Bash fails to run .bat file with spaces in pathname and argument

Johnathon Jamison jjamison@cs.berkeley.edu
Wed Oct 11 21:11:00 GMT 2006


Hello,

I am having some funny behavior.  If I have a .bat file that is in a 
directory whose pathname contains a space, and an argument is given to 
the .bat file that has a space in it, then the .bat file fails to run. 
Instead, I get "'xxx' is not recognized as an internal or external 
command, operable program or batch file." where xxx is the portion of 
the complete path to the .bat file before the first space.

I am not sure why this is occurring.  Any help would be appreciated.  I 
have more specific information and a sample run below.  If I have left 
anything out, just ask.  In particular, I am not sure which version 
numbers would be needed, or where to find (many of) them.

Thank you for you time,
Johnathon



To reproduce:

1) The .bat file can contain anything, the problem seems to be before it 
is ever executed.
2) The .bat file must be in a directory (possibly not a direct parent) 
whose name contains a space.  The actual call to the .bat file does not 
need to contain a space, provided the program is not called with a 
pathname that eliminates the space; i.e. Progra~1 vs. Program\ Files.
3) There must be at least on argument containing a space.  This argument 
can be anything, it seems.

System:

- Setup.exe version 2.510.2.2, update run today, Oct. 11.  Mirror 
ftp://ftp.planetmirror.com.
- GNU bash, version 3.1.17(6)-release (i686-pc-cygwin)
- Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 2

Sample Run:

Johnathon@T60 /cygdrive/c/Program Files/test
$ cat foobar.bat
echo hi there

Johnathon@T60 /cygdrive/c/Program Files/test
$ ./foobar.bat

c:\Program Files\test>echo hi there
hi there

Johnathon@T60 /cygdrive/c/Program Files/test
$ ./foobar.bat ./empty.txt

c:\Program Files\test>echo hi there
hi there

Johnathon@T60 /cygdrive/c/Program Files/test
$ c:/Program\ Files/test/foobar.bat ./empty.txt

c:\Program Files\test>echo hi there
hi there

Johnathon@T60 /cygdrive/c/Program Files/test
$ ./foobar.bat c:/Program\ Files/test/empty.txt
'c:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Johnathon@T60 /cygdrive/c/Program Files/test
$ ./foobar.bat c:/Progra~1/test/empty.txt

c:\Program Files\test>echo hi there
hi there

Johnathon@T60 /cygdrive/c/Program Files/test
$ c:/Program\ Files/test/foobar.bat c:/Program\ Files/test/empty.txt
'c:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Johnathon@T60 /cygdrive/c/Program Files/test
$ c:/Progra~1/test/foobar.bat c:/Program\ Files/test/empty.txt

c:\Program Files\test>echo hi there
hi there

Johnathon@T60 /cygdrive/c/Program Files/test
$ c:/Program\ Files/test/foobar.bat c:/Progra~1/test/empty.txt

c:\Program Files\test>echo hi there
hi there

Johnathon@T60 /cygdrive/c/Program Files/test
$ c:/Progra~1/test/foobar.bat c:/Progra~1/test/empty.txt

c:\Program Files\test>echo hi there
hi there

Johnathon@T60 /cygdrive/c/Program Files/test
$ c:/Program\ Files/test/foobar.bat c:/empty.txt

c:\Program Files\test>echo hi there
hi there

Johnathon@T60 /cygdrive/c/Program Files/test
$ ./foobar.bat c:/Program\ Files/test/qq.txt
'c:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Johnathon@T60 /cygdrive/c/Program Files/test
$ ./foobar.bat random\ argument
'c:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Johnathon@T60 /cygdrive/c/Program Files/test
$ ./foobar.bat "random argument"
'c:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Johnathon@T60 /cygdrive/c/Program Files/test
$ cp foobar.bat c:/

Johnathon@T60 /cygdrive/c/Program Files/test
$ cd ../../

Johnathon@T60 /cygdrive/c
$ ./foobar.bat c:/Program\ Files/test/empty.txt

c:\>echo hi there
hi there

Johnathon@T60 /cygdrive/c
$

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