Help debugging simple .bat that worked on XP

[jubxie]

Hello,

I have a backup .bat that I have hobbled together from forums such as this. The original was made a few years ago. It worked flawlessly, until I brought it to windows 7. Very funny, now, it only works between 10am and midnight. This has been hell to figure out because sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I know it has something to do with the context of the "set hour" or "if "%hour.." part, but I can't figure it out. Should be an easy fix for someone familiar with .bat programming. Here is the relevant part:

set hour=%time:~0,2%
if "%hour:0,1%"=="  "set hour=0%time:~1,1%
set folder=%date:~10,4%_%date:~4,2%_%date:~7,2%-%hour%.%time:~3,2%
set DateFolder=%date:~10,4%_%date:~4,2%_%date:7,2%

Let me know if you need more info. I have to hand type the code, since the original is on a non-networked machine. Thanks!

 

[Dwarf]

Hi jubxie and welcome to W7 Forums

Change the second line to the following: if "%hour:~0,1%"==" "set hour=0%time:~1,1%

 

[jubxie]

Thank you for the help. My mistake. That is what I have in the .bat. I had a typo in my post. I never had any trouble with this before on XP pro SP3. If it helps, the meat of the .bat is a command to place the contents of a folder in a .zip file using 7zip and robocopying the data to a server. Those commands all work correctly on the command line, stand alone. Any other ideas?

 

[SIW2]

Looks awful complicated, would this be easier?

@ECHO OFF
ECHO TIME IS %TIME%
ECHO DATE IS %DATE%

set hour=%time:~0,2%
set mn=%TIME:~3,2%
set sc=%TIME:~6,2%
set msec=%TIME:~9,2%
if %hour% equ 0: set hour=00
echo.
set day=%date:~0,2%
set mth=%DATE:~3,2%
set yr=%DATE:~6,4%
echo.
set datefolder=%day%_%mth%_%yr%-%hour%*%mn%*%sc%
echo.
echo datefolder is %datefolder%
echo.
pause

outputs this:

TIME IS 21:02:58.78
DATE IS 01/06/2011

datefolder is 01_06_2011-21*02*58

Press any key to continue . . .

 

[jubxie]

Thanks. I will try that and let you know. I'll have to wait til Friday morning before 10am, but I will post results.

 

[jubxie]

Interesting. Running that exact (copy and paste) gave me very different results. Did you run on XP? My results:
datefolder is Fr_ 0_/03/- 7*50*52.

There must be something different about how 7 interprets this code. Any other ideas I could test before 10am PT, at which point the original code will start to work?

 

[Dwarf]

What do you see if you type date /t at a command prompt? Try on both XP and W7.

 

[SIW2]

No, I don't have XP.

Might be different on an ancient o/s.

Try just checking what it gives you for %time% and %date% - try directly in cmd window, like this:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\System32>ECHO TIME IS %TIME%
TIME IS 16:01:11.39

C:\Windows\System32>ECHO DATE IS %DATE%
DATE IS 03/06/2011

C:\Windows\System32>

date /t should also work as Dwarf says.

 

[jubxie]

Date: Fri 06/03/2011

Time: 8:05:59:18

Thanks

 

[SIW2]

Fri 06/03/2011

Looks like the issue.

Recent o/s don't output the day.

Also, is that 8AM ?

8:05:59:18

Different from 08:05:59:18

 

[Dwarf]

Ok. You need to change the following lines in the above code:

Windows 7 compliant

set day=%date:~0,2%
set mth=%DATE:~3,2%
set yr=%DATE:~6,4%

Windows XP equivalent

set day=%date:~4,2%
set mth=%DATE:~7,2%
set yr=%DATE:~10,4%

The changes involve adding 4 to each of the pointers in order to jump over the unwanted part of the date in XP. There should be a way to incorporate both blocks of the above code into a batch file, and ensure that the correct section is executed dependant on the system the file is run on.

The code in the following link should be able to help. I'll see if I can extract the necessary part and incorporate it into a new version of the batch file.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/...ows-and-or-cmd-exe-a-batch-file-is-running-on

 

[logicearth]

This is why I love Powershell, you can ask for a special date format instead of depending on the system to provide one you need. As well as a lot more power in Powershell.

$filedate = get-date -format "yyyy_MM_dd-HH*mm*ss"
// 2011_06_03-08*42*42

 

[Dwarf]

Here you go.

@ECHO OFF
ECHO TIME IS %TIME%
ECHO DATE IS %DATE%
set hour=%time:~0,2%
set mn=%TIME:~3,2%
set sc=%TIME:~6,2%
set msec=%TIME:~9,2%
if %hour% equ 0: set hour=00
for /f "tokens=2 delims=[]" %%G in ('ver') Do (set _version=%%G)
for /f "tokens=2,3,4 delims=. " %%G in ('echo %_version%') Do (set _major=%%G& set _minor=%%H& set _build=%%I)
if "%_major%"=="5" goto sub5
if "%_major%"=="6" goto sub6
goto error
:sub5
set day=%date:~4,2%
set mth=%DATE:~7,2%
set yr=%DATE:~10,4%
goto finish
:sub6
set day=%date:~0,2%
set mth=%DATE:~3,2%
set yr=%DATE:~6,4%
goto finish
:error
echo "unsupported OS."
echo.
pause
pause
exit
:finish
set datefolder=%day%_%mth%_%yr%-%hour%*%mn%*%sc%
echo datefolder is %datefolder%
echo.
pause
pause

 

[jubxie]

Sorry if I am adding confusion. This is all being done on Win 7 Pro x64

Fri 06/03/2011

Looks like the issue.

Recent o/s don't output the day.

Also, is that 8AM ?

