Knowledge Base

REM Does Not Prevent Parsing of FOR Statement in Batch File

Article ID: 155572

Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006

Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition

This article was previously published under Q155572

SYMPTOMS

If there is a syntax error in a line that uses the FOR command, that error is displayed, even if the line is preceded with the REM statement. For example, the following command line

rem FOR /R %z in (*.txt) do d:\test %~nxz

results in an error message being displayed.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT 4.0. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

RESOLUTION

If you do not want the error to appear, make sure the syntax is correct, even if the line is preceded with the REM statement. Using the example above, change the line to:

rem FOR /R %z in (*.txt) do d:\test %%~nxz

Additional query words: prodnt winnt

Keywords: kbusage KB155572