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Number   :  2653
Date     :  2002-08-14
Author   :  Kan Yabumoto
Subject  :  Re: Can you use %username% in an exclude list?
Size(KB) :  2



Let me clarify a subtle point in using the environment variable
in XXCOPY's command line.

When you use a reference to an environment variable in the
command line, you should follow the "standard" syntax
which is dictated by the command processor (COMMAND.COM or
CMD.EXE) where you sandwich the name of the environment
variable by %.

E.g.,

xxcopy c:\backup\%username%\ d:\%username%\ /clone
xxcopy c:\mydir\ d:\dest\ /x%username%\*.zip /clone

In these examples, the environment variable, USERNAME is
referenced by the %username% part in the command line.
The substitution of the string %username% by its value
is done by the command processor (not by XXCOPY). So,
by the time XXCOPY is invoked, the command is already
substituted by the value of the environment variable.

Note that XXCOPY also supports the environment variable inside
its command file (/CF) or exclusion file (/EX). Since these
files are not processed by the command processor before
xxcopy receives control, any use of environment variable
such as %username% must be processed by XXCOPY itself.

Because the delimiter character (%) used for the environment
variable is a valid character for a filename, XXCOPY cannot
use the same syntax rule for the environment variable
reference as in the command line. Therefore, XXCOPY uses
its own syntactic rule --- add a slash as the prefix for
the reference to an environment variable. That is,

Inside a /CF or /EX file, use /%username% which will
be substituted by the value of the environment
variable, USERNAME.

Summarizing the macro/env-var substitution rules:

/$xxxxxx$ // macro reference
/%xxxxxx% // environment variable reference

Note that the prefix (/) is always needed for the macro
reference whereas the prefix (/) must not be used in
the command line for environment variable (because
the command processor will do it for XXCOPY before
its invocation).

Kan Yabumoto
=========================================================


At 2002-08-13 22:30, you wrote:
>The usage of %username%*.zip works from the command line, but I can't
>get this work from within my exclude file. Have you tried this out
>yourself Joseph?, as this doesn't work for me..



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