Batch

A Batch file or .Bat or .Cmd is a windows based scripting language which dates back to the early days of DOS. See also Wikipedia:Batch file.

• An A-Z Index of the Windows XP command line - an excellent well researched resource

 *If 
 *if (another)
 *Set

• Parameters / Arguments A very nice table of how to parse filename parameters into just name, path, without quotes, etc.
• Batch File Help - a how-to nice resource
• Batchworld - a batch file forum (yahoo group)
• Filename parsing in batch file and more idioms
• Command line parameters
• Batch Troubleshooter
• top 10 dos batch tips - nice parsing examples

Many of the unusual parsing commands can be found at a DOS prompt by using

• Call /?
• Set /?

and probably all commands by using

 Help

at a command prompt.

Specific Examples

To read a file into a variable use something similar to

set /p app1= <launch\app1.txt.

this will pull the contents of launch\app1.txt into the app1 variable