Windows – Command line PAUSE function not working

batchcommand linepausewindows xp

I'm experienceing a problem with a batch file command – when I run the program, I have a "PAUSE" command at the end of the batch file, however, the command window still automatically closes instantly, too quickly for me to see the results. Is there another way to prevent the command window from closing, or to somehow get the results? i.e, can a printed version be sent, inserted somewhere?

Background – I know squat about command lines, so please, if you can, any response please dumb down to novice level explanations. I am ultimately trying to determine versions of a MS Project file, and have used/followed this website instructions exactly, however the results won't display for me – the command window just dissapears instantly:

Microsoft website I used for instructions:
A simple method to determine the version of an mpp file (MS Project plan file)

The text/commands within the batch file:

@ECHO OFF

REM  Version.bat

ECHO Filename: %1

ECHO.

ECHO -- CHECK FOR PROJECT VERSION --

strings %1 | findstr "[0-9],.,....,...." 2>NUL

ECHO Check the following list for the first one or two digits of the string above (xx,.,....,....)

ECHO List of xx (Product Name): 8 (98), 9 (2000), 10 (2002), 11 (2003), 12 (2007), 14 (2010)

ECHO. 

ECHO -- CHECK FOR MPP FILE VERSION --

strings %1 | findstr ".MPP" 2>NUL

ECHO Check the following list for the digit(s) at the end of the string above (...MPPxx)

ECHO List of xx (Product Name): 8 (98), 9 (2000/2002/2003), 12 (2007), 14 (2010)

ECHO.

PAUSE

Best Answer

I suspect the file has an error. Try calling the batch file from an existing command window to see the message.

Most likely the problem is that the script is calling an external program called "strings" and according to the document you linked to this can be found here. In order for the batch file to be able to find it you should install it in the directory you are running it in, otherwise you will need to modify the PATH system environment variable or put it in a system directory.

Related Solutions

Windows – Variables in batch file not being set when inside IF

Environment variables in batch files are expanded when a line is parsed. In the case of blocks delimited by parentheses (as your if defined) the whole block counts as a "line" or command.

This means that all occurrences of %FOO% are replaces by their values before the block is run. In your case with nothing, as the variable doesn't have a value yet.

To solve this you can enable delayed expansion:

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

Delayed expansion causes variables delimited by exclamation marks (!) to be evaluated on execution instead of parsing which will ensure the correct behavior in your case:

if not defined BAR (
    set FOO=1
    echo Foo: !FOO!
)

help set details this too:

Finally, support for delayed environment variable expansion has been added. This support is always disabled by default, but may be enabled/disabled via the /V command line switch to CMD.EXE. See CMD /?

Delayed environment variable expansion is useful for getting around the limitations of the current expansion which happens when a line of text is read, not when it is executed. The following example demonstrates the problem with immediate variable expansion:
set VAR=before
if "%VAR%" == "before" (
    set VAR=after
    if "%VAR%" == "after" @echo If you see this, it worked
)
would never display the message, since the %VAR% in both IF statements is substituted when the first IF statement is read, since it logically includes the body of the IF, which is a compound statement. So the IF inside the compound statement is really comparing "before" with "after" which will never be equal. Similarly, the following example will not work as expected:
set LIST=
for %i in (*) do set LIST=%LIST% %i
echo %LIST%
in that it will not build up a list of files in the current directory, but instead will just set the LIST variable to the last file found. Again, this is because the %LIST% is expanded just once when the FOR statement is read, and at that time the LIST variable is empty. So the actual FOR loop we are executing is:
for %i in (*) do set LIST= %i
which just keeps setting LIST to the last file found.

Delayed environment variable expansion allows you to use a different character (the exclamation mark) to expand environment variables at execution time. If delayed variable expansion is enabled, the above examples could be written as follows to work as intended:
set VAR=before
if "%VAR%" == "before" (
    set VAR=after
    if "!VAR!" == "after" @echo If you see this, it worked
)

set LIST=
for %i in (*) do set LIST=!LIST! %i
echo %LIST%

Make Batch File Cmd Window Stay Open For X Seconds

Use this:

@echo off
echo done
ping 127.0.0.0 -n 1 -w 20000 > nul

-n 1 attempt to connect once -w 20000 waits 20 sec

@echo off just to have prettier output

Another one is:

timeout 20

This you can stop even before it counts down to 0.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Windows – Variables in batch file not being set when inside IF

Make Batch File Cmd Window Stay Open For X Seconds

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