I like the SET /P + FINDSTR method, but it has problems on XP in that most control characters and many extended ASCII characters display as dots on XP.
jeb's COPY method works with any set of characters (after modifying it to used delayed expansion for the string). The only character it cannot display is the SUB character (<CTRL-Z>, 0X1a, decimal 26). But that is easily solved by adding a SET /P to print the balance of the string from the first occurrence of SUB to the end.
The :writeVar routine below should be able to print absolutely any valid batch string value stored in a variable (within typical 8k line length limits of course). The :write routine is an entry point that allows printing of most string literals. The routines should work on any Windows machine from XP onward.
Code: Select all
@echo off
setlocal disableDelayedExpansion
call :writeInitialize
call :write "=hello"
call :write " world!%$write.sub%OK!"
echo(
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
set lf=^
set "str= hello!lf!world^!!!$write.sub!hello!lf!world"
echo(
echo str=!str!
echo(
call :write "str="
call :writeVar str
echo(
exit /b
:write Str
::
:: Write the literal string Str to stdout without a terminating
:: carriage return or line feed. Enclosing quotes are stripped.
::
:: This routine works by calling :writeVar
::
setlocal disableDelayedExpansion
set "str=%~1"
call :writeVar str
exit /b
:writeVar StrVar
::
:: Writes the value of variable StrVar to stdout without a terminating
:: carriage return or line feed.
::
:: The routine relies on variables defined by :writeInitialize. If the
:: variables are not yet defined, then it calls :writeInitialize to
:: temporarily define them. Performance can be improved by explicitly
:: calling :writeInitialize once before the first call to :writeVar
::
if not defined %~1 exit /b
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
if not defined $write.sub call :writeInitialize
>"%$write.temp%_1.txt" (echo !str!!$write.sub!)
copy "%$write.temp%_1.txt" /a "%$write.temp%_2.txt" /b >nul
type "%$write.temp%_2.txt"
del "%$write.temp%_1.txt" "%$write.temp%_2.txt"
set "str2=!str:*%$write.sub%=%$write.sub%!"
if "!str2!" neq "!str!" <nul set /p "=!str2!"
exit /b
:writeInitialize
::
:: Defines 2 variables needed by the :write and :writeVar routines
::
:: $write.temp - specifies a base path for temporary files
::
:: $write.sub - contains the SUB character, also known as <CTRL-Z> or 0x1A
::
set "$write.temp=%temp%\writeTemp%random%"
copy nul "%$write.temp%.txt" /a >nul
for /f "usebackq" %%A in ("%$write.temp%.txt") do set "$write.sub=%%A"
del "%$write.temp%.txt"
exit /b
The only problem with the above is that it wastes time mucking with temp files, even when dealing with strings that don't cause problems with SET /P. Below is an optimized variation that only uses the COPY technique if the leading character causes problems with SET /p. Note that the problem characters vary between Windows versions. I took the approach that if the leading character can cause a problem for SET /P on any Windows version, then I resort to using jeb's COPY method.
Note that the :writeInitialize routine has a string literal that contains characters that do not post well to the bulletin board. A remark explains what the proper character sequence should be.
I've tested on two different machines. This optimized version prints non-problematic strings 50 to 100% faster than the prior simpler method. The extra code causes the problem strings to be insignificantly slower than before (at worst, 10% slower). On balance, I think this is a better method.
Code: Select all
@echo off
setlocal disableDelayedExpansion
call :writeInitialize
call :write "=hello"
call :write " world!%$write.sub%OK!"
echo(
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
set lf=^
set "str= hello!lf!world^!!!$write.sub!hello!lf!world"
echo(
echo str=!str!
echo(
call :write "str="
call :writeVar str
echo(
exit /b
:write Str
::
:: Write the literal string Str to stdout without a terminating
:: carriage return or line feed. Enclosing quotes are stripped.
::
:: This routine works by calling :writeVar
::
setlocal disableDelayedExpansion
set "str=%~1"
call :writeVar str
exit /b
:writeVar StrVar
::
:: Writes the value of variable StrVar to stdout without a terminating
:: carriage return or line feed.
::
:: The routine relies on variables defined by :writeInitialize. If the
:: variables are not yet defined, then it calls :writeInitialize to
:: temporarily define them. Performance can be improved by explicitly
:: calling :writeInitialize once before the first call to :writeVar
::
if not defined %~1 exit /b
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
if not defined $write.sub call :writeInitialize
set $write.special=1
if "!%~1:~0,1!" equ "^!" set "$write.special="
for /f delims^=^ eol^= %%A in ("!%~1:~0,1!") do (
if "%%A" neq "=" if "!$write.problemChars:%%A=!" equ "!$write.problemChars!" set "$write.special="
)
if not defined $write.special (
<nul set /p "=!%~1!"
exit /b
)
>"%$write.temp%_1.txt" (echo !str!!$write.sub!)
copy "%$write.temp%_1.txt" /a "%$write.temp%_2.txt" /b >nul
type "%$write.temp%_2.txt"
del "%$write.temp%_1.txt" "%$write.temp%_2.txt"
set "str2=!str:*%$write.sub%=%$write.sub%!"
if "!str2!" neq "!str!" <nul set /p "=!str2!"
exit /b
:writeInitialize
::
:: Defines 3 variables needed by the :write and :writeVar routines
::
:: $write.temp - specifies a base path for temporary files
::
:: $write.sub - contains the SUB character, also known as <CTRL-Z> or 0x1A
::
:: $write.problemChars - list of characters that cause problems for SET /P
:: <carriageReturn> <formFeed> <space> <tab> <0xFF> <equal> <quote>
:: Note that <lineFeed> and <equal> also causes problems, but are handled elsewhere
::
set "$write.temp=%temp%\writeTemp%random%"
copy nul "%$write.temp%.txt" /a >nul
for /f "usebackq" %%A in ("%$write.temp%.txt") do set "$write.sub=%%A"
del "%$write.temp%.txt"
for /f %%A in ('copy /z "%~f0" nul') do for /f %%B in ('cls') do (
set "$write.problemChars=%%A%%B ""
REM the characters after %%B above should be <space> <tab> <0xFF>
)
exit /b
Dave Benham
