Issue with Directory Extraction & Spaces

[lmstearn]

Googlus est amicus however not today, - is this a known issue with cmd, or just back over here with YT:

Code: Select all

@echo off
Setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
SET "folderName=C:\ProgramData\Microsoft OneDrive"
FOR %%g IN ("%folderName%") DO (
set "tmpVar=%%~pg"
REM Strip possible leading backslash
IF "!tmpVar:~0,1!"=="\" SET "Foldername=!tmpVar:~1!"
)
@echo on

echo tmpVar !tmpVar!
echo folderName !folderName!
@echo off
SET /P ttt="Test Complete"
exit /B

There are other ways to extract the drive from the path, this seemed the most convenient except for the (blech) spaces, please correct where required.
Thanks.

[aGerman]

The expanded string using the "~p" modifier will always contain a leading backslash. (Why do you think this is depending on the path containing spaces?)
"C:" is a drive
"C:\" is the root folder of drive C:
"\" is the root folder relative to the current drive
"\wherever" is a path relative to the current drive

However:
"wherever" (without the leading backslash) is a path relative to the current directory
So, the absence of the leading backslash changes the meaning. I don't see any bug in the expansion performed using "~p".

If you want to remove the leading backslash then you don't need the
IF "!tmpVar:~0,1!"=="\"
because this condition is always true.

Steffen

[lmstearn]

Hi Steffen, yes it was very late, and like DosTips, my gateway is not as good as it used to be.
Ouch, should have checked the same with:

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SET "folderName=C:\ProgramData\Microsoft"

Not a bug, thanks!
Missed that, hence made the common error of assuming the whole thing is a path, which it kind of is really.

%~p1 - expands %1 to a path only

Prefer this anyway:

%~p1 - expands %1 to its constituent path only

Think the original intention was the following, given the argument is a path:

Code: Select all

set "tmpVar=%%~png"

If you want to remove the leading backslash then you don't need the
IF "!tmpVar:~0,1!"=="\"
because this condition is always true.

Thanks.

[aGerman]

Think the original intention was the following, given the argument is a path:

Code: Select all

set "tmpVar=%%~png"

Hmm. I'd rather expect the intention was %%~pnxg (Only guessing though.)
Why? Because even a folder name containing one or more dots is perfectly valid. Without the x, both the last dot and the final substring are excluded since they are treated like a file extension.

Steffen

[castwhom]

Your script extracts the drive letter inefficiently; use %%~dg for a cleaner, more reliable solution.

[aGerman]

But this topic is about the oposite (keep everything except the drive).