CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windowsshellcmdescaping
Seshagiri Sriram
Seshagiri Sriram

Reputation: 73

Escaping forward slashes : Windows CMD and Bash

I have a situation where I need to invoke a UNIX Shell from a windows CMD file. This is invoked as below:

sh -c path/script.sh

The challenge I am having is path is passed as a parameter to the windows cmd and contains the backward slash () to delimit the path. So a command execution like so:

sh -c e:\scriptpath\test.sh fails as sh correctly reports: e:scriptpathtest.sh does not exist.

Escaping the \ with a \ works: e.g. sh -c e:\\scriptpath\\test.sh will work.

The question is: how do I include the \ in the entered path parameter from within the windows cmd file? e.g. if path is entered as e:\scriptpath, it will automatically get converted to e:\\scriptpath?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 5528

Answers (2)

JosefZ
JosefZ

Reputation: 30218

Never change the %path% environment variable in the way described (set /p path=Enter path). Use another name instead (e.g. set /p _path=Enter path). The %path% variable has a special meaning in Windows environment and its proper value has vital importance here. See also PATH command.

Any user input should be thoroughly checked before using, e.g.

Save below code snippet with .bat or .cmd file extension, e.g. 32134824.cmd:

@ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL EnableExtensions
:UserInput
rem empty the `_path` variable
set "_path="
rem or set a default value for it as follows:
set "_path=e:\scriptpath\test.sh"
rem prompt for user input
set /p "_path=Enter path [default=%_path%]:"
rem treat the case `set "_path="` and the user pressed only ˙Enter˙
if not defined _path echo wrong path & goto :UserInput
rem or set a default value instead: if not defined _path set "_path=%CD%\test.sh"

rem check if the file exists:
if not exist "%_path%" echo %_path%: file does not exist & goto :UserInput

rem translate to Unix filename conventions
set "_path=%_path:\=/%"
rem or set "_path=%_path:\=\\%"

rem next `sh` command is merely echoed for debugging purposes
echo sh -c %_path%

Further resources (required reading):

Upvotes: 0

Walter A
Walter A

Reputation: 20032

Windows also supports a forward slash between directories.
Try sh -c e:/scriptpath/test.sh

Upvotes: 0

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