Bob,
Is it really a DOS batch file or is it 95 or NT4 or W2K / XP - or does it need to run
on all of them?
This is important as the options vary.
Anyway, below is a copy of a post I made in March 2002 describing some of the options:
HTH,
Bruce Reardon
"In W2K it is easy, you can use set/p - type set/? to get the help and see below.
H:\>set/p fred=[input value for fred]
[input value for fred]oracleis?
H:\>echo %fred%
oracleis?
H:\>
Or you can call sqlplus and have sqlplus do the prompting and then have it host out to
the bat file and pass in the parameters.
Or you could Perl or a Unix emulator or I imagine their are many shareware / freeware
utilities.
Under NT4 other options are not easy and I have listed a number of ways and links that
show how you can achieve this:
Or from a Tom Lavedas posting on the newsgroup alt.msdos.batch.nt
(dated Tue, 05 Jun 2001 09:04:04 -0400 entitled "prompting for a parameter"
"
Old problem - batches were initially assumed to run unattended -
therefore, there was no need for user interaction. However, in the
PC/Windows environment, they are useful for scripting many redundant
tasks, even some that require/benefit user interaction.
MS finally added recognized this fact by adding the /P (prompt)
functionality to the SET statement in Win 2000 (but not before that).
So, if you are in a pure Win 2000 environment, type SET/? at a command
prompt to get information on the use of the /P switch.
If you are using NT 4 or are in a mixed NT/2000 environment, there is no
'perfect' solution. I have been interested in the subject of user input
for a long time and have developed and collected various techniques,
which I offer for your consideration:
1. Get a third party utility like, Strings.com from PC Magazine,
(e.g. see ftp://ftp.zdnet.com/pcmag/1992/1222/strings.zip) -
recently reported to be broken in NT. A third party utility is
probably the most viable solution for use in Win NT, though
AFAIK all of the little utilities out there were written for
the original DOS (pre-NT). See http://www.Simtel.net
2. Another NT approach, posted by Bennett Benson, is explained at
this link: http://www.jsiinc.com/TIP0300/rh0323.htm
[this doesn't seem to be working as at 1-Mar-2002]
3. Write a Win Script Host script using the InputBox function
(requires Win 98, Win NT 4.0, IE 5 or a free download from MS),
For example ...
Dim Input
Input = InputBox("Enter your name")
MsgBox ("You entered: " & Input)
(see http://msdn.microsoft.com/scripting/default.htm to get
started)
4. A variation on the theme of 3 above is a hybrid WSH script/batch
function
:: InWSH.bat - A WSH/Batch hybrid string input routine.
:: Requires Windows Script Host version 1.0 or later.
:: Use optional command line argument UCASE to convert
:: input to all uppercase or LCASE for lowercase.
:: With WSH V2+, EVAL allows math operations, as well.
:: Tom Lavedas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
:: http://www.pressroom.com/~tglbatch/
@echo off
Set _T=%temp%\~tmp
echo Set oFS=CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")>%_T%.vbs
Echo oFS.OpenTextFile("CON",2).Write "Enter a string: ">>%_T%.vbs
echo S=%1(Trim(oFS.OpenTextFile("CON",1).Readline))>>%_T%.vbs
echo Wscript.Echo "set Input="+CStr(S)>>%_T%.vbs
cscript.exe //nologo %_T%.vbs > %_T%.bat
for %%v in (%_T%.bat del) do call %%v %_T%.???
set _T=
% For Example % echo You typed %Input%
If you call this with a single command line parameter of Ucase or
LCase, it will return the string input by the user in the
appropriate case. If you have WSH v5.1+ and use EVAL as the command
line argument, it will do math operations as well, as in ....
C:\> inwsh eval
Enter a string: 11 * 12
You typed 132
This approach will work with Win 98 and Win 2000 and probably NT
right out of the box.
5. In Win2K the following works:
SET /P variable=[promptString]
6. Finally, this NT specific approach, originally given by Walter
Zachery, improved and supplied by Clay Calvert, ....
@echo off
echo.
echo Enter Input:
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in (
'format/f:160 a: ^|find "..."') do set Input=%%a
set Input=%Input:~30%
This approach will spin the floppy drive, but won't change
anything. The drive does not need to be occupied.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Lavedas http://www.pressroom.com/~tglbatch/
"
I have seen a web site showing how to do it using label (similar to the format
command).
You Can also use choice command - available from
ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Services/TechNet/Windows/msdos/RESKIT/suppdisk/choice.com
And from another alt.msdos.batch.nt posting:
"
Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 16:28:40 -0800
...
Here's one way that will work in WinNT4.0. If you are using Win2000,
you can use 'SET /P' instead.
==========begin file C:\cmd\TEST\ZZZINPUT.CMD ==========
001. @echo off
002. echo.
003. call rdstring ZQusername "Please enter your name:"
004. call rdstring ZQuserphone "Phone:"
005. call rdstring ZQaddress1 "Street Address:"
006. call rdstring ZQcity "City:"
007. call rdstring ZQstate "State:"
008. call rdstring ZQZip "ZIP Code:"
009. set ZQ
010. goto :EOF
011. :EOF
==========end file C:\cmd\TEST\ZZZINPUT.CMD ==========
==========begin file C:\cmd\TEST\RDSTRING.CMD ==========
001. @echo off
002. ::
003. :: based on method originally provided by Walter Zachary
004. :: and modified by Tom Lavedas
005. ::
006. :: syntax: call rdstring (varname) "your prompt in double quotes"
007. ::
008. setlocal
009. set target=%1
010. set myprompt="""%2"""
011. set myprompt=%myprompt:""""=%
012. echo.
013. echo %myprompt%
014. for /f "tokens=*" %%a in (
015. 'format/f:160 a: ^|find "..."') do set input=%%a
016. set input=%input:~30%
017. endlocal&set %target%=%input%&goto :EOF
018. :EOF
019.
==========end file C:\cmd\TEST\RDSTRING.CMD ==========
"
eg 1 "convoluted" freeware option is to use ask from http://www.kik-it.com to put the
response into a text file and then parse that with for command.
"
HTH,
Bruce Reardon
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Friday, 12 July 2002 7:34
You could use utility "choice.exe" (I think it comes with NT Resource Kit).
Here is an example of the batch file:
echo off
choice /c:YN Do you want to Continue ?
if errorlevel 2 goto end
rem do whatever you need here
...........................................
..........................................
:end
echo End of processing.
Obviously "N" answer returns "errorlevel 2".
Igor Neyman, OCP DBA
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
----- Original Message -----
To: "Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2002 4:37 PM
> All,
>
> I have a DOS batch file. In between this script, I
> would like to add user interactive question.
>
> Ex: Do you want to Continue [Y/N]?
>
> Once they hit "Y", it will continue rest of the batch
> file.
>
> Could someone able to help me out as per the above
> requirement?
>
> Thanks,
> Bob
--
Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com
--
Author: Reardon, Bruce (CALBBAY)
INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051
San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists
--------------------------------------------------------------------
To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message
to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in
the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L
(or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may
also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).
