Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!rice!uw-beaver!zephyr.ens.tek.com!tektronix!psueea!parsely!bucket!leonard
From: leonard@bucket.UUCP (Leonard Erickson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Why is comma delimiter in batch files?
Keywords: batch MSDOS
Message-ID: <1885@bucket.UUCP>
Date: 2 Jan 90 21:47:02 GMT
References: <3445@cbnewsl.ATT.COM>
Organization: Rick's Home-Grown UNIX; Portland, OR.
Lines: 37

rl@cbnewsl.ATT.COM (roger.h.levy) writes:


>I've noticed that batch files regard both blanks and commas as delimiters
>whereas c programs regard only blanks as a delimeter (If it matters, I'm
>using DOS 3.2).  For example:

[example c program and comments deleted]

>When this program is fed a parameter string of "one,two", it prints that
>string back exactly, i.e. it regards the string as a single parameter.

>However, when the following batch file is fed the same string:

[example batch file and comments deleted]

>It prints "one" and "two" on different lines, i.e. it regards a comma
>delimited string as multiple parameters.

>My question: Is there a way to convince batch files to think of the comma
>as part of the parameter, i.e. to regard only blanks as delimiters so as
>to be consistent with c programs?

In a word, no. Batch files use COMMAND.COM. But it's (and MS-DOS's) rules
spacem, comma, and semi-colon are all delimiters. This behavior is *defined*
in the DOS manuals, so I'm afraid your out of luck. I wouldn't go that far
but a case could be made that under MS-DOS, your C is showing the broken
behaviour.

I'm rather puzzled as to why you'd care that a C program abd a batch file have
different behavior anyway. But since you do, you'd have to re-write *at least*
COMMAND.COM. Possibly more. 
-- 
Leonard Erickson		...!tektronix!reed!percival!bucket!leonard
CIS: [70465,203]
"I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools.
Let's start with typewriters." -- Solomon Short