How to set string with spaces (from contents of a file) in a variable using batch script

Question

I have this code that reads the content of a file and set all the contents in a variable.

for /f "tokens=1,*" %%h in ('type C:\user\userfiles\title.txt') do (
set title=%%h
)echo %title%

Example contents of title.txt

AAAA BBBB CCCC

Now, It always display the word before the first space. How to display all contents of a file in variable title?

Jason Faulkner · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-12 22:03:51Z

2

You need to specify that there should be no delimiters in the FOR parameters, otherwise a space will be used and only pick up the first value:

REM Pick up a single token with no delimiters.
REM This will read the entire line of the file.
for /f "usebackq tokens=* delims=" %%h in (`type "C:\user\userfiles\title.txt"`) do set title=%%h
echo %title%

Note that if the file has multiple lines, only the last line will be set to the %title% variable.

If you want to then turn around and use the result of %title% as a parameter to a program, make sure you put it in quotes as it may contain spaces:

SomeProgram.exe "%title%"

edited Dec 12, 2014 at 22:03

answered Dec 12, 2014 at 21:27

Jason Faulkner

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5 Comments

Jason Faulkner Over a year ago

@PeterS - I just tested exactly what I have posted in my answer and it worked. If you copy/paste the answer exactly, what do you get as the result?

PeterS Over a year ago

I just figured out the prob. When Im trying to echo the result, result are as expected. however, Im passing %title% into another variable (%4). But the word before the first space was passed. How to solve this? I want to pass the value, I only echo'ed the value in order to test

PeterS Over a year ago

I already tried that solution before but im getting this error The system cannot find the file specified.

Jason Faulkner Over a year ago

@PeterS - Please update your question with the call you are attempting to make with the %title% variable.

Jason Faulkner Over a year ago

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

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