%1" ) DO SET switch=%%a&SET value=%%b echo switch=%switch% echo value=%value%
Joe Simon about 14 years

Close, I end up with an extra " at the end H:\My Documents\test>a H:\My Documents\test>echo on H:\My Documents\test>call b.bat -pw:"eat;me" H:\My Documents\test>ECHO OFF Arguments: -pw:"eat;me" SWITCH: -pw VALUE: eat;me"
ewall about 14 years

Are you sure you have the syntax correct for SET VALUE=%VALUE:~1,-1% ? That should remove the first and last characters, whatever they are...
Joe Simon about 14 years

I don't know what is going on. It always removes only the first character... maybe there are some spaces at the end that are not visible ? I will look into that.
Joe Simon about 14 years

Yes, it was trailing spaces... Thanks for the Help !
KatieK over 11 years

This would be a better answer if it included the essential parts of the answer here, and provided the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes.
Tim Friesen over 8 years

Just what I needed. Escaping the semicolon with the caret caused cmd to properly handle my input at least in my case.