Prevent overwriting a file using cmd if exist

Question

I am currently writing a  bat batch file that executes an installation file  Before it runs the installation file I check to see if the directory exists to avoid re-installing the application   I do this by using a If Not Exist filename statement  If the installed file doesn t exist  I then execute the installation file   For some reason  when I test it with the application where it has been installed already  it is still trying to reinstall the application over it   Here is a snippet of my code    cd  C  Documents and Settings John Start Menu Programs   pause If NOT exist  Software Folder      start   filer repo lab  software   myapp  setup exe  pause      Where SoftwareFolder is a subdirectory of  C  Documents and Settings John Start Menu Programs    I am checking to see if it exists in my Programs folder   I know nothing is wrong with my start command  I have a feeling something is wrong with my beginning CD command or one of its parameters   Thanks a lot  guys

User · Accepted Answer

Use the FULL path to the folder in your If Not Exist code  Then you won t even have to CD anymore   If Not Exist  C  Documents and Settings John Start Menu Programs SoftWareFolder

User · Answer

As in the answer of Escobar Ceaser  I suggest to use quotes arround the whole path  It s the common way to wrap the whole path in     not only separate directory names within the path   I had a similar issue that it didn t work for me  But it was no option to use    within the path for separate directory names because the path contained environment variables  which theirself cover more than one directory hierarchies  The conclusion was that I missed the space between the closing   and the    The correct version  with the space before the bracket  would be  If NOT exist  C  Documents and Settings John Start Menu Programs Software Folder     start    filer repo lab software myapp setup exe   pause

User · Answer

I noticed some issues with this that might be useful for someone just starting  or a somewhat inexperienced user  to know  First     CD  D  C  Documents and Settings  username  Start Menu Programs     two things one is that a  D after the CD may prove to be useful in making sure the directory is changed but it s not really necessary  second  if you are going to pass this from user to user you have to add  instead of your name  the code  username   this makes the code usable on any computer  as long as they have your setup exe file in the same location as you do on your computer  of course making sure of that is more difficult  also     start   filer repo lab  software   myapp  setup exe   the start code here  can be set up like that  but the correct syntax is   start    filter repo lab software myapp   setup exe   This will run  setup exe  located in   filter repo lab   etc

[batch-file] Prevent overwriting a file using cmd if exist

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