Introduction#

This topic will focus on the things that one should (not mandatory) do in a batch file. Using these “best practices” can enhance the effect and the function of a batch file.

Quotes

Most online batch scripts come with a lot of quote issues.

Examples and Solutions

Example A

if %var%==abc echo Test

This code works - when the content of %var% does not contains space or other special characters. Now let’s assume %var% contains 1 whitespace. Now cmd.exe sees:

if  ==abc echo Test

This would cause a failure because cmd.exe doesn’t understand this syntax.

Solution A

if "%var%"=="abc" echo Test

Using quotes, cmd.exe sees the entire %var%(including space and special characters) as only one normal string. Yet this is not the safest comparison method. The safest one uses echo, pipe, and findstr.

Example B

cd C:\User\Spaced Name\Spaced FileName.txt

cd would only change directory to C:\User\Spaced, as cd only accepts one path argument.

Solution B

Simply by adding quotes around the path, the issue would be solved.

cd "C:\User\Spaced Name\Spaced FileName.txt"

There are also a few examples that work better using quotes, like the set /a statement, etc. But, when one works on strings that contain spaces or special characters, it is usually much safe to use quotes.

Spaghetti Code

Spaghetti code means a code snippet that uses many, and often confusing structures. Such as GOTOs, exceptions and inconsistent code.

Examples and Solutions

Example A

@echo off
set /a counter=0

:Loop
set /a counter=%counter% + 1
echo %counter%

if %counter% equ 10 goto :exit
goto :Loop

:exit

This program comes with plenty of jumps, making us harder to know what exactly the script is doing.

Solution A

@echo off
for /l %%G in (0,1,10) echo %%G

Using less GOTOs, we reduced the amount of code greatly, and we can focus on the actual code.

Example B

Consider the following statements.

:endGame
if %player1Score% gtr %player2Score% goto :player1wins
if %player1Score% lss %player2Score% goto :player2wins
goto :tie

:player1wins
echo player 1 wins
goto :eof

:player2wins
echo player 2 wins
goto :eof

:tie
echo tie
goto :eof

This snippet requires lots of goto statements and can be confusing to debug. To simplify these statements, we can use call command. Here is the above script at a better condition.

:endGame
if %player1Score% gtr %player2Score% call :message player 1 wins
if %player1Score% lss %player2Score% call :message player 2 wins
if %player1Score% equ %player2Score% call :message tie

goto :eof

:message
echo %*
goto :eof

Both scripts output the exact same result, but the new script is much shorter and clearer.