8:05:59:18

Different from 08:05:59:18

8:05:59:18 is what is output. Yep, that 8am.

Ok. You need to change the following lines in the above code:

Windows 7 compliant

set day=%date:~0,2%
set mth=%DATE:~3,2%
set yr=%DATE:~6,4%

Windows XP equivalent

set day=%date:~4,2%
set mth=%DATE:~7,2%
set yr=%DATE:~10,4%

The changes involve adding 4 to each of the pointers in order to jump over the unwanted part of the date in XP. There should be a way to incorporate both blocks of the above code into a batch file, and ensure that the correct section is executed dependant on the system the file is run on.

The code in the following link should be able to help. I'll see if I can extract the necessary part and incorporate it into a new version of the batch file.

how to tell what version of windows and/or cmd.exe a batch file is running on? - Stack Overflow

I have the 7 compliant code in and it gives me a strange folder structure.
I get folder 03 w/ subfolder under it of "_" and "_0_day"

Maybe more info is needed. The folder is created correctly w/ orginal code, but the batch doesn't run correctly.

Here' the whole(relevant) code:

set hour=%time:~0,2%
if "%hour:~0,1%"==" "set hour=0%time:~1,1%
set folder=%date:~10,4%_%date:~4,2%_%date:~7,2%-%hour%.%time:~3,2%
set DateFolder=%date:~10,4%_%date:~4,2%_%date:7,2%

mkdir "\\path\%datefolder%\"

7z a \\path\%folder%_machinename.zip \\path -xr!_backup -xr!Archive -ssw

There's more, but that's the part that isn't working until 10am. Maybe it's a 7zip issue? The archive part was added for Win7 (I think I'm making a liar out of myself saying it worked on XP. I was sure it was a date/time context issue). 7zip tells me it can't find the .zip it's supposed to create, and continues on creating a .7z archive file instead of .zip. The "%datefolder%_machinename.zip file comes out with a "9.31_machinename.zip(thats 9:31am). The system cannot find the file specified. Again, until 10am. (using the original code)Then everything works great. I really appreciate the help!

 

[Dwarf]

Ok. Try this. It modifies the hour parameter so that it is always 2 characters long.

@ECHO OFF
ECHO TIME IS %TIME%
ECHO DATE IS %DATE%
set hour=%time:~0,2%
set mn=%TIME:~3,2%
set sc=%TIME:~6,2%
set msec=%TIME:~9,2%
for /f "tokens=2 delims=[]" %%G in ('ver') Do (set _version=%%G)
for /f "tokens=2,3,4 delims=. " %%G in ('echo %_version%') Do (set _major=%%G& set _minor=%%H& set _build=%%I)
if "%_major%"=="5" goto sub5
if "%_major%"=="6" goto sub6
goto error
:sub5
set day=%date:~4,2%
set mth=%DATE:~7,2%
set yr=%DATE:~10,4%
goto finish
:sub6
set day=%date:~0,2%
set mth=%DATE:~3,2%
set yr=%DATE:~6,4%
goto finish
:error
echo "unsupported OS."
echo.
pause
pause
exit
:finish
if %hour% geq 10 goto finish1
set hour=0%hour:~1,2%
:finish1
set datefolder=%day%_%mth%_%yr%-%hour%*%mn%*%sc%
echo datefolder is %datefolder%
echo.
pause
pause

This means that if datefolder was 03_06_2011- 6*30*30 it will now be 03_06_2011-06*30*30. In other words, if the hours value is between 0 and 9, an additional leading 0 will be appended.

 

[jubxie]

Thanks Dwarf. I'll try it tomorrow morning (before 10am Logicearth: Thanks. Yeah, I have hobbled together an auditing script with powershell, but I'm even less comfortable with it. Seems like that's were this stuff is going though.

 

[Dwarf]

You're welcome. I'll optimise the code and post back.

 

[Dwarf]

Optimised code (including error trapping).

@ECHO OFF
set hour=%time:~0,2%
if %hour% lss 10 set hour=0%hour:~1,2%
for /f "tokens=2 delims=[]" %%G in ('ver') Do (set _version=%%G)
for /f "tokens=2,3,4 delims=. " %%G in ('echo %_version%') Do (set _major=%%G& set _minor=%%H& set _build=%%I)
if %_major% lss 5 goto error
if %_major% gtr 6 goto error
if "%_major%"=="5" set datefolder=%date:~4,2%_%date:~7,2%_%date:~10,4%-%hour%*%time:~3,2%*%time:~6,2%
if "%_major%"=="6" set datefolder=%date:~0,2%_%date:~3,2%_%date:~6,4%-%hour%*%time:~3,2%*%time:~6,2%
goto finish
:error
echo "Unsupported OS."
echo.
pause
exit
:finish
mkdir "\\path\%datefolder%\"
7z a \\path\%folder%_machinename.zip \\path -xr!_backup -xr!Archive -ssw

 

[jubxie]

The results of the non-optimized code:
datefolder is Sa_ 0_/04/-08*31*37

EDIT: i just changed the date format in the Regonal setting, which fixed the output of the non-optimized code. I will try some more.......

The optimized also seems to have the same issue. It creates nested directory's with strange names.
I wonder if this is just not doable with windows 7 without powershell. If so, that's really a bummer cause the powershell scripts are much more complicated that what I had and what you've written. I will try your script after 10am to see if it works then.

 

[jubxie]

That's it!!!!! I just had to get the date format correct so the output from the non-optimized code looked correct(does suck that it's hidden in regional settings, since I look previously and couldn't find it). And at 8:57am, I have a working backup script. And one that is much more robust than before. Can't thank you enough Dwarf. CHEERS!