Using mkdir in a batch file to create a directory i Program Files(x86

I am trying to get this batch file to work





MKDIR C:\Program Files(x86)\NCH Software\NCH Software\Components
MKDIR C:\Program Files(x86)\NCH Software\NCH Software\Photostage
MKDIR C:\Program Files(x86)\NCH Software\NCH Software\Disketch
MKDIR C:\Program Files(x86)\NCH Software\NCH Software\PhotoPad



but all's I get is this:

subdirectory or file C:\Program already exists.
Error occurred while processing: C:\Program.
A subdirectory or file Files(x86)\NCH already exists.
Error occurred while processing: Files(x86)\NCH.
A subdirectory or file Software\NCH already exists.
Error occurred while processing: Software\NCH.
A subdirectory or file C:\Program already exists.
Error occurred while processing: C:\Program.



how do I rewrite program files(x86) to make this work? John

It's telling you right there the folders from the program you installed from NCH already exists. Can you confirm?

I use NCH's Wavepad myself, but never had tro use a batch file. Why are you wanting to make a batch file?

Not that I understand why you need a batch file, use MKDIR with a "-p" switch placed in your batch file:
MKDIR -p C:\Program Files(x86)\NCH Software\NCH Software\Components
MKDIR -p C:\Program Files(x86)\NCH Software\NCH Software\Photostage
MKDIR -p C:\Program Files(x86)\NCH Software\NCH Software\Disketch
MKDIR -p C:\Program Files(x86)\NCH Software\NCH Software\PhotoPad

When you have a path with spaces or other special characters inside, you have to enclose it in double quotes. Program files is a common source of problems because of this, often resulting in errors saying "c:\program" missing or similar, just like in your post.

Snick said:

if exist %UserProfile%\Desktop\CBS (RD /s /q %UserProfile%\Desktop\CBS)
MD %UserProfile%\Desktop\CBS

This has the very same bug as the OP's code. If the path has any space in it, it'll break with a strange error message about a file not being found, which can happen if the %UserProfile% environment variable has spaces (with a user name with spaces, rare but definitely possible). Like the OP, fix it by enclosing all paths in double quotes.

Snick said:

Alejandro85

Thank you for the explanation.

I've been using that for years, never, ever had a problem.

However, I will change my code, being that it doesn't break anything.

Question: Why would someone place a space in the path?
Bad coding too?

@Snick
This comes from DOS era and 8x3 character limit. Most CMD are from that era.
You going to find a lot of space characters on windows path
C:\Program Files
C:\Windows\Downloaded Program Files
C:\Windows\Offline Web Pages