How do I make a batch file terminate upon encountering an error?
Batch FileBatch File Problem Overview
I have a batch file that's calling the same executable over and over with different parameters. How do I make it terminate immediately if one of the calls returns an error code of any level?
Basically, I want the equivalent of MSBuild's ContinueOnError=false.
Batch File Solutions
Solution 1 - Batch File
Check the errorlevel in an if statement, and then exit /b (exit the batch file only, not the entire cmd.exe process) for values other than 0.
same-executable-over-and-over.exe /with different "parameters"
if %errorlevel% neq 0 exit /b %errorlevel%
If you want the value of the errorlevel to propagate outside of your batch file
if %errorlevel% neq 0 exit /b %errorlevel%
but if this is inside a for it gets a bit tricky. You'll need something more like:
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for %%f in (C:\Windows\*) do (
same-executable-over-and-over.exe /with different "parameters"
if !errorlevel! neq 0 exit /b !errorlevel!
)
Edit: You have to check the error after each command. There's no global "on error goto" type of construct in cmd.exe/command.com batch. I've also updated my code per CodeMonkey, although I've never encountered a negative errorlevel in any of my batch-hacking on XP or Vista.
Solution 2 - Batch File
Add || goto :label to each line, and then define a :label.
For example, create this .cmd file:
@echo off
echo Starting very complicated batch file...
ping -invalid-arg || goto :error
echo OH noes, this shouldn't have succeeded.
goto :EOF
:error
echo Failed with error #%errorlevel%.
exit /b %errorlevel%
Solution 3 - Batch File
The shortest:
command || exit /b
If you need, you can set the exit code:
command || exit /b 666
And you can also log:
command || echo ERROR && exit /b
Solution 4 - Batch File
Here is a polyglot program for BASH and Windows CMD that runs a series of commands and quits out if any of them fail:
#!/bin/bash 2> nul
:; set -o errexit
:; function goto() { return $?; }
command 1 || goto :error
command 2 || goto :error
command 3 || goto :error
:; exit 0
exit /b 0
:error
exit /b %errorlevel%
I have used this type of thing in the past for a multiple platform continuous integration script.
Solution 5 - Batch File
One minor update, you should change the checks for "if errorlevel 1" to the following...
IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0
This is because on XP you can get negative numbers as errors. 0 = no problems, anything else is a problem.
And keep in mind the way that DOS handles the "IF ERRORLEVEL" tests. It will return true if the number you are checking for is that number or higher so if you are looking for specific error numbers you need to start with 255 and work down.
Solution 6 - Batch File
I prefer the OR form of command, as I find them the most readable (as
opposed to having an if after each command). However, the naive way of
doing this, command || exit /b %ERRORLEVEL% is wrong.
This is because batch expands variables when a line is first read, rather
than when they are being used. This means that if the command in the line
above fails, the batch file exits properly, but it exits with return code 0,
because that is what the value of %ERRORLEVEL% was at the start of the
line. Obviously, this is undesirable in our script, so we have to enable
delayed expansion, like so:
SETLOCAL EnableDelayedExpansion
command-1 || exit /b !ERRORLEVEL!
command-2 || exit /b !ERRORLEVEL!
command-3 || exit /b !ERRORLEVEL!
command-4 || exit /b !ERRORLEVEL!
This snippet will execute commands 1-4, and if any of them fails, it will exit with the same exit code as the failing command did.
Solution 7 - Batch File
We cannot always depend on ERRORLEVEL, because many times external programs or batch scripts do not return exit codes.
In that case we can use generic checks for failures like this:
IF EXIST %outfile% (DEL /F %outfile%)
CALL some_script.bat -o %outfile%
IF NOT EXIST %outfile% (ECHO ERROR & EXIT /b)
And if the program outputs something to console, we can check it also.
some_program.exe 2>&1 | FIND "error message here" && (ECHO ERROR & EXIT /b)
some_program.exe 2>&1 | FIND "Done processing." || (ECHO ERROR & EXIT /b)
Solution 8 - Batch File
No matter how I tried, the errorlevel always stays 0 even when msbuild failed. So I built my workaround:
Build Project and save log to Build.log
SET Build_Opt=/flp:summary;logfile=Build.log;append=true
msbuild "myproj.csproj" /t:rebuild /p:Configuration=release /fl %Build_Opt%
search for "0 Error" string in build log, set the result to var
FOR /F "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %%F IN (`find /c /i "0 Error" Build.log`) DO (
SET var=%%F
)
echo %var%
get the last character, which indicates how many lines contains the search string
set result=%var:~-1%
echo "%result%"
if string not found, then error > 0, build failed
if "%result%"=="0" ( echo "build failed" )
That solution was inspired by Mechaflash's post at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6359820/how-to-set-commands-output-as-a-variable-in-a-batch-file
Solution 9 - Batch File
@echo off
set startbuild=%TIME%
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\msbuild.exe c:\link.xml /flp1:logfile=c:\link\errors.log;errorsonly /flp2:logfile=c:\link\warnings.log;warningsonly || goto :error
copy c:\app_offline.htm "\\lawpccnweb01\d$\websites\OperationsLinkWeb\app_offline.htm"
del \\lawpccnweb01\d$\websites\OperationsLinkWeb\bin\ /Q
echo Start Copy: %TIME%
set copystart=%TIME%
xcopy C:\link\_PublishedWebsites\OperationsLink \\lawpccnweb01\d$\websites\OperationsLinkWeb\ /s /y /d
del \\lawpccnweb01\d$\websites\OperationsLinkWeb\app_offline.htm
echo Started Build: %startbuild%
echo Started Copy: %copystart%
echo Finished Copy: %TIME%
c:\link\warnings.log
:error
c:\link\errors.log