Windows batch: echo without new line

Question

What is the Windows batch equivalent of the Linux shell command echo -n which suppresses the newline at the end of the output?

The idea is to write on t

Answer 1

Maybe this is what your looking for, it's a old school script... :P

set nl=^& echo. 
echo %nl%The%nl%new%nl%line%nl%is%nl%not%nl%apparent%nl%throughout%nl%text%nl%
echo only in prompt.
pause

or maybe your trying to replace a current line instead of writing to a new line? you can experiment with this by removing the "%bs%" after the "." sign and also by spacing out the other "%bs%" after the "Example message".

for /f %%a in ('"prompt $H&for %%b in (1) do rem"') do set "bs=%%a"
<nul set /p=.%bs%         Example message         %bs%
pause

I find this really interesting because it uses a variable for a purpose other than what it is intended to do. as you can see the "%bs%" represents a backspace. The second "%bs%" uses the backspace to add spaces after the "Example message" to separate the "Pause command's output" without actually adding a visible character after the "Example message". However, this is also possible with a regular percentage sign.

Answer 2

DIY cw.exe (console write) utility

If you don't find it out-of-the-box, off-the-shelf, you can DIY. With this cw utility you can use every kind of characters. At least, I'd like to think so. Please stress-test it and let me know.

Tools

All you need is .NET installed, which is very common nowadays.

Materials

Some characters typed/copy-pasted.

Steps

1. Create .bat file with the following content.

/* >nul 2>&1

@echo off
setlocal

set exe=cw
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%v in ('dir /b /s /a:-d  /o:-n "%SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\*csc.exe"') do set "csc=%%v"

"%csc%" -nologo -out:"%exe%.exe" "%~f0"

endlocal
exit /b %errorlevel%

*/

using System;

namespace cw {
    class Program {
        static void Main() {
            var exe = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()[0];
            var rawCmd = Environment.CommandLine;
            var line = rawCmd.Remove(rawCmd.IndexOf(exe),exe.Length).TrimStart('"');
            line = line.Length < 2 ? "\r" : line.Substring(2) ;
            Console.Write(line);
        }
    }
}

2. Run it.

3. Now you have a nice 4KB utility so you can delete the .bat.

Alternatively, you can insert this code as a subroutine in any batch, send the resulting .exe to %temp%, use it in your batch and delete it when you're done.

How to use

If you want write something without new line:
cw Whatever you want, even with "", but remember to escape ^|, ^^, ^&, etc. unless double-quoted, like in "| ^ &".

If you want a carriage return (going to the beginning of the line), run just
cw

So try this from command line:

for /l %a in (1,1,1000) do @(cw ^|&cw&cw /&cw&cw -&cw&cw \&cw)

Answer 3

I believe there's no such option. Alternatively you can try this

set text=Hello
set text=%text% world
echo %text%

Answer 4

The simple SET /P method has limitations that vary slightly between Windows versions.

• Leading quotes may be stripped

• Leading white space may be stripped

• Leading = causes a syntax error.

See http://www.dostips.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4209 for more information.

jeb posted a clever solution that solves most of the problems at Output text without linefeed, even with leading space or = I've refined the method so that it can safely print absolutely any valid batch string without the new line, on any version of Windows from XP onward. Note that the :writeInitialize method contains a string literal that may not post well to the site. A remark is included that describes what the character sequence should be.

The :write and :writeVar methods are optimized such that only strings containing troublesome leading characters are written using my modified version of jeb's COPY method. Non-troublesome strings are written using the simpler and faster SET /P method.

