What does symbol ^ mean in Batch script?

Question

In this command: ``` FOR /F %%A IN ('TYPE "%InFile%"^|find /v /c ""')DO SET "Till=%%A" ``` what does the `^` mean?

Accepted Answer

The caret '^' character serves two purposes in Windows batch files:

1. line continuations:

~~~

```
@echo off

dir ^
/ad ^
c:	emp
```

~~~~

results in dir /ad c:	emp, which lists only the directories in C:	emp.

2. Escaping reserved shell characters & | ( < > ^.

Use a preceding caret to escape and print the character:

```
echo this pipe will print ^| but this one won't |
echo and this will print one caret ^^
```

Solution