- 1 year ago
Why can't we use a CALL :label command in the FORFILES script?
The reason you cannot use a CALL :label
command directly in a FORFILES script is due to the way FORFILES executes commands. The FORFILES command launches a new instance of the command interpreter (CMD) for each file it processes, which creates a separate execution context.
When you use the CALL :label
command in a batch script, it is used to invoke a subroutine within the same script. However, in the context of FORFILES, the CALL :label
command would attempt to find the specified label within the new instance of CMD, not within the original script, leading to an error or unexpected behavior.
To work around this limitation, you can create a separate batch script that contains the subroutine you want to call and then use the CALL
command to execute that script within the FORFILES loop. This way, the subroutine will be executed correctly within the context of the separate script.
Here's an example to illustrate this approach:
Create a separate batch script (e.g., "subroutine.bat") that contains the subroutine you want to call. For instance:
batch@echo off
:label
echo Subroutine called
rem Additional commands here
In your FORFILES script, use the
CALL
command to execute the separate script within the loop. For example:batch@echo off
forfiles /p "path_to_files" /m "*.txt" /c "cmd /c call subroutine.bat"
Replace "path_to_files" with the actual path to the directory containing the files you want to process.
This way, when FORFILES launches a new CMD instance to process each file, it will execute the separate script ("subroutine.bat") with the CALL
command, which will run the desired subroutine within the context of that script.
By separating the subroutine into its own script and using the CALL
command in the FORFILES loop, you can achieve the desired behavior of calling a subroutine within a FORFILES script.