How to make SHIFT work with %* in batch files

Question

In my batch file on Windows XP, I want to use %* to expand to all parameters except the first.
Test file (foo.bat):

@echo off
echo %*
shift
echo %*

Call:

C:\> foo a b c d e f

Actual result:

a b c d e f
a b c d e f

Desired result:

a b c d e f
b c d e f

How can I achieve the desired result? Thanks!!

Answer 1

Wouldn't it be wonderful if CMD.EXE worked that way! Unfortunately there is not a good syntax that will do what you want. The best you can do is parse the command line yourself and build a new argument list.

Something like this can work.

@echo off setlocal echo %* shift set "args=" :parse if "%~1" neq "" (   set args=%args% %1   shift   goto :parse ) if defined args set args=%args:~1% echo(%args% 

But the above has problems if an argument contains special characters like ^, &, >, <, | that were escaped instead of quoted.

Argument handling is one of many weak aspects of Windows batch programming. For just about every solution, there exists an exception that causes problems.

Answer 2

That´s easy:

setlocal ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
  set "_args=%*"
  set "_args=!_args:*%1 =!"

  echo/%_args%
endlocal

Same thing with comments:

:: Enable use of ! operator for variables (! works as % after % has been processed)
setlocal ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
  set "_args=%*"
  :: Remove %1 from %*
  set "_args=!_args:*%1 =!"
  :: The %_args% must be used here, before 'endlocal', as it is a local variable
  echo/%_args%
endlocal

Example:

lets say %* is "1 2 3 4":

setlocal ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
  set "_args=%*"             --> _args=1 2 3 4
  set "_args=!_args:*%1 =!"  --> _args=2 3 4

  echo/%_args%
endlocal

Remarks:

• Does not work if any argument contains the ! or & char
• Any extra spaces in between arguments will NOT be removed
• %_args% must be used before endlocal, because it is a local variable
• If no arguments entered, %_args% returns * =
• Does not shift if only 1 argument entered

Answer 3

Don't think there's a simple way to do so. You could try playing with the following workaround instead:

@ECHO OFF
>tmp ECHO(%*
SET /P t=<tmp
SETLOCAL EnableDelayedExpansion
IF DEFINED t SET "t=!t:%1 =!"
ECHO(!t!

Example:

test.bat 1 2 3=4

Output:

2 3=4