CODEWITHSUNDEEP
stringbatch-filevariablescmd
nonhocapito
nonhocapito

Reputation: 476

CMD Script - cannot set variable within FIND

  1. I use an external program to generate a string
  2. I need to find out if the string has the word "not" in it
  3. If so, I set a certain variable to use later.

1 and 2 work without problems, but I cannot get 3 to work.

My code:

SET EXE="path\to\program.exe"

for /f "delims=" %%i in ('%EXE% argument') do (
rem echo %%i
set mystatus=%%i
)

echo %mystatus%

^ works up to here ^ - echo returns the correct value. Now I want to return a simpler value that tells me if the string "not" was present in %mystatus% var

set "isNot="

ECHO.%mystatus%| FIND /I "not">Nul && ( 
  Echo.Found "not"
  do something
  rem ^this works^
  set isNot= "true"
) || (
  Echo.Did not find "not"
  do something
  rem ^this works^
  set isNot= "false"
)

now, out of FIND, this returns nothing: WHY?

echo %isNot%

Upvotes: 0

Views: 64

Answers (3)

Magoo
Magoo

Reputation: 80033

I find your answer - let's say, naïve.

First, I can't reproduce your result. It worked perfectly for me, returning isnot set to Space"false" or Space"true", not nothing.

Had isnot been undefined, then the echo response should have been Echo is off, so isnot was defined in your test. I would use echo +%isNot%+ for this test so that the string is shown with an obvious delimiter. If it contained just spaces - well, they tend to be remarkably invisible.

As to the solution, I's suggest

set "isnot="
if "%mystatus%" neq "%mystatus:not=%" set "isnot=Y"

which avoids find and piping and conditions, setting isnot to be either defined or not defined as appropriate, ready for testing using

if defined isnot (echo not was not found) else (echo not was found)

The reason for this is that if defined works on the run-time status of the variable, hence it can be used within a code block where the variable may be switched from one status to the other.

Use set "var=value" for setting string values - this avoids problems caused by trailing spaces. Don't assign a terminal \, Space or " - build pathnames from the elements - counterintuitively, it is likely to make the process easier.

Upvotes: 2

Compo
Compo

Reputation: 38622

This may be a guess as to your intended task, but my assumption is that you are trying to determine if the executable command returns the string, 'path\to\program.exe' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file..

If that is the case, then perhaps this would be a better overall solution for you:

@Set "exe=path\to\program.exe"
@For %%G In ("%exe%")Do @If "%%~aG" Lss "-" (Echo ERROR: No such object '%exe%')Else If "%%~aG" GEq "d" (Echo ERROR: '%exe%' is a directory object.)Else %%G argument

All you would need to change is the path on line 1, and the string argument at the end of line 2.

Upvotes: 0

nonhocapito
nonhocapito

Reputation: 476

Idiotic mistake, it seems. There should not be spaces after = when setting a variable. Removed the spaces, and it work as it should.

Upvotes: 1

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