windows batch giving error if for loop has empty variable

Question

I'm trying to do a simple if like this

if %REGEDIT_HOME%=="" (
    echo.
    echo Forms6i not present
    echo.
) else (
    for /f "skip=1 tokens=3" %a in ('reg query %REGEDIT_HOME% > %LOGDIR%\tmp.txt') do (
        echo. > nul
    ) 
)

The problem is that since the REGEDIT_HOME is in fact null I get an error
) was unexpected at this time.

Magoo · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-08 14:48:47Z

2

if "%REGEDIT_HOME%"=="" (

The match is a literal string - it must be exactly the same on both sides of the == to be true.

or

you could use

if  defined REGEDIT_HOME (

which obviously reverses the logic you've used.

answered Aug 8, 2014 at 14:48

Magoo

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3 Comments

Pedro Sales Over a year ago

Thank you for your answer. Both ways are valid to me, but the for loop problem maintains...since the REGEDIT_HOME variable is empty, I get the error: > was unexpected at this time. Z:\CSP\deploys> for /f "skip=1 tokens=3" %a in ('reg query "" > z:\csp\d eploys\logs\0\tmp.txt') do (

Ir Relevant Over a year ago

escape it with the caret ^

Ir Relevant Over a year ago

Like this - %REGEDIT_HOME% ^> %LOGDIR%

Stephan · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-08 14:52:44Z

0

"" is not an empty string. It is two doublequotes.

If the variable is empty, your if is interpreted as:

if =="" (

which gives you the error.

So you will have to check

if "%REGEDIT_HOME%"=="" (...

If the variable is empty, it is interpreted as:

if ""=="" (

answered Aug 8, 2014 at 14:52

Stephan

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1 Comment

Pedro Sales Over a year ago

Thank you for your answer. I got past the empty variable in the IF, but the for loop problem maintains...since the REGEDIT_HOME variable is empty, I get the error: > was unexpected at this time. Z:\CSP\deploys> for /f "skip=1 tokens=3" %a in ('reg query "" > z:\csp\d eploys\logs\0\tmp.txt') do (

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