How can I pass arguments to a batch file?

Another useful tip is to use %* to mean "all". For example:

echo off
set arg1=%1
set arg2=%2
shift
shift
fake-command /u %arg1% /p %arg2% %*

When you run:

test-command admin password foo bar

The above batch file will run:

fake-command /u admin /p password admin password foo bar

I may have the syntax slightly wrong, but this is the general idea.

Here's how I did it:

@fake-command /u %1 /p %2

Here's what the command looks like:

test.cmd admin P@55w0rd > test-log.txt

The %1 applies to the first parameter the %2 (and here's the tricky part) applies to the second. You can have up to 9 parameters passed in this way.

If you want to intelligently handle missing parameters you can do something like:

IF %1.==. GOTO No1
IF %2.==. GOTO No2
... do stuff...
GOTO End1

:No1
  ECHO No param 1
GOTO End1
:No2
  ECHO No param 2
GOTO End1

:End1

Yep, and just don't forget to use variables like %%1 when using if and for and the gang.

If you forget the double %, then you will be substituting in (possibly null) command line arguments and you will receive some pretty confusing error messages.

In batch file

set argument1=%1
set argument2=%2
echo %argument1%
echo %argument2%

%1 and %2 return the first and second argument values respectively.

And in command line, pass the argument

Directory> batchFileName admin P@55w0rd 

Output will be

admin
P@55w0rd

Everyone has answered with really complex responses, however it is actually really simple. %1 %2 %3 and so on are the arguements parsed to the file. %1 is arguement 1, %2 is arguement 2 and so on.

So, if I have a bat script containing this:

@echo off
echo %1

and when I run the batch script, I type in this:

C:> script.bat Hello

The script will simply output this:

Hello

This can be very useful for certain variables in a script, such as a name and age. So, if I have a script like this:

@echo off
echo Your name is: %1
echo Your age is: %2

When I type in this:

C:> script.bat Oliver 1000

I get the output of this:

Your name is: Oliver
Your age is: 1000

Inspired by an answer elsewhere by @Jon, I have crafted a more general algorithm for extracting named parameters, optional values, and switches.

Let us say that we want to implement a utility foobar. It requires an initial command. It has an optional parameter --foo which takes an optional value (which cannot be another parameter, of course); if the value is missing it defaults to default. It also has an optional parameter --bar which takes a required value. Lastly it can take a flag --baz with no value allowed. Oh, and these parameters can come in any order.

In other words, it looks like this:

foobar <command> [--foo [<fooval>]] [--bar <barval>] [--baz]

Here is a solution:

@ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL
REM FooBar parameter demo
REM By Garret Wilson

SET CMD=%~1

IF "%CMD%" == "" (
  GOTO usage
)
SET FOO=
SET DEFAULT_FOO=default
SET BAR=
SET BAZ=

SHIFT
:args
SET PARAM=%~1
SET ARG=%~2
IF "%PARAM%" == "--foo" (
  SHIFT
  IF NOT "%ARG%" == "" (
    IF NOT "%ARG:~0,2%" == "--" (
      SET FOO=%ARG%
      SHIFT
    ) ELSE (
      SET FOO=%DEFAULT_FOO%
    )
  ) ELSE (
    SET FOO=%DEFAULT_FOO%
  )
) ELSE IF "%PARAM%" == "--bar" (
  SHIFT
  IF NOT "%ARG%" == "" (
    SET BAR=%ARG%
    SHIFT
  ) ELSE (
    ECHO Missing bar value. 1>&2
    ECHO:
    GOTO usage
  )
) ELSE IF "%PARAM%" == "--baz" (
  SHIFT
  SET BAZ=true
) ELSE IF "%PARAM%" == "" (
  GOTO endargs
) ELSE (
  ECHO Unrecognized option %1. 1>&2
  ECHO:
  GOTO usage
)
GOTO args
:endargs

ECHO Command: %CMD%
IF NOT "%FOO%" == "" (
  ECHO Foo: %FOO%
)
IF NOT "%BAR%" == "" (
  ECHO Bar: %BAR%
)
IF "%BAZ%" == "true" (
  ECHO Baz
)

REM TODO do something with FOO, BAR, and/or BAZ
GOTO :eof

:usage
ECHO FooBar
ECHO Usage: foobar ^<command^> [--foo [^<fooval^>]] [--bar ^<barval^>] [--baz]
EXIT /B 1

