CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cmd
radensb
radensb

Reputation: 694

How to properly pass full file names to `cmd /c`?

I am trying to run a command in CMD prompt to get information from my SVN (TortoiseSVN 1.7.8). In a cmd prompt, I enter:

cmd /c C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\svn.exe info C:\MyCode\CurrProj\Ry1

I get:

'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

That makes sense as there is a space after 'C:\Program'. Ok, so if I enter:

cmd /c "C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\svn.exe" info C:\MyCode\CurrProj\Ry1

then all works as expected. However, if the location (the last path) contains spaces:

cmd /c "C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\svn.exe" info C:\MyCode\Curr Proj\Ry1

I get:

svn: E155007: 'C:\MyCode\Curr' is not a working copy

So this means that the SVN command ran and used only part of the code location. So I added quotes around that path too:

cmd /c "C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\svn.exe" info "C:\MyCode\Curr Proj\Ry1"

Which brings me back to error message:

'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

WHAT?? Can someone explain why the CMD prompt is not interpreting this correctly? Shouldn't the last example launch a CMD prompt with the 'Close' option and run:

"C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\svn.exe" info "C:\MyCode\Curr Proj\Ry1"

If i run: "C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\svn.exe" info "C:\MyCode\Curr Proj\Ry1" by itself, it works as expected, but this command will be run in a process that is created programatically in some C# code:

System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo procStartInfo =
                new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo("cmd", "/c " + command);

where command = "C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\svn.exe" info "C:\MyCode\Curr Proj\Ry1"

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1286

Answers (3)

wiesios
wiesios

Reputation: 1

You can also use old-style short names of file to execute (I know, it's not convenient, but may solve the problem, it's possible to get short name from long name, i.e. from dir /X):

cmd /c C:\Progra~1\Tortoi~1\bin\svn.exe info "C:\MyCode\Curr Proj\Ry1"

Upvotes: 0

Tsukasa
Tsukasa

Reputation: 6562

Don't put your arguments inline with the filename

using (Process p = new Process())
{
   p.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
   p.StartInfo.Arguments = "/c \"c:\\Program Files\\..blah\"";
   p.Start();
}

You also need to add quotes around the path by using escape characters 

\" gives you "

Upvotes: 0

TypeIA
TypeIA

Reputation: 17258

Excerpt from cmd /help:

If /C or /K is specified, then the remainder of the command line after
the switch is processed as a command line, where the following logic is
used to process quote (") characters:

    1.  If all of the following conditions are met, then quote characters
        on the command line are preserved:

        - no /S switch
        - exactly two quote characters
        - no special characters between the two quote characters,
          where special is one of: &<>()@^|
        - there are one or more whitespace characters between the
          two quote characters
        - the string between the two quote characters is the name
          of an executable file.

    2.  Otherwise, old behavior is to see if the first character is
        a quote character and if so, strip the leading character and
        remove the last quote character on the command line, preserving
        any text after the last quote character.

Upvotes: 2

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