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JSI Tip 8557. 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.

Your script is also NOT able to detect TAB characters.

I have scripted RepCmdCtrl.bat to allow a batch job to process a file that contains command control characters, by replacing the command control characters, per the following table:

  Control Character   !     %     ^     &     |          >     "     =     ;     (     )     ,     :     '     TAB  
  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     0171  

The syntax for using RepCmdCtrl.bat is:

for /f "Tokens=1* Delims=:" %%a in ('call RepCmdCtrl iFile') do (
 set line=%%b
 call :DoSomething
)
...
goto :EOF
:DoSomething
...
...
Where: iFile is the fully qualified file name of the input file that contains the command Control Characters.

NOTE: For an alternate method, see How can a batch job process files that contain command control and TAB characters?

RepCmdCtrl.bat contains:

@echo off
if \{%1\}==\{\} @echo Syntax RepCmdCtrl iFile&goto :EOF
if exist "%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS" goto doit
@echo dim iString, oString, objArgument, fso, iFile, rFile>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo Set objArgument = Wscript.Arguments>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo iFile=objArgument(0)>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo set rfile = fso.OpenTextFile(iFile, 1, false)>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo Do until rFile.AtEndOfStream = True>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo iString = rFile.ReadLine>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo oString = Replace(iString, vbtab, "«")>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo oString = Replace(oString, "!", "¡")>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo oString = Replace(oString, "%%", "¥")>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo oString = Replace(oString, "^", "Þ")>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo oString = Replace(oString, "&", "¦")>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo oString = Replace(oString, "|", "ü")>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo oString = Replace(oString, ">"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo oString = Replace(oString, ">", "¾")>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo oString = Replace(oString, """", "¢")>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo oString = Replace(oString, "=", "½")>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo oString = Replace(oString, ";", "»")>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo oString = Replace(oString, "(", "¨")>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo oString = Replace(oString, ")", "©")>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo oString = Replace(oString, ",", "¬")>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo oString = Replace(oString, ":", "º")>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo oString = Replace(oString, "'", "±")>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo Wscript.echo "*:" ^& oString>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo loop>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
@echo rFile.close>>"%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS"
:doit
cscript //NOLOGO "%TEMP%\RepCmdCtrl.VBS" %1



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