Mark Yocom's Script Tips

Scripting tips, covering batch, VBScript, and the occasional Perl script.

Windows command line references

I found that TechNet has references for the Windows command line utilities. Much of these are just a...

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 01/28/2008

On blogging tools

One of the obstacles to frequent posting (at least mine) is that the types of posts I typically make...

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 08/26/2006

Definitive list of illegal filenames?

Earlier, I tried to come up with a definitive list of illegal filesystem names, but it seems this is...

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 07/11/2006

More on command line redirection

For those of you who are more interested in the gritty details of command line redirection, RaymondC...

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 05/17/2006

Evolution of a solution

The other day, someone posted a message at work asking for a way to find out the drive letter for...

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 10/01/2005

Making your scripts look prettier

Many languages provide a mechanism to make their code look pretty. VBScript, for example, assumes...

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 09/30/2005

That's a pretty shifty argument...

It's pretty easy to deal with up to 9 arguments in batch through built-in variables %1 through %9....

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 06/30/2005

Ignoring the output of a command

Earlier, I used >nul 2>&1 to suppress the output of a command, and the question was...

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 06/08/2005

Opening web pages from the command line

I spend a lot of time in a CMD window. I mean a lot of time. Often I'd like to open a web page, but...

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 06/07/2005

Backslashes vs. slashes - who knew?

Here's something I'd never noticed until today, when I discovered it quite by accident. In general,...

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 06/07/2005

Bugs and assumptions

There's a fine line between an assumption and a bug. If the assumptions are spelled out ahead of...

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 06/07/2005

So what the heck just happened there...?

In the previous post, there was a fair amount of code and basically no explanation... Here's how it...

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 06/03/2005

Creating unique filenames in a batch file

Someone today was asking how to create unique filenames. They had some process which ran in a loop,...

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 06/03/2005

Two quick file-manipulation scripts from the vault

There are a couple of scripts that have been with me since the beginning of time. I don't use them...

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 06/03/2005

Typos vs. muscle memory

It occurs to me that my mistypings of 'notepad' and 'exit' are probably more the result of...

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 06/03/2005

Laziness is a virtue

Some scripts are complex and do lots of cool stuff. Others are simple and save a bunch of time. I...

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 06/03/2005

Looking through my own toolbox

In the beginning, there was DOS. And DOS had batch files - little scripts that ended in .BAT. So,...

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 06/03/2005

Books to have at your fingertips

There are a couple of books that I have found to be particularly useful. Whether you're a beginner...

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 06/03/2005

Tools to have in your toolbox

The Windows 2003 Resource Kit has a number of indispensible tools. For scripting, the two handiest...

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 06/03/2005

First Post!

I wonder how many first posts in blogs are given the title "First post!". I'm guessing a good 75%....

Author: Mark Yocom [MSFT] Date: 06/03/2005