Checking whether parameter is a drive letter
Rich Pasco
(in a BAT file command script) to check whether a command-line
parameter (e.g. %1 or %2) designates a valid drive letter (with
its colon, e.g. C: or D: )?
- Rich
Rich Pasco
This should work with Windows 2000 and newer.
Below is what I have now. I can't seem to fool it into making an
mistake, but the checking feels awkward. Does anyone have a more
elegant solution?
============================
set drive=%~d1
if /I not %~1==%drive% (
echo Parameter "%~1" does not name a drive.
goto end
)
if not exist "%drive%" (
echo Drive %drive% is not available.
goto end
)
echo drive is %drive%
... useful part of script goes here...
:end
============================
- Rich
Dean Wells (MVP)
news:%23nULHZe...@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
Rich,
Take a look at the post entitled 'Batch file to show Network drives', I
believe you'll find relevant info. in there.
--
Dean Wells [MVP / Directory Services]
MSEtechnology
[[ Please respond to the Newsgroup only regarding posts ]]
R e m o v e t h e m a s k t o s e n d e m a i l
Dean Wells (MVP)
news:egGL$Fh4IH...@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
Perhaps something like this depending on support for the binary of
course -
fsutil fsinfo drives | findstr /i "F:" && echo Valid. || echo Invalid.
Rich Pasco
>> Take a look at the post entitled 'Batch file to show Network drives',
>> I believe you'll find relevant info. in there.
>
> Perhaps something like this depending on support for the binary of
> course -
>
> fsutil fsinfo drives | findstr /i "F:" && echo Valid. || echo Invalid.
Thanks, Dean. Many of the solutions in that thread, including yours,
require fsutil, which doesn't seem to be present on my Windows 2000
system. Can I download it as an add-on, or is it limited to XP and
newer?
Learn about fsutil here
http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/3dd141a8-57b8-4bd8-81dd-69c515fd059f1033.mspx
Considering that I need to support Windows 2000, I may just stick with
my original solution, which does work under Windows 2000.
- Rich
Dean Wells (MVP)
Nod, fair comment, I confess my efforts regarding legacy-supportability
typically end at XP and 2K3.
Here's another hip-shot -
@echo off
set arg=%~1
set driveLETTER=%arg:~0,1%
if exist %driveLETTER::=%:\nul (
echo %driveLETTER::=%: is valid)
else (
echo %driveLETTER::=%: is invalid.
)
Al Dunbar
See if this works at all for you:
@echo off
call:test C:
call:test c:
call:test c:d:fvfv\\wwwww
call:test "C:"
call:test "c:\"
call:test R:\dummy\asd.zxc
pause
goto:eof
:test
if /i "%~1" EQU "%~d1" (
echo/parameter IS a drive letter: "%~1"
) else (
echo/parameter is NOT a drive letter: "%~1"
)
goto:EOF
/Al
Rich Pasco
> See if this works at all for you:
>
> @echo off
>
> call:test C:
> call:test c:
> call:test c:d:fvfv\\wwwww
> call:test "C:"
> call:test "c:\"
> call:test R:\dummy\asd.zxc
> pause
> goto:eof
>
> :test
> if /i "%~1" EQU "%~d1" (
> echo/parameter IS a drive letter: "%~1"
> ) else (
> echo/parameter is NOT a drive letter: "%~1"
> )
> goto:EOF
>
> /Al
Hi Al, I like it. It is the same method as I used in my own example,
my second post in this thread.
- Rich
Esra Sdrawkcab
If running on an intel box, with debug in the path (or it could be
converted to ascii asm), this would do it:
@echo off
rem qdrvl.bat
echo E100 A0 5C 00 B4 4C CD 21> %temp%\qdrvl.dis
echo Rcx>> %temp%\qdrvl.dis
echo 7 >> %temp%\qdrvl.dis
echo w >> %temp%\qdrvl.dis
echo q >> %temp%\qdrvl.dis
echo create>%temp%\qdrvl.com
debug %temp%\qdrvl.com<%temp%\qdrvl.dis >nul
%temp%\qdrvl.com %1
if errorlevel 243 goto isnumbercolon
if errorlevel 1 echo valid drive
if not errorlevel 1 echo Not a valid drive
goto exit
:isnumbercolon
echo number followed by colon detected!
:exit
::del %temp%\qdrvl.com
del %temp%\qdrvl.dis
though it seems the com parser is a bit crude and allows $: and £:
(X-posted to amb)
Al Dunbar
Sorry, I didn't recognize its similarity because you use a different IF
statement syntax.
/Al
Rich Pasco
Esra, while I appreciate your intention to help, I was asking for a
more elegant solution than my original one, which was just a few lines
in a BAT file. A debug script to generate a 16-bit DOS COM file (which
is only supported under 32-bit Windows for backwards compatibility) is
not, in my opinion, more "elegant" than I had.
Regarding the cross-post, I would prefer that discussion be constrained
to the forum in which I posted the question. I am not interested in
supporting MS-DOS anyway.
- Rich
foxidrive
wrote:
Except Al's syntax won't choke on spaces etc.
Richard Bonner
suggestion may not be valid for the purpose.)
One might use XSET 's "DRIVETEST" feature to determine if a parameter
is a valid drive.
The syntax is:
XSET TEST DRIVETEST A:
This will assign a variable to "TEST" such as:
READABLE
WRITEABLE
REMOVABLE
INVALID
...and a number of others. One could then test that variable for a
variety of outcomes.
One or more XSET links can be found at:
http://www.chebucto.ca/~ak621/DOS/Websites.html
Richard Bonner
http://www.chebucto.ca/~ak621/DOS/
Rich Pasco
> Except Al's syntax won't choke on spaces etc.
Good catch, foxidrive!
Here is my revised test:
set drive=%~d1
if /I not "%~1"=="%drive%" (
Rich Pasco
Richard Bonner wrote:
> (For some reason no original post appeared on my serevr. As such, this
> suggestion may not be valid for the purpose.)
The original post was in microsoft.public.win2000.cmdprompt.admin
The cross-post to alt.msdos.batch was inappropriate.
> One might use XSET 's "DRIVETEST" feature to determine if a parameter
> is a valid drive....
Thank you, but the question was about doing it in a BAT script. I was
not looking for anything requiring an external executable helper app.
- Rich
Richard Bonner
> Richard Bonner wrote:
> > (For some reason no original post appeared on my serevr. As such, this
> > suggestion may not be valid for the purpose.)
> The original post was in microsoft.public.win2000.cmdprompt.admin
> The cross-post to alt.msdos.batch was inappropriate.
*** Odd though that the cross-post did not appear on my server.
Normally, they do.
> > One might use XSET 's "DRIVETEST" feature to determine if a parameter
> > is a valid drive....
> Thank you, but the question was about doing it in a BAT script. I was
> not looking for anything requiring an external executable helper app.
> - Rich
*** OK. I am a big fan of using whatever is available and can do the
job, but understand if some cannot, or choose not to, use after-market
utilities.
I hope you locate what you need.
Richard Bonner
http://www.chebucto.ca/~ak621/DOS/