batch-file Escaping special characters Escape using caret(^)
Example
Most special characters can be escaped using the caret(^). Take a look at the following example.
echo > Hi
echo ^> Hi
This first command would not output > Hi because > is a special character, which means redirect output to a file. In this case, the file is named "Hi"
However in the second command, > Hi would be outputted without any issue because the caret(^) tells the > to stop functioning as "redirect output to file" command, now > is just a normal character.
Here's a list of special characters that can be escaped(taken, and edited from Rob van der Woude's page)
| Character | Escaped Result | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| ^ | ^^ | |
| & | ^& | |
| < | ^< | |
| > | ^> | |
| | | ^| | |
| \ | ^\ | |
| ! | ^^! | Only required when DelayedExpansion is on |
Escaping the caret
Carets can be stacked up to the escape other carets, consider the following example.
| Input | Output |
|---|---|
| ^& | & |
| ^^^& | ^& |
| ^^^^^& | ^^& |
Note: The carets in bold form are escaped.
Security issue
A bit off topic here, but this is very important! An unwanted caret escape at the end of the file could cause a memory leak!
any-invalid-command-you-like-here ^
This command would leak all the memory, rendering the system completely unusable! See here for more information.
