Is it possible to create a batch file with a bunch of commands (commands.bat)
ECHO HELLO ECHO HOLA ECHO KONICHIWA ECHO ANYONGHASEYO ECHO BONJOUR , then within a different batch file, CALL commands.bat and only perform the command on line 2 or line 4 without knowing what is on those lines?
Here's what I meant in my comment.
master.bat
echo abcd echo hello echo notepad echo public echo wind echo balance command.bat
@echo off more +3 master.bat > temp.bat & temp.bat Prints the below for me.
public wind balance To start off from the first line, use +0.
If you want this number to be sent via command line, here is a slightly modified version:
command.bat
@echo off more +%1 master.bat > temp.bat & temp.bat You can run the above with commands such as command.bat 0 or command.bat 3.
A neat little trick I used to know (back when batchfiles were in vogue)
SET JUMPTO=HOLA goto BRANCH_%JUMPTO% :BRANCH_HELLO echo HELLO GOTO :QUIT :BRANCH_HOLA echo HOLA GOTO :QUIT :BRANCH_KONICHIWA echo KONICHIWA GOTO :QUIT :BRANCH_ANYONGHASEYO echo ANYONGHASEYO GOTO :QUIT :BRANCH_BONJOUR echo BONJOUR GOTO :QUIT :BRANCH_ echo Illegal branch?! :QUIT It becomes more intesting when you replace the first line with e.g. SET JUMPTO=%1
Some test output:
E:>.\test.cmd HELLO
E:\>SET JUMPTO=HELLO E:\>goto BRANCH_HELLO E:\>echo HELLO HELLO E:\>GOTO :QUITE:>.\test.cmd
E:\>SET JUMPTO= E:\>goto BRANCH_ E:\>echo Illegal branch?! Illegal branch?! E:\>
Give me your input on this as a solution. It works, but I know some people don't like piping the FIND command to anything =/
REM Contents of COMMANDS.BAT ECHO HELLO & ::1 ECHO HOLA & ::2 ECHO KONICHIWA & ::3 ECHO ANYONGHASEYO & ::4 ECHO BONJOUR & ::5 REM Command to perform ECHO KONICHIWA out of COMMANDS.BAT CALL C:\COMMANDS.BAT | FIND "3" Better yet, I discovered this playing around with it yesterday:
REM Contents of COMMANDS.BAT ECHO HELLO & ::1 ECHO HOLA & ::2 ECHO KONICHIWA & ::3 ECHO ANYONGHASEYO & ::4 ECHO BONJOUR & ::5 -
REM Command to perform ECHO KONICHIWA out of COMMANDS.BAT FINDSTR ::3 COMMANDS.BAT | START /B That way I don't have to output the line to another bat file, it just runs the command instantly.
This is similar to Mechaflash's answer but makes use of findstr instead of find.
master.bat
echo abcd &rem line1 echo hello &rem line2 echo notepad &rem line3 echo public &rem line4 echo wind &rem line5 echo balance &rem line5 command.bat
@echo off findstr line%1 master.bat > temp.bat & temp.bat 
echo Holaandecho Bonjourconditional, dependant on a certain argument and while callingcommands.bat, send in that argument.commands.batwhich will only contain the list ofechostatements. Depending on the line number (or range) you may receive, copy the contents from that line number till the end of file into a separate file,temp.batand execute it.