• Use SETLOCAL so that the variables don't escape into the calling environment.
• Don't forget to initialize the variables SET FOO=, etc. in case someone defined them in the calling environment.
• Use %~1 to remove quotes.
• Use IF "%ARG%" == "" and not IF [%ARG%] == [] because [ and ] don't play will at all with values ending in a space.
• Even if you SHIFT inside an IF block, the current args such as %~1 don't get updated because they are determined when the IF is parsed. You could use %~1 and %~2 inside the IF block, but it would be confusing because you had a SHIFT. You could put the SHIFT at the end of the block for clarity, but that might get lost and/or confuse people as well. So "capturing" %~1 and %~1 outside the block seems best.
• You don't want to use a parameter in place of another parameter's optional value, so you have to check IF NOT "%ARG:~0,2%" == "--".
• Be careful only to SHIFT when you use one of the parameters.
• The duplicate code SET FOO=%DEFAULT_FOO% is regrettable, but the alternative would be to add an IF "%FOO%" == "" SET FOO=%DEFAULT_FOO% outside the IF NOT "%ARG%" == "" block. However because this is still inside the IF "%PARAM%" == "--foo" block, the %FOO% value would have been evaluated and set before you ever entered the block, so you would never detect that both the --foo parameter was present and also that the %FOO% value was missing.
• Note that ECHO Missing bar value. 1>&2 sends the error message to stderr.
• Want a blank line in a Windows batch file? You gotta use ECHO: or one of the variations.

To refer to a set variable in command line you would need to use %a% so for example:

set a=100 
echo %a%  
rem output = 100 

Note: This works for Windows 7 pro.

For to use looping get all arguments and in pure batch:

Obs: For using without: ?*&|<>

@echo off && setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

 for %%Z in (%*)do set "_arg_=%%Z" && set/a "_cnt+=1+0" && (
     call set "_arg_[!_cnt!]=!_arg_!" && for /l %%l in (!_cnt! 1 !_cnt!
     )do echo/ The argument n:%%l is: !_arg_[%%l]!
 )

goto :eof 

Your code is ready to do something with the argument number where it needs, like...

 @echo off && setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

 for %%Z in (%*)do set "_arg_=%%Z" && set/a "_cnt+=1+0" && call set "_arg_[!_cnt!]=!_arg_!"
 
 fake-command /u !_arg_[1]! /p !_arg_[2]! > test-log.txt
 

Simple solution(even though question is old)

Test1.bat

echo off
echo "Batch started"
set arg1=%1
echo "arg1 is %arg1%"
echo on
pause

CallTest1.bat

call "C:\Temp\Test1.bat" pass123

output

YourLocalPath>call "C:\Temp\test.bat" pass123

YourLocalPath>echo off
"Batch started"
"arg1 is pass123"

YourLocalPath>pause
Press any key to continue . . .

Where YourLocalPath is current directory path.

To keep things simple store the command param in variable and use variable for comparison.

Its not just simple to write but its simple to maintain as well so if later some other person or you read your script after long period of time, it will be easy to understand and maintain.

To write code inline : see other answers.

Make a new batch file (example: openclass.bat) and write this line in the file:

java %~n1

Then place the batch file in, let's say, the system32 folder, go to your Java class file, right click, Properties, Open with..., then find your batch file, select it and that's that...

It works for me.

PS: I can't find a way to close the cmd window when I close the Java class. For now...

Paired arguments

If you prefer passing the arguments in a key-value pair you can use something like this:

@echo off

setlocal enableDelayedExpansion

:::::  asigning arguments as a key-value pairs:::::::::::::
set counter=0
for %%# in (%*) do (    
    set /a counter=counter+1
    set /a even=counter%%2
    
    if !even! == 0 (
        echo setting !prev! to %%#
        set "!prev!=%%~#"
    )
    set "prev=%%~#"
)
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

:: showing the assignments
echo %one% %two% %three% %four% %five%

endlocal

And an example :

c:>argumentsDemo.bat one 1 "two" 2 three 3 four 4 "five" 5
1 2 3 4 5

Predefined variables

You can also set some environment variables in advance. It can be done by setting them in the console or setting them from my computer:

@echo off

if defined variable1 (
    echo %variable1%
)

if defined variable2 (
    echo %variable2%
)

and calling it like:

c:\>set variable1=1

c:\>set variable2=2

c:\>argumentsTest.bat
1
2

File with listed values

You can also point to a file where the needed values are preset. If this is the script:

@echo off

setlocal
::::::::::
set "VALUES_FILE=E:\scripts\values.txt"
:::::::::::


for /f "usebackq eol=: tokens=* delims=" %%# in ("%VALUES_FILE%") do set "%%#"

echo %key1% %key2% %some_other_key%

endlocal

and values file is this:

:::: use EOL=: in the FOR loop to use it as a comment

key1=value1

key2=value2

:::: do not left spaces arround the =
:::: or at the begining of the line

some_other_key=something else

and_one_more=more

the output of calling it will be:

value1 value2 something else

Of course you can combine all approaches. Check also arguments syntax , shift

If you're worried about security/password theft (that led you to design this solution that takes login credentials at execution instead of static hard coding without the need for a database), then you could store the api or half the code of password decryption or decryption key in the program file, so at run time, user would type username/password in console to be hashed/decrypted before passed to program code for execution via set /p, if you're looking at user entering credentials at run time.

If you're running a script to run your program with various user/password, then command line args will suit you.

If you're making a test file to see the output/effects of different logins, then you could store all the logins in an encrypted file, to be passed as arg to test.cmd, unless you wanna sit at command line & type all the logins until finished.

The number of args that can be supplied is limited to total characters on command line. To overcome this limitation, the previous paragraph trick is a workaround without risking exposure of user passwords.