MAKEMSI quickly and reliably creates MSI files in a non-programmatic way\Tips and TricksBatch FilesBatch File Tips and TricksSpecial Characters (tabs etc)

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Special Characters (tabs etc)

The following is a relatively simple way of using tabs or other characters within a batch file without the need for some other preinstalled "helper" program:

@echo off
setlocal
call :SetChar BEEP 7
call :SetChar TAB  9

set TabFile=NumberOfDumps@%date:/=-% %time::=_%.tab.txt
echo Column 1%TAB%Column 2%TAB%Column 3 > "%TabFile%
...
echo echo Beep!%BEEP%
goto :EOF

@REM **************[v08.178]******************
:SetChar
@REM *****************************************
    set VbsFile=%TEMP%\SetChar-%random%.vbs
    set CmdFile=%TEMP%\SetChar-%random%.cmd
    echo if Wscript.Arguments.Count ^<^> 2 then                                                                        > "%VbsFile%"
    echo    wscript.echo "REM Invalid parameters, expected 2 (1=EnvVar 2=AsciiCode), got " ^& Wscript.Arguments.Count >> "%VbsFile%"
    echo else                                                                                                         >> "%VbsFile%"
    echo    wscript.echo "@echo off"                                                                                  >> "%VbsFile%"
    echo    wscript.echo "SET " ^& Wscript.Arguments(0) ^& "=" ^& chr(Wscript.Arguments(1))                           >> "%VbsFile%"
    echo end if                                                                                                       >> "%VbsFile%"
    cscript.exe //NoLogo "%VbsFile%" "%~1" "%~2"                                                                       > "%CmdFile%"
    call "%CmdFile%"
    del "%VbsFile%" >nul 2>&1
    del "%CmdFile%" >nul 2>&1
    goto :EOF

See the "VBSCRIPT subroutines in BATCH files" section for more information on how this works.

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