Semicolon, Equal Sign As Arguments in Batch File (71247)



The information in this article applies to:
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 4.0
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 4.01
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0a
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.0
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.2
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.21
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.22

This article was previously published under Q71247

SUMMARY

When a semicolon (;) or equal sign (=) is used as a command line argument in a batch file, it is treated as a blank space.

MORE INFORMATION

For example, in the following batch file, TEST.BAT,
   echo %1 %2 %3
the command line and resulting output appear as follows:
   Command Line       Output
   ------------       ------

   test a=b           a b
   test a;b           a b
   test ;ab           ab
   test =             ECHO is on (parsed as test)
   test ;             ECHO is on
For more information, query on the following words:

equal and sign and characters and batch


Modification Type: Major Last Reviewed: 5/12/2003
Keywords: KB71247