Question

I have a batch file in which I have an IF/ELSE IF block. I do not want the block itself to be “echoed” to the user, as doing so prints a full screen of complex logic that would be difficult to understand exactly what’s executing out of it. However, I would like the commands that are actually executed within the block to be echoed to the user.

Putting an @ in front of the first IF hides the entire statement and there doesn’t seem to be a way to “unhide” portions. Attempting to use @echo off and @echo on to turn screen reporting off for the main statement and on for the logic branches doesn’t seem to do it either. Help?

Answer 1

It’s not very pretty, but it works:

@echo off
if 1==1 (
  echo on
  for %%a in (1) do echo command 1
  for %%a in (1) do echo command 2
)

You can lessen the amount of typing with a little macro. This example also shows how to handle an embedded FOR command. The @ in front of the () results effectively as ECHO OFF for all commands within the DO() clause. Without it, the whole (…) will be echoed as well as each command within.

@echo off
setlocal
set show=for %%a in (1) do
if 1==1 (
  echo on
  %show% echo command 1
  %show% echo command 2
  for /l %%n in (1 1 5) do @(
    %show% echo loop %%n A command IS shown
    echo loop %%n B command is NOT shown
  )
)