NOTE: This tip has been superceeded by How can a batch job process files that contain command control and TAB characters?

If a file that you want to parse has command control characters, like an HTML file, the CMD.EXE processor will treat these characters as controls, causing your script to malfunction.

The ! % ^ & | " characters have special meaning to the CMD.EXE processor, as well as the = ; ( ) , : ' characters, when used in various combinations.

I have scripted CMDCTRL.bat, CMDCTRLdo.vbs, and CMDCTRLundo.vbs to allow a batch job to process a file that contains command control characters, by creating a new file in which the command control characters have been replaced, using the following table.

Control Character	!	%	^	&	|		>	"	=	;	(	)	,	:	'
Resulting Character	¡	¥	Þ	¦	ü	¼	¾	¢	½	»	¨	©	¬	º	±
Keystrokes   (Numeric Keypad)   ALT+	0161	0165	0222	0166	0252	0188	0190	0162	0189	0187	0168	0169	0172	0186	0177

The syntax for using CMDCTRL.bat is:

CALL CMDCTRL iFile oFile \[/U\]

Where:

iFile is the fully qualified file name of the input file that contains the command Control Characters.

oFile is the fully qualified file name of the output file that will Resulting Characters

/U    is an optional switch that will reverse the operation, converting an iFile that contains
      Resulting Characters  to an oFile that contains command Control Characters.

NOTE: CMDCTRL.bat, CMDCTRLdo.vbs, and CMDCTRLundo.vbs must all be located in the same folder.

CMDCTRL.bat contains:

@echo off
setlocal
if \{%2\}
\{\} goto err1
if not exist %1 goto err2
if exist %2 del /q /f %2
set iFile=%1
set oFile=%2
if /i %ifile% EQU %ofile% goto err3
if \{%3\}
\{\} goto doit
if /i \{%3\}==\{/U\} goto undoit
:err1
@echo Syntax: CMDCTRL iFile oFile /U
endlocal
goto :EOF
:err2
@echo CMDCTRL - %1 NOT found.
endlocal
goto :EOF
:err3
@echo CMDCTRL - %1 is the same file as %2.
endlocal
goto :EOF
:doit
set vbs="%~DP0CMDCTRLdo.vbs"
cscript //nologo %vbs% %iFile% %oFile%
endlocal
goto :EOF
:undoit
set vbs="%~DP0CMDCTRLundo.vbs"
cscript //nologo %vbs% %iFile% %oFile%
endlocal

CMDCTRLdo.vbs contains:

dim fso, iFile, oFile,rFile, wFile
dim iString, oString
Dim objArguments
Set objArguments = Wscript.Arguments
iFile=objArguments(0)
oFile=objArguments(1)
set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
set rfile = fso.OpenTextFile(iFile, 1, false)
set wFile = fso.CreateTextFile(oFile, 2)
Do until rFile.AtEndOfStream = True
 iString = rFile.ReadLine
 oString = Replace(iString, "!", "¡")
 oString = Replace(oString, "%", "¥")
 oString = Replace(oString, "^", "Þ")
 oString = Replace(oString, "&", "¦")
 oString = Replace(oString, "|", "ü")
 oString = Replace(oString, "", "¾")
 oString = Replace(oString, 
", "¢")
 oString = Replace(oString, "=", "½")
 oString = Replace(oString, ";", "»")
 oString = Replace(oString, "(", "¨")
 oString = Replace(oString, ")", "©")
 oString = Replace(oString, ",", "¬")
 oString = Replace(oString, ":", "º")
 oString = Replace(oString, "'", "±")
 wFile.writeLine oString
loop
rFile.close
wFile.close

CMDCTRLundo.vbs contains:
dim fso, iFile, oFile,rFile, wFile
dim iString, oString
Dim objArguments
Set objArguments = Wscript.Arguments
iFile=objArguments(0)
oFile=objArguments(1)
set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
set rfile = fso.OpenTextFile(iFile, 1, false)
set wFile = fso.CreateTextFile(oFile, 2)
Do until rFile.AtEndOfStream = True
 iString = rFile.ReadLine
 oString = Replace(iString, "¡", "!")
 oString = Replace(oString, "¥", "%")
 oString = Replace(oString, "Þ", "^")
 oString = Replace(oString, "¦", "&")
 oString = Replace(oString, "ü", "|")
 oString = Replace(oString, "¼", "")
 oString = Replace(oString, "¢", 
")
 oString = Replace(oString, "½", "=")
 oString = Replace(oString, "»", ";")
 oString = Replace(oString, "¨", "(")
 oString = Replace(oString, "©", ")")
 oString = Replace(oString, "¬", ",")
 oString = Replace(oString, "º", ":")
 oString = Replace(oString, "±", "'")
 wFile.writeLine oString
loop
rFile.close
wFile.close