A. When you call a batch file, you can enter data after the command that the batch file refers to as %1, %2, etc. For example, in the batch file hello.bat, the following command
@echo hello %1 boy
would output
hello john boy
if you called it as
hello john
The following table outlines how you can modify the passed parameter.
| Parameter |
Description |
| %1 |
The normal parameter. |
| %~f1 |
Expands %1 to a fully qualified pathname. If you passed only a filename from the current directory, this parameter would also expand to the drive or directory. |
| %~d1 |
Extracts the drive letter from %1. |
| %~p1 |
Extracts the path from %1. |
| %~n1 |
Extracts the filename from %1, without the extension. |
| %~x1 |
Extracts the file extension from %1. |
| %~s1 |
Changes the n and x options’ meanings to reference the short name. You would therefore use %~sn1 for the short filename and %~sx1 for the short extension. |
The following table shows how you can combine some of the parameters.
| Parameter |
Description |
| %~dp1 |
Expands %1 to a drive letter and path only. |
| %~sp1 |
For short path. |
| %~nx1 |
Expands %1 to a filename and extension only. |
To see all the parameters in action, put them into the batch file testing.bat, as follows.
@echo off
echo fully qualified name %~f1
echo drive %~d1
echo path %~p1
echo filename %~n1
echo file extension %~x1
echo short filename %~sn1
echo short file extension %~sx1
echo drive and directory %~dp1
echo filename and extension %~nx1
Then, run the file with a long filename. For example, the batch file run on the file c:\temp\longfilename.long would produce the following output.
fully qualified name c:\TEMP\longfilename.long
drive c:
path \TEMP\
filename longfilename
file extension .long
short filename LONGFI~1
short file extension .LON
drive and directory c:\TEMP\
filename and extension longfilename.long
This method also works on the second and subsequent parameters. You simply substitute the parameter for 1 (e.g., %~f2 for the second parameter’s fully qualified path name).
The %0 parameter in a batch file holds information about the file when it runs and indicates which command extensions you can use with the file (e.g., %~dp0 gives the batch file’s drive and path).
End of Article
Frank Lenk October 17, 2000