Long gone are the days when you had to use search engines to jump from one website to another in order to figure out the syntax or how to solve a problem using a Batch file script. The Batchography book is a boon for system administrators, build engineers, programmers and home users alike. It takes you on a journey of re-discovery of the lost art of Batch files programming. Whether you are an experienced user or new to the language, you will be surprised by the clarity and the abundance of the material presented in this book. With more than 140 scripting recipes, you will learn about things that you never thought were possible to achieve using the Batch files scripting language.

In the Batchography book, you will learn about:

• The Basic concepts of Batch file scripting
• Data structures: Arrays, Stacks, Sets, Maps
• Multiline, compound and conditional statements
• Function calls and repetition control structures
• Files and strings manipulation techniques
• Debugging and troubleshooting tips
• Coding conventions and testing methodologies

Buy from Amazon:

• Printed book:
• Kindle edition: 

As a bonus, the book also includes the Hangman game completely written using the Batch files scripting language!

Scripts and articles based on the Batchography book

Here are interesting scripts and articles based on the Batchography book:

• WifiPasswordReveal: A script to reveal all the saved WiFi passwords in Windows 7 and above
• Batchography: Useful keyboard shortcuts for editing and working with the command prompt
• Batchography: Changing the MAC address on Windows – A free Batch script
• Batchography: Building a dynamic menu in Batch files – Part 1

More scripts and techniques in the book!

Table of Contents

• INTRODUCTION
  • What are Batch files?
  • Who is this book for?
  • How to best read this book?
  • Conventions used in this book
  • What does the book cover?
  • More Batch files scripting material
• CHAPTER 1 – BATCH FILES SCRIPTING LANGUAGE BASICS
  • Getting started
  • CMD keyboard shortcuts and other tips
  • Customizing the command prompt
  • Recalling commands with keyboard shortcuts
  • Creating commands aliases with the DOSKEY utility
  • Automatically running a script when the command prompt starts
  • Path completion shortcuts
  • Editing tips
  • Useful commands
    • COLOR
    • ASSOC/FTYPE
    • TYPE
    • CLIP
    • RUNAS
    • DIR/COPY/XCOPY/MOVE/RENAME/DEL
    • PUSHD/POPD/CD/CHDIR/MD/MKDIR
    • Using the WMIC tool
    • Using the REG command to work with the registry
    • Process management commands
  • Command echo
  • The “Errorlevel”
  • Command extensions
  • Breaking long commands into multiple lines
  • Executing multiple commands on the same line
  • Compound statements
  • Conditionally executing multiple commands on the same line
  • Comments
    • Comments at the beginning of the line
    • Comments at the end of the line
    • Multi-line comments
  • Escaping special symbols
  • Passing command line arguments
    • Using the SHIFT keyword
  • Command line arguments and FOR loop variables modifiers
  • Environment variables
    • Manipulating environment variables
    • Useful environment variables
    • Localizing the environment variables block
    • Delayed environment variables expansion
    • Two-level environment variables expansion
    • Using the SETX command
  • Labels
    • The EOF label
    • Function calls
    • Checking the existence of a label
  • Taking input from the user
  • Standard Input/Output redirection
    • Special files and devices
    • Using output redirection in Batch file scripts
    • Using input redirection in Batch file scripts
    • Mixing input and output redirection
    • Pipes
    • Chaining pipes
  • Arithmetic operations
  • Summary
• CHAPTER 2 – BATCH FILES PROGRAMMING
  • Conditional statements
    • Multiline commands
    • Checking the command line arguments
    • Extended syntax
    • Switch/Case syntax
  • Repetition control structures
    • The FOR keyword
    • Extended FOR keyword syntax
    • The FORFILES command
    • Nested FOR loops
    • Using the GOTO and IF
  • String operations
    • String substitution
    • Sub-string
    • String concatenation
    • String length
    • Using variable parameters with string operations
    • String sorting
    • Using the FINDSTR command
  • Basic data structures
    • Arrays
    • Multi-dimensional arrays
    • Associative arrays
    • Stacks
    • Sets
  • Summary
  • Test your skills
• CHAPTER 3 – CODING CONVENTIONS, TESTING AND TROUBLESHOOTING TIPS
  • Coding conventions
  • Variables naming conventions
    • Avoid environment variable collision
    • Labels naming conventions
  • Persisting changes beyond the ENDLOCAL call
    • Using compound statements
    • Using the exit code
    • Using the FOR loop variables
    • Using temporary files
  • Writing recursive functions
  • Parsing command line arguments
  • Batch files calling other Batch files
  • Building, testing and using a utility Batch file script library
    • Testing the library
  • Debugging and troubleshooting tips
    • ECHO is your friend
    • Making your script debug-ready
    • Dumping the values of the work and state variables
    • Other tips
  • Summary
• CHAPTER 4 – BATCH FILES RECIPES
  • Simple console text editor
  • Check if the script has administrative privilege
    • Looking for a specific privilege
    • Checking if system directories are writable
    • Using known commands that fail to run without elevated privileges
  • Stateful Batch file scripts
  • Resumable Batch files
  • Converting ordinals to characters
  • Convert a string from upper case to lower case and vice versa
  • Extracting embedded text files
  • Embedding and extracting binary files and executables
  • Embedding foreign scripts inside your Batch file script
    • Embedding Python code in your Batch file script
    • Embedding JScript code in your Batch file script
    • Embedding Perl code in your Batch file script
    • Embedding PowerShell code in your Batch file script
    • Embedding any other script in your Batch file
  • Getting files information
    • Getting file’s last modification time
    • Getting file’s attributes
    • Getting a file’s size
  • Triggering a command when files are modified in a directory
  • Get the version string of MS Windows
  • Creating a compressed archive containing all your version controlled source files
  • Parsing INI files
  • Interactive Batch file scripts
    • Simple menus
    • Dynamic menus
  • Time for fun – Let’s play hangman!
    • Step 1 – Reading a random word from the list file
    • Step 2 – Drawing the hangman stick figure
    • Step 3 – Prompt and reveal
    • Step 4 – Putting it all together
• CONCLUSION

Buy from Amazon:

• Printed book:
• Kindle edition: 

You might also like:

• More Books
• Batchography: Parsing INI files from a Batch file
• Batchography: Polyglot Batch files and C++ – Self compiling C++ script
• Batchography: Autorun a Batch file script each time you open the command prompt
• Kindle edition – Batchography: The Art of Batch Files Programming
• Resetting NTFS files permission in Windows – Graphical Utility