Batch file to handle random % character in FOR LOOP

Question

I am trying to pass file names as FOR loop parameters to a separate batch file. The problem is, if a file name contains special characters (especially %), the parameter doesnt go to the called script. EG - The `FIRST_SCRIPT.bat` is as follows - ``` cd "C:	heFolder" for /R %%a in (*.*) do call SECOND_SCRIPT "%%~a" ``` The `SECOND_SCRIPT.bat` is as follows - ``` ECHO %1 ``` If a file name contains % eg. "% of STATS.txt", the output ends up being ``` of STATS.txt ``` Which is wrong. I have tried using `Setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion` but with little success ``` Setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion for /R %%a in (*.*) do ( SET "var=%%~a" Setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion call TEST_UPGRADE "%var%" "%%~a" ) ``` There are other stackoverflow answers, but they all need the % character to be known before hand. Since the file names are not in our control, these solutions won't work for us. Is there any way of handling this? Thanks! platform: cmd.exe for Windows XP

Accepted Answer

Aacini shows a solution that would work with `%` and also `!` but it fails with carets `^`.

But the solution is simple.

First it's necessary to disable the delayed expansion to handle the exclamation marks. The filename is now exactly in the `var` variable. The problems with carets and percents are caused by the `CALL`. This can be solved with the `CALL` itself by use only the second percent expansion phase of the `CALL` by using `%%var%%`.

```
Setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion
for /R %%a in (*.*) do (
  SET "var=%%~a" 
  call TEST_UPGRADE "%%var%%"
)
```

The next problem is in the second.bat to display the filename. This should be done with delayed expansion enabled to avoid problems with special characters, or you need always quotes.

```
set "var=%~1"
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
echo Filename: !var!
```

Batch file to handle random % character in FOR LOOP

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