Semicolon, Equal Sign As Arguments in Batch File (71247)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 4.0
Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 4.01
Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0
Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0a
Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.0
Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.2
Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.21
Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.22

This article was previously published under Q71247

SUMMARY

When a semicolon (;) or equal sign (=) is used as a command line argument in a batch file, it is treated as a blank space.

MORE INFORMATION

For example, in the following batch file, TEST.BAT,

   echo %1 %2 %3

the command line and resulting output appear as follows:

   Command Line       Output
   ------------       ------

   test a=b           a b
   test a;b           a b
   test ;ab           ab
   test =             ECHO is on (parsed as test)
   test ;             ECHO is on

For more information, query on the following words:

equal and sign and characters and batch

Modification Type:	Major	Last Reviewed:	5/12/2003
Keywords:	KB71247