The if command in Windows batch files has some strange implications. One problem is that parentheses take on special meaning.
I first ran into this problem because my batch file would terminate shortly after showing, “folder unexpected at this time“.
A very basic if command might look like this:
C:\>if exist C:\ ( echo The C drive exists ) The C drive exists
However, placing parentheses inside the echo statement will entirely confuse CMD:
C:\>if exist C:\ ( echo The C drive exists (no, really) ) ) was unexpected at this time.
Well, that sort of makes sense. It becomes confusing when the last word in your echo command is something more general, like the word ‘folder’:
C:\>if exist C:\Windows ( echo Found the Windows (on C:) folder ) folder was unexpected at this time.
This is actually the classic %%i was unexpected at this time error.
One solution is to put double quotes around the message to be echoed:
C:\>if exist C:\Windows ( echo "Found the Windows (on C:) folder" ) "Found the Windows (on C:) folder"
The drawback here is that the double quotes appear in the output. A better option is to use the caret (^) escape character:
C:\>if exist C:\Windows ( echo Found the Windows ^(on C:^) folder ) Found the Windows (on C:) folder
