CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#batch-fileargumentsxcopy
Sandy
Sandy

Reputation: 11697

Running batch file with arguments from C#

I have a batch file like this

@echo off
xcopy /e %1 %2

I have my C# code as follows:

string MyBatchFile = @"C:\Program Files (x86)\MybatchFile.bat";
string _sourcePath = @"C:\FolderToCopy";
string _tempTargetPath = @"C:\TargetFolder\";

var process = new Process { 
                   StartInfo = { 
                      Arguments = string.Format("{0} {1}",
                                                _sourcePath,
                                                _tempTargetPath) 
                                } 
                          };
process.StartInfo.FileName = MyBatchFile;
bool b = process.Start();

I expect this to copy the source files to target location. But nothing happens. My console window also does not stay for enough time so that I can see the error. Can anyone guide to achieve this. I am new in batch files processing.

Edit

By adding a pause in the end of batch file. Able to reproduce error. Getting error as

Files not found - Program

Running batch file directly does work fine. Just now noticed......when source path has any spaces....I am getting error

Upvotes: 12

Views: 43252

Answers (6)

K J
K J

Reputation: 11835

The reason the batch file fails with many of the c# suggestions is that at run time the internal variables are themselves UNQUOTED.

Simply in addition to the C# passed parameters need "double quoting" so do the internal ones thus:

xcopy /e %1 %2

needs replacing with

xcopy /e "%~1" "%~2"

so as to convey the external " to be used internally thus ensuring "c:\program files\...\..." is unbroken when used by the internal command.

Upvotes: 0

Faxon Lander Montenegro
Faxon Lander Montenegro

Reputation: 517

You can declare a proc variable of type System.Diagnostic.Process and then assign the bat name and parameters to it. For example, xxcopy.bat copies the name of the pdf you send to another address.

System.Diagnostics.Process proc = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
proc.StartInfo.FileName = "D:\\xxcopy.bat";
proc.StartInfo.Arguments = String.Format("{0}", "MiFile3.pdf");
proc.Start();

Upvotes: 0

Allen Pestaluky
Allen Pestaluky

Reputation: 3724

I have found that using this approach or calling cmd.exe is problematic with long argument lists. For those cases, I have found that using powershell.exe instead of cmd.exe to work well:

string MyBatchFile = @"C:\Program Files (x86)\MybatchFile.bat";
string _sourcePath = @"C:\FolderToCopy";
string _tempTargetPath = @"C:\TargetFolder\";

var process = new Process
{
    StartInfo = {
        Arguments = string.Format("\"& '{0}' '{1}' '{2}'\"",
            MyBatchFile,
            _sourcePath,
            _tempTargetPath)
        }
};
process.StartInfo.FileName = @"C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe";
bool b = process.Start();

Note that the entire arguments list needs to be wrapped in quotes and the batch file path is preceeded by an &.

Upvotes: -1

Viacheslav Ivanov
Viacheslav Ivanov

Reputation: 1555

What about quoting argument?

Arguments = String.Format("\"{0}\" \"{1}\"", _sourcePath, _tempTargetPath) …

Upvotes: 15

Vladimir Perevalov
Vladimir Perevalov

Reputation: 4157

.bat file is a text file, in order to execute it, you should start cmd process. Start it like this:

System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("cmd.exe", "/c yourbatch.bat");

Additional arguments may follow. Try this without c#, in a cmd window, or Run dialog.

Upvotes: 5

qujck
qujck

Reputation: 14578

try

string MyBatchFile = @"C:\MybatchFile.bat";
string _sourcePath = @"C:\FolderToCopy\*.*";
string _tempTargetPath = @"C:\TargetFolder\";

i.e. add *.* to the source path

and add a 3rd line pause to the batch file

@echo off
copy /e %1 %2
pause

Upvotes: 2

Related Questions