Create list or arrays in Windows Batch

Question

Can I declare a list or array in a batch file like this    set list    A B C D    And then I need to write these to a file  with the spaces between    A  B  C   D

User · Answer

Yes  you may use both ways  If you just want to separate the elements and show they in separated lines  a list is simpler   set list A B C D   A list of values separated by space may be easily processed by for command    for   a in   list   do      echo   a    echo      gt  theFile txt   You may also create an array this way   setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion set n 0 for   a in  A B C D  do      set vector  n     a    set  A n  1     and show the array elements this way    for  L   i in  0 1 3  do      echo  vector   i      echo      gt  theFile txt   For further details about array management in Batch files  see  Arrays  linked lists and other data structures in cmd exe  batch  script  ATTENTION  You must know that all characters included in set command are inserted in the variable name  at left of equal sign   or in the variable value  For example  this command   set list    A B C D    create a variable called list  list-space  with the value  A B C D   space  quote  A  etc   For this reason  it is a good idea to never insert spaces in set commands  If you need to enclose the value in quotes  you must enclose both the variable name and its value   set  list A B C D    PS - You should NOT use ECHO  in order to left blank lines  An alternative is ECHO   For further details about this point  see  http   www dostips com forum viewtopic php f 3 amp t 774

User · Answer

echo off setlocal set  list a b c d     for   i in   list   do     echo   i   echo       gt file txt   You don t need - actually  can t  declare  variables in batch  Assigning a value to a variable creates it  and assigning an empty string deletes it  Any variable name that doesn t have an assigned value HAS a value of an empty string  ALL variables are strings - WITHOUT exception  There ARE operations that appear to perform  integer  mathematical functions  but they operate by converting back and forth from strings   Batch is sensitive to spaces in variable names  so your assignment as posted would assign the string  A B C D  - including the quotes  to the variable  list   - NOT including the quotes  but including the space  The syntax set  var string  is used to assign the value string to var whereas set var string will do the same thing  Almost  In the first case  any stray trailing spaces after the closing quote are EXCLUDED from the value assigned  in the second  they are INCLUDED  Spaces are a little hard to see when printed   ECHO echoes strings  Clasically  it is followed by a space - one of the default separators used by batch  the others are TAB  COMMA  SEMICOLON - any of these do just as well BUT TABS often get transformed to a space-squence by text-editors and the others have grown quirks of their own over the years   Other characters following the O in ECHO have been found to do precisely what the documented SPACE should do  DOT is common  Open-parenthesis   is probably the most useful since the command  ECHO  emptyvalue    will produce a report of the ECHO state  ECHO is on off  whereas  ECHO  emptyvalue    will produce an empty line   The problem with ECHO  is that the result  looks  unbalanced

User · Answer

echo off  set array   setlocal ENABLEEXTENSIONS ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION  set nl   amp echo   set array auto blue   nl     bycicle green   nl     buggy   red  echo convert the String in indexed arrays  set  a index 0  for  F  tokens 1 2 3     a in    echo  array     do     echo vehicle  index     a color  index     b   set vehicle  index     a  set color  index     b  set  a index  index  1        echo use the arrays  echo  vehicle 1    color 1   echo oder  set index 1 echo  vehicle  index     color  index

User · Answer

Sometimes the array element may be very long  at that time you can create an array in this way   set list a set list  list  b  set list  list  c  set list  list  d   Then show it    echo off for   a in   list   do     echo   a  echo

User · Answer

Array type does not exist There is no  array  type in batch files  which is both an upside and a downside at times  but there are workarounds  Here s a link that offers a few suggestions for creating a system for yourself similar to an array in a batch  http   hypftier de en batch-tricks-arrays   As for echoing to a file echo variable  gt  gt  filepath works for echoing the contents of a variable to a file  and echo   the period is not a typo  works for echoing a newline character   I think that these two together should work to accomplish what you need  Further reading  For an in depth explanation why  quot elem 1  quot  only LOOKS like an array see this SO answer  Arrays  linked lists and other data structures in cmd exe  batch  script

User · Answer

I like this way  set list a   b   c    d    for   a in   list   do     echo   a  echo

[windows] Create list or arrays in Windows Batch

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