Batch Help

Question

I want to write this line to text file

from a batch file.

echo   >temp.txt

I won't work, I have tried  echo ^ 

and echo ^&^#160;

Help

Answer 1

I have solved it with

echo. <^pre^> what        ever               with         spaces             ^</pre^> >>filename.html

it will keep the spaces

Answer 2

What are you trying to do?

The string   is HTML for a non-breaking space (also written  )

The command interpreter doesn't understand HTML.

The command interpreter recognizes the ampersand (&) as a "command separator" which simply means that it treats whatever follows the & as a command.  Thus, if you type the following in a command prompt

   echo  

the command interpreter attempts to interpret #160; as a command -- and it can't.  Similarly, the command interpreter recognizes the semicolon (;) as a blank space (I think).

C:\Users\LemP>echo   > temp.txt

ECHO is on.

'#160' is not recognized as an internal or external command,

operable program or batch file.

The caret character (^) "escapes" the ampersand, allowing the command interpreter to treat it as just another character.  Thus the following

C:\Users\LemP>echo ^  > temp.txt

results in the creation of a file named temp.txt that contains the 6 characters  

So ... depending on what you want your batch file to accomplish, there may (or may not) be a way to achieve that goal.

The following pages may be of interest:

http://judago.webs.com/batchoperators.htm

http://www.robvanderwoude.com/escapechars.php