How to use if - else structure in a batch file

Question

I have a question about if - else structure in a batch file  Each command runs individually  but I couldn t use  if - else  blocks safely so these parts of my programme doesn t work  How can I do make these parts run  Thank you   IF  F   1 IF  C   1         copying the file c to d     copy   sourceFile     destinationFile         ELSE IF  F   1 IF  C   0         moving the file c to d     move   sourceFile     destinationFile          ELSE IF  F   0 IF  C   1         copying a directory c from d   s   bos olanlar hari     e bos olanlar dahil     xcopy   sourceCopyDirectory     destinationCopyDirectory    s e       ELSE IF  F   0 IF  C   0         moving a directory     xcopy  E   sourceMoveDirectory     destinationMoveDirectory       rd  s  q   sourceMoveDirectory

User · Answer

I think in the question and in some of the answers there is a bit of confusion about the meaning of this pseudocode in DOS: IF A IF B X ELSE Y. It does not mean IF(A and B) THEN X ELSE Y, but in fact means IF A( IF B THEN X ELSE Y). If the test of A fails, then he whole of the inner if-else will be ignored.

As one of the answers mentioned, in this case only one of the tests can succeed so the 'else' is not needed, but of course that only works in this example, it isn't a general solution for doing if-else.

There are lots of ways around this. Here is a few ideas, all are quite ugly but hey, this is (or at least was) DOS!

@echo off

set one=1
set two=2

REM Example 1

IF %one%_%two%==1_1 (
   echo Example 1 fails
) ELSE IF %one%_%two%==1_2 (
   echo Example 1 works correctly
) ELSE (
    echo Example 1 fails
)

REM Example 2

set test1result=0
set test2result=0

if %one%==1 if %two%==1 set test1result=1
if %one%==1 if %two%==2 set test2result=1

IF %test1result%==1 (
   echo Example 2 fails
) ELSE IF %test2result%==1 (
   echo Example 2 works correctly
) ELSE (
    echo Example 2 fails
)

REM Example 3

if %one%==1 if %two%==1 (
   echo Example 3 fails
   goto :endoftests
)
if %one%==1 if %two%==2 (
   echo Example 3 works correctly
   goto :endoftests
)
echo Example 3 fails
)
:endoftests

User · Answer

I believe you can use something such as  if        do this    else if        do this

User · Answer

Here s my code Example for if  else  if   which do the following  Prompt user for Process Name   If the process name is invalid   Then it s write to user   Error   The Processor above doesn t seem to be exist    if the process name is services  Then it s write to user   Error   You can t kill the Processor above    if the process name is valid and not services  Then it s write to user   the  process  has been killed via taskill   so i called it Process killer bat  Here s my Code      echo off   Start Rem preparing the batch   cls Title Processor Killer Color 0B Echo Type Processor name to kill It  Without   exe   set  p ProcessorTokill         tasklist tasklist find  i   ProcessorTokill  exe  gt nul  amp  if errorlevel 1   REM check if the process name is invalid  Cls  Title  ProcessorTokill  Not Found Color 0A echo  ProcessorTokill  echo Error   The Processor above doesn t seem to be exist        else if  ProcessorTokill   services   REM check if the process name is services and doesn t kill it Cls  Color 0c Title Permission denied  echo   ProcessorTokill  exe  echo Error   You can t kill the Processor above     else   REM if the process name is valid and not services Cls  Title  ProcessorTokill  Found Color 0e echo  ProcessorTokill  Found ping localhost -n 2 -w 1000 gt nul echo Killing  ProcessorTokill      taskkill  f  im  ProcessorTokill  exe  t gt nul echo  ProcessorTokill  Killed       pause gt nul    REM If else if Template REM if thing1   REM Command here 2    REM   else if thing2   REM command here 2   REM   else   REM command here 3   REM

User · Answer

IF   ELSE IF constructs work very well in batch files  in particular when you use only one conditional expression on each IF line   IF  F   1         copying the file c to d     copy   sourceFile 1    destinationFile1     ELSE IF  F   0         moving the file e to f     move   sourceFile2     destinationFile2       In your example you use IF   AND   IF type construct  where 2 conditions must be met simultaneously  In this case you can still use IF   ELSE IF construct  but with extra parentheses to avoid uncertainty for the next ELSE condition   IF  F   1  IF  C   1         copying the file c to d     copy   sourceFile1     destinationFile1       ELSE IF  F   1  IF  C   0         moving the file e to f     move   sourceFile2     destinationFile2       The above construct is equivalent to   IF  F   1       IF  C   1         copying the file c to d     copy   sourceFile1     destinationFile1         ELSE IF  C   0         moving the file e to f     move   sourceFile2     destinationFile2       Processing sequence of batch commands depends on CMD exe parsing order  Just make sure your construct follows that logical order  and as a rule it will work  If your batch script is processed by Cmd exe without errors  it means this is the correct  i e  supported by your OS Cmd exe version  construct  even if someone said otherwise

User · Answer

AFAIK you can t do an if else in batch like you can in other languages  it has to be nested if s   Using nested if s your batch would look like  IF  F   1 IF  C   1        copying the file c to d     copy   sourceFile     destinationFile         ELSE           IF  F   1 IF  C   0            moving the file c to d         move   sourceFile     destinationFile             ELSE               IF  F   0 IF  C   1                copying a directory c from d   s   bos olanlar hari     e bos olanlar dahil             xcopy   sourceCopyDirectory     destinationCopyDirectory    s e               ELSE                   IF  F   0 IF  C   0                    moving a directory                 xcopy  E   sourceMoveDirectory     destinationMoveDirectory                   rd  s  q   sourceMoveDirectory                                                     or as James suggested  chain your if s  however I think the proper syntax is  IF  F   1 IF  C   1        copying the file c to d     copy   sourceFile     destinationFile

User · Answer

A little bit late and perhaps still good for complex if-conditions  because I would like to add a  done  parameter to keep a if-then-else structure   set done 0 if  F   1 if  C   0  set done 1  amp  echo found F 1 and C 0   F     C   if  F   2 if  C   0  set done 1  amp  echo found F 2 and C 0   F     C   if  F   3 if  C   0  set done 1  amp  echo found F 3 and C 0   F     C   if  done   0  echo do something

User · Answer

Your syntax is incorrect  You can t use ELSE IF  It appears that you don t really need it anyway  Simply use multiple IF statements   IF  F   1 IF  C   1         copying the file c to d     copy   sourceFile     destinationFile          IF  F   1 IF  C   0         moving the file c to d     move   sourceFile     destinationFile          IF  F   0 IF  C   1         copying a directory c from d   s   bos olanlar hari     e bos olanlar dahil     xcopy   sourceCopyDirectory     destinationCopyDirectory    s e        IF  F   0 IF  C   0         moving a directory     xcopy  E   sourceMoveDirectory     destinationMoveDirectory       rd  s  q   sourceMoveDirectory           Great batch file reference  http   ss64 com nt if html

User · Answer

here is how I handled if else if situation  if  env   dev        echo  dev env selected selected    else       if  env   prod           echo  prod env selected            Note it is not the same as if-elseif block as the other programming languages like C   or Java but it will do what you need to do

[batch-file] How to use if - else structure in a batch file?

Examples related to batch-file

Examples related to if-statement