@echo off
setlocal disableDelayedExpansion
call :writeInitialize
call :write "=hello"
call :write " world!%$write.sub%OK!"
echo(
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
set lf=^


set "str= hello!lf!world^!!!$write.sub!hello!lf!world"
echo(
echo str=!str!
echo(
call :write "str="
call :writeVar str
echo(
exit /b

:write  Str
::
:: Write the literal string Str to stdout without a terminating
:: carriage return or line feed. Enclosing quotes are stripped.
::
:: This routine works by calling :writeVar
::
setlocal disableDelayedExpansion
set "str=%~1"
call :writeVar str
exit /b


:writeVar  StrVar
::
:: Writes the value of variable StrVar to stdout without a terminating
:: carriage return or line feed.
::
:: The routine relies on variables defined by :writeInitialize. If the
:: variables are not yet defined, then it calls :writeInitialize to
:: temporarily define them. Performance can be improved by explicitly
:: calling :writeInitialize once before the first call to :writeVar
::
if not defined %~1 exit /b
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
if not defined $write.sub call :writeInitialize
set $write.special=1
if "!%~1:~0,1!" equ "^!" set "$write.special="
for /f delims^=^ eol^= %%A in ("!%~1:~0,1!") do (
  if "%%A" neq "=" if "!$write.problemChars:%%A=!" equ "!$write.problemChars!" set "$write.special="
)
if not defined $write.special (
  <nul set /p "=!%~1!"
  exit /b
)
>"%$write.temp%_1.txt" (echo !str!!$write.sub!)
copy "%$write.temp%_1.txt" /a "%$write.temp%_2.txt" /b >nul
type "%$write.temp%_2.txt"
del "%$write.temp%_1.txt" "%$write.temp%_2.txt"
set "str2=!str:*%$write.sub%=%$write.sub%!"
if "!str2!" neq "!str!" <nul set /p "=!str2!"
exit /b


:writeInitialize
::
:: Defines 3 variables needed by the :write and :writeVar routines
::
::   $write.temp - specifies a base path for temporary files
::
::   $write.sub  - contains the SUB character, also known as <CTRL-Z> or 0x1A
::
::   $write.problemChars - list of characters that cause problems for SET /P
::      <carriageReturn> <formFeed> <space> <tab> <0xFF> <equal> <quote>
::      Note that <lineFeed> and <equal> also causes problems, but are handled elsewhere
::
set "$write.temp=%temp%\writeTemp%random%"
copy nul "%$write.temp%.txt" /a >nul
for /f "usebackq" %%A in ("%$write.temp%.txt") do set "$write.sub=%%A"
del "%$write.temp%.txt"
for /f %%A in ('copy /z "%~f0" nul') do for /f %%B in ('cls') do (
  set "$write.problemChars=%%A%%B    ""
  REM the characters after %%B above should be <space> <tab> <0xFF>
)
exit /b

Answer 5

Sample 1: This works and produces Exit code = 0. That is Good. Note the "." , directly after echo.

C:\Users\phife.dog\gitrepos\1\repo_abc\scripts #
@echo.| set /p JUNK_VAR=This is a message displayed like Linux echo -n would display it ... & echo %ERRORLEVEL%

This is a message displayed like Linux echo -n would display it ... 0

Sample 2: This works but produces Exit code = 1. That is Bad. Please note the lack of ".", after echo. That appears to be the difference.

C:\Users\phife.dog\gitrepos\1\repo_abc\scripts #
@echo | set /p JUNK_VAR=This is a message displayed like Linux echo -n would display it ... & echo %ERRORLEVEL%

This is a message displayed like Linux echo -n would display it ... 1

Answer 6

A solution for the stripped white space in SET /P:

the trick is that backspace char which you can summon in the text editor EDIT for DOS. To create it in EDIT press ctrlP+ctrlH. I would paste it here but this webpage can't display it. It's visible on Notepad though (it's werid, like a small black rectangle with a white circle in the center)

So you write this:

<nul set /p=.9    Hello everyone

The dot can be any char, it's only there to tell SET /P that the text starts there, before the spaces, and not at the "Hello". The "9" is a representation of the backspace char that I can't display here. You have to put it instead of the 9, and it will delete the "." , after which you'll get this:

    Hello Everyone

instead of:

Hello Everyone

I hope it helps