I am trying to use IF statement in the below code.
@echo off
SET a=
SET b=HELLO WORLD
echo %b%
if [%a%] == [] echo "String A is empty"
if [%b%] == [] echo "String B is empty"
I am getting the output as below
HELLO WORLD
"String A is empty"
WORLD] was unexpected at this time.
Why is WORLD] was unexpected at this time. appearing in the output. Can you please point out the error? Thanks in advance.
If a single parameter contains spaces, you can still pass it as one item by surrounding in "quotes" - this works well for long filenames.
The same is valid for any command token:
if [HELLO WORLD] == [] echo "String B is empty"
↑↑ command line parser expects compare operator here like == EQU GTR etc.
Use
if "%a%" == "" echo "String A is empty"
if "%b%" == "" echo "String B is empty"
@echo off
SET a=
SET b=HELLO WORLD
echo %b%
if "%a%" == "" echo "String A is empty"
if "%b%" == "" echo "String B is empty"
This is because the space in %b% and is taken as two arguments to if.Quotes can be used to pass arguments with delimiters but not []
A better solution if all you want to know is "is the variable empty" is
if defined a (echo a is defined) else (echo a is not defined)
naturally, if not defined ... is also available.
Try this:
{ @echo off SET a= SET b=HELLO WORLD echo %b% if %a%== (what you want a to be) echo "String A is empty" if %b%== "HELLO WORLD" echo "String B is empty"
