Microsoft KB Archive/153163

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Using MS-DOS Environment Variable as Command-Line Option

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Q153163

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Windows 95

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SYMPTOMS
When you use an MS-DOS environment variable (such as %VARIABLE%) as a command-line option when you run a program (such as Notepad), you may receive the following message:

  Cannot find the %VARIABLE%.txt file.

Do you want to create a new file?

CAUSE
Windows 95 interprets the environment variable as a file name because the percent (%) character is a valid character in a long file name in Windows 95.

RESOLUTION
To work around this behavior, use any of the following methods:

 Use the following method to start the program:

 Click the Start button, and then click Run.  Type the following command in the Open box "command.com /c  % %" where  is the program you want to run and is the environment variable you want to use.   Create an MS-DOS batch file that starts the program with the command- line variable set to the appropriate MS-DOS environment variable. Then, create a shortcut to the batch file and use the shortcut to start the program. Start an MS-DOS session and type the command at the command prompt.</ul>

Keywords : win95

Issue type :

Technology : kbWin95search kbWin95