Reputation: 6052
I'm writing a Windows batch script. By default, the pause
command will pause the script and display the text "Press any key to continue...".
How do I modify this text to display my own text to the user?
Upvotes: 51
Views: 118162
Reputation: 11728
Since I dont see it suggested and every dog on the internet has had a go, but me.
This may not have worked under XP, as required by OP, but is valid for any newer system like my current Win7 :-)
Dirty version (no message) |keys ON does nothing, but block the press any key ...
timeout -1|Keys ON
can be used for message after
@timeout -1|Keys ON&echo I'm back
This one will pause and show a response until accepted then return to prompt/next cmd line
@timeout -1|Echo Hello Padawan %userprofile:~9%, Press a key, you can!
:on any keys
@echo Welcome to the dark side
or boost that to the nth
@color 04&echo/&timeout -1|set /p="Hello %userprofile:~9%, you may press a key to proceed..."&color&echo Continuing with process...
Upvotes: 1
Reputation: 31221
You could hide the text from the pause
command by using this:
pause >nul
Then you could echo your own message to tell the user it has paused:
echo The batch file has paused
So the full script might look like this:
@echo off
echo Hello World!
echo The batch file has paused
pause >nul
Upvotes: 128
Reputation: 51
Already many solutions. Another variation that makes some sense:
echo Hit any key to continue...&pause>nul
Upvotes: 5
Reputation: 61969
Starting from Windows 2000 (so, not XP) you can use the choice
command which is far more powerful than either pause
or set /p
.
Besides being able to specify your own prompt text, you can also require the user to type a specific key, and only that key, instead of being limited to, and requiring, [Enter]
to be pressed.
Also, you can prompt the user to press a number of different keys and take action based on which key was pressed.
Type choice /?
for help, or read more about it here: Wikipedia: choice (command)
Upvotes: 1
Reputation: 1
You could do it like this!
@echo off
echo Hello World!
echo:
echo Press 1 to continue
set /p letter=
if %letter% == 1 goto a ;or instead of goto you could write start and the file or website you want to start
pause >nul
:a
cls
echo BYE NOW!
pause >nul
Upvotes: 0
Reputation: 291
Here's a one-liner
pause>nul|set/p =any key to exit ...
It's slightly shorter (one less 'nul') than Aacini's solution:
set/p<nul =any key to exit ...&pause>nul
and, with the 'pause' first, I think that it's a little clearer what the intent is.
With both
cursor stays on the same line
ANY key works, not just 'enter'
Neither are as good, however, as the hypothetical
pause/t any key to exit ...
It's hard to believe that 'pause' has survived 35 years without this ability ;-)
The solutions with 'echo' have the possibly undesirable
trailing new-line,
but do provide for multiple lines of text:
Pause>nul|(echo All your bases &echo are belong to us &echo Press any key to die...)
bv
Upvotes: 29
Reputation: 107
Here’s another trick
Pause. >nul | echo. Press something to continue
Upvotes: 3
Reputation: 2407
Another dirty solution would be something like this,
SET /P =Press enter to return to the menu . . .
GOTO :menu
The benefit of this is that the cursor stays on the same line as the message, just like with the PAUSE
command.
The downside is that it only listens to the enter key.
Upvotes: 2
Reputation: 67216
"Not really what I was looking for, I was wondering whether there was a way of actually changing the output text of the Pause command, not just a workaround to it." – Hashim
Yes, you can! But you must be aware that PAUSE is an internal command of CMD.EXE program, so, to modify the message that PAUSE show, you must modify CMD.EXE file. To do that, you must use an editor that may modify binary files. I used XVI32 program via these steps:
1- Copy CMD.EXE file to a new folder created for this purpose: COPY %COMSPEC%
2- Edit the copy of CMD.EXE with XVI32.EXE program:
2.1- Locate the message you want. Messages are stored in 16-bits elements with the high byte equal zero. To locate a message:
2.1.1- In Search> Find> Text string> enter the message you want.
2.1.2- Convert Text -> Hex
2.1.3- Insert a zero after each letter-value
2.1.4- Press Ok
2.2- Modify the message for the new one. Modify existent letters only and keep zeros in place. Note that you can NOT extend any message.
2.3- End the edition and save the modified file.
You may now run CMD.EXE to get the modified PAUSE message. I made a test of this procedure:
C:\DOCUME~1\Antonio\MYDOCU~1\My Webs\XVI32 Hex File Editor
>pause
Press any key to continue . . .
C:\DOCUME~1\Antonio\MYDOCU~1\My Webs\XVI32 Hex File Editor
>cmd
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
C:\DOCUME~1\Antonio\MYDOCU~1\My Webs\XVI32 Hex File Editor
>pause
Oprime una tecla para seguir. .
Notes to everyone that read this answer:
NOTE 1: Please, don't post that comment saying that modifying CMD.EXE file must NEVER be done! I think the same. I just posted this answer so the OP realized what he really asked for...
NOTE 2: The reviewing of CMD.EXE file with a text editor, like Notepad, is very interesting. You may see all the internal commands, interesting details (like =ExitCode and =ExitCodeAscii variables), all the error messages, etc. For example, these are the internal commands:
C O L O R T I T L E C H D I R C L S C M D E X T V E R S I O N
D E F I N E D C O P Y P A T H P R O M P T P U S H D P O P D
A S S O C F T Y P E D A T E D E L D I R E C H O E N D L O C A L
E R A S E E R R O R L E V E L E X I T E X I S T B R E A K F O R
G O T O I F K E Y S M K D I R M D N O T P A U S E R D
R E M M O V E R E N A M E R E N R M D I R S E T S E T L O C A L
S H I F T S T A R T T I M E T Y P E V E R I F Y V E R V O L = , ; + / [ ] " : . \
P A T H E X T P A T H P R O M P T
F O R / ? I F / ? R E M / ?
% s % s
% s
/ A / P : E O F
f d p n x s a t z D O
/ L / D / F / R I N E L S E ( % s ) % s % s % s % s
% c % c % s % s & ( ) [ ] { } ^ = ; ! % ' + , ` ~
Upvotes: 9
Reputation: 9058
There is no way to change the text of the pause
command. However you might want to look at the choice
command. You can change the text it prints. The only downside is that you need to provide a list of acceptable characters.
Upvotes: 5