How to comment-out add comment in a batch cmd

Question

I have a batch file that runs several python scripts that do table modifications      I want to have users comment out the 1-2 python scripts that they don t want to run  rather than removing them from the batch file  so the next user knows these scripts exist as options   I also want to add comments to bring to their attention specifically the variables they need to update in the Batch file before they run it  I see that I can use REM  But it looks like that s more for updating the user with progress after they ve run it      Is there a syntax for more appropriately adding a comment

User · Answer

This is an old topic and I d like to add my understanding here to expand the knowledge of this interesting topic    The key difference between REM and    is   REM is a command itself  while    is NOT    We can treat    as a token that as soon as CMD parser encounters the first non-blank space in a line is this    token  it will just skip the whole line and read next line  That s why REM should be followed by at least a blank space to be able to function as a comment for the line  while    does not need any blank space behind it   That REM is a command itself can be best understood from the following FOR syntax  The basic FOR syntax is as follows  FOR  v in  set  DO  lt Command gt   command param     here  lt Command gt  can be any valid command So we can write the following valid command line as rem is a command  FOR  i in  1 2 3  DO rem echo  i   However  we CANNOT write the following line as    is not a command  FOR  i in  1 2 3  DO    echo  i

User · Answer

The    instead of REM was preferably used in the days that computers weren t very fast  REM ed line are read and then ingnored     ed line are ignored all the way  This could speed up your code in  the old days   Further more after a REM you need a space  after    you don t   And as said in the first comment  you can add info to any line you feel the need to  SET DATETIME  DTS  0 8 - DTS  8 6    Makes YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS   As for the skipping of parts  Putting REM in front of every line can be rather time consuming  As mentioned using GOTO to skip parts is an easy way to skip large pieces of code  Be sure to set a  LABEL at the point you want the code to continue   SOME CODE  GOTO LABEL    REM OUT THIS LINE TO EXECUTE THE CODE BETWEEN THIS GOTO AND  LABEL  SOME CODE TO SKIP   LAST LINE OF CODE TO SKIP   LABEL CODE TO EXECUTE

User · Answer

Putting comments on the same line with commands  use  amp     comment color C           amp     set red font color echo IMPORTANT INFORMATION color             amp     reset the color to default  Explanation   amp  separates two commands  so in this case color C is the first command and    set red font color is the second one   Important  This statement with comment looks intuitively correct  goto error1            handling the error  but it is not a valid use of the comment  It works only because goto ignores all arguments past the first one  The proof is easy  this goto will not fail either  goto error1 handling the error  But similar attempt color 17               grey on blue  fails executing the command due to 4 arguments unknown to the color command      grey  on  blue  It will only work as  color 17      amp          grey on blue  So the ampersand is inevitable

User · Answer

Commenting a line For commenting line use REM or    though     might fail inside brackets within delayed expansion lines starting with   lt delimiter gt  will be ignored so this can be used for comments   echo off  setlocal enableDelayedExpansion  echo delayed expansion activated   delayed expansion commented line echo end of the demonstration  Comment at the end of line For comments at the end of line you can again use rem and    combined with  amp   echo ---  amp    comment  should not be the last line in the script  echo ---  amp rem comment  Commenting at the end of file As noting will be parsed after the exit command you can use it to put comments at the end of the file   echo off  echo commands  exit  b   ------------------- commnts at the end  of the file ------------------  Inline comments Expansion of not existing variables is replaced with nothing  and as setting a variable with   rather hard you can use this for inline comments   echo off  echo long command    this is a comment    with an inline comment  Multiline comments For multiline comments GOTO  for outside brackets  and REM with conditional execution  for inside brackets  can be used  More details here   echo off  echo starting script  goto  end comments  comented line   one more commented line  end comments  echo continue with the script        echo demonstration off     rem           lines with       comments           echo multiline comment inside     echo brackets    And the same technique beautified with macros   echo off    GOTO comment macro set  quot    goto      quot    brackets comment macros set  quot   rem     quot   amp  set  quot     quot     testing echo not commented 1         multi    line   comment outside of brackets       echo not commented 2         second multi    line   comment outside of brackets         GOTO macro cannot be used inside for for   a in  first second  do       echo first not commented line of the   a execution                 multi line         comment             echo second not commented line of the   a execution

User · Answer

You can comment something out using    or REM   your commands here    commenttttttttttt   or  your commands here REM  commenttttttttttt    nbsp   To do it on the same line as a command  you must add an ampersand   your commands here       amp      commenttttttttttt   or  your commands here       amp  REM  commenttttttttttt    nbsp   Note    Using     in nested logic  IF-ELSE  FOR loops  etc     will cause an error  In those cases  use REM instead

User · Answer

You can add comments to the end of a batch file with this syntax    echo off    Start of code        End of code   I am a comment So I am  This can be only at the end of batch files   Just make sure you never use a closing parentheses   Attributions  Leo Guttirez Ramirez on https   www robvanderwoude com comments php

User · Answer

You can use    or rem for comments   When commenting  use    as it s 3 times faster  An example is shown here  Only if comments are in if  use rem  as the colons could make errors  because they are a label

User · Answer

Use    or REM      commenttttttttttt REM  commenttttttttttt  BUT  as people noted       doesn t work inline  add  amp  character  your commands here       amp      commenttttttttttt Inside nested parts  IF ELSE  FOR loops  etc        should be followed with normal line  otherwise it gives error  use REM there      may also fail within setlocal ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION

User · Answer

The rem command is indeed for comments  It doesn t inherently update anyone after running the script  Some script authors might use it that way instead of echo  though  because by default the batch interpreter will print out each command before it s processed  Since rem commands don t do anything  it s safe to print them without side effects  To avoid printing a command  prefix it with    or  to apply that setting throughout the program  run  echo off   It s echo off to avoid printing further commands  the   is to avoid printing that command prior to the echo setting taking effect    So  in your batch file  you might use this    echo off REM To skip the following Python commands  put  REM  before them  python foo py python bar py

User · Answer

No  plain old batch files use REM as a comment   ECHO is the command that prints something on the screen   To  comment out  sections of the file you could use GOTO   An example of all these commands techniques   REM it starts here the section below can be safely erased once the file is customised ECHO Hey you need to edit this file before running it   Check the instructions inside ECHO Now press ctrl-c to interrupt execution or enter to continue PAUSE REM erase the section above once you have customised the file python executed1 py ECHO Skipping some stuff now GOTO End python skipped1 py python skipped2 py  END python executed2 py   What can I say   batch files are a relic of times long gone  they re clunky and ugly   You can read more on this website   EDIT  modified the example a bit to have it contain the elements you are apparently looking for

User · Answer

Multi line comments  If there are large number of lines you want to comment out then it will be better if you can make multi line comments rather than commenting out every line    See this post by Rob van der Woude on comment blocks      The batch language doesn t have comment blocks  though there are ways   to accomplish the effect   GOTO EndComment1 This line is comment  And so is this line  And this one     EndComment1       You can use GOTO Label and  Label for making block comments       Or  If the comment block appears at the end of the batch file  you can   write EXIT at end of code and then any number of comments for your   understanding    ECHO OFF REM Do something             REM End of code  use GOTO EOF instead of EXIT for Windows NT and later EXIT  Start of comment block at end of batch file This line is comment  And so is this line  And this one

[batch-file] How to "comment-out" (add comment) in a batch/cmd?

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