Sweet VBScript – command line parameters

January 10, 2008 by leegend

Something neat I did was working with command line parameters in VBScript. You can access the command line arguments array through

Wscript.Arguments(i)

where i goes from 0 upwards. So, if you’ve got one argument option you could handle it like this

If Wscript.Arguments.Count = 0 Then
    ‘ Do Proceed as Normal
Else
    If Wscript.Arguments(0) = “/something” Then
         RunFunctionA
  End If
End If

If you want to have multiple parameters (the script I did had /nolog & /reset), then you’ll want to process all the arguments before you proceed. So, I went through the array and turned on flags so I could act afterwards. If you don’t do this, you might end running something you don’t want or in a way you don’t want. You could process your arguments like this:

If Wscript.Arguments.Count = 0 Then
    ‘ Do Proceed as Normal
Else
    For i = 0 to Wscript.Arguments.Count – 1
        If Wscript.Arguments(i) = “/reset” Then
        resetflag=1 ’Turn on the reset flag
       ElseIf Wscript.Arguments(i) = “/nolog” Then
         loggingflag = 0 ‘Turn off the logging flag
  End If
    Next
End If

If loggingFlag =0 Then
‘Don’t log
Else
LogMyStuff ‘ Call the function you want
End If

‘==========================================================================
‘If reset command line parameter is detected, run the reset function only, then quit
‘==========================================================================
If resetFlag Then
Reset
WScript.Quit
End If

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Posted in VBScript, Work | Tagged command line, parameter, switch, VBScript | 18 Comments

18 Responses

on January 11, 2008 at 1:03 am | Reply Mark Nimmo

Hi… I notice you were getting the exact same error I am getting when building a certain model of laptop using BDD 2007

—–
Unable to get WinNT ADSI provider: (-2147221020)
ERROR – ZTITatoo state restore task should be running in the full OS, aborting
ZTIERROR – Non-zero return code by ZTITatoo, rc = 1 (this one twice)

—–

Can you tell me how you resolved this? It only happens on 1 particular model of Toshiba that we use (Portege R200) and its got me stumped!

Many Thanks
on January 11, 2008 at 7:39 am | Reply leereid

If it’s only happening on one model, my guess is that it would be to do with drivers. If you’ve got any drivers for this model, I’d try removing them all, then adding them back in gradually. From what I’ve seen, Vista should install ok without additional drivers.

If it’s not a recent model you might have trouble finding suitable Vista drivers, I did for our Dells. If it’s an older model and doesn’t work with or without standard drivers you might need to say “Sorry, we can’t support Vista on this model”.

Ben Hunter’s blog linked from here also has a good entry about logs. The logs are surprisingly useful, so you might be able to get some more info from them.
on March 5, 2010 at 9:13 am | Reply Lewis

Hi,

How do you call another .vbs/VBScript from within a .vbs script?

Thanks

Lewis
- on March 5, 2010 at 9:17 am | Reply leereid
  
  You need to do a couple of things:
  
  First, create a shell object:
  
  Set objShell = CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)
  
  Next, create a command:
  
  cmd = “cscript \\path\to\my\other.vbs”
  
  Then, execute the command
  
  return = objShell.Run(cmd,0,True)
on March 6, 2010 at 2:46 am | Reply Lewis

Thanks!

BTW, one further newbie question – the path has a folder name that has spaces, e.g.
E:\Program Files\Examples\

how do I code the path so will work?
- on March 9, 2010 at 9:08 am | Reply leereid
  
  You need to put quotes around the string something like this:
  
  Quotes = Chr(34)
  command = Quotes & “command with spaces” & Quotes
  
  What this does is declare Quotes as a variable using the ascii value of the quotes character. Then you put quotes before and after the string. This also works for strings without spaces.
on September 17, 2010 at 11:29 pm | Reply Suresh kumar

I have to pass command through Inputbox.

ex:

Path1=inputbox(“Enter command”)

This parameter how can a run thorugh

wscipt
on November 23, 2010 at 5:20 am | Reply Roland

Just wondering

How would I for example be able to create a command line argument that can be changed from input in the cmd window?

If for example I want to create a new user, what would the code look like to allow me to enter a desired username in cmd as opposed to having a preset username in the script already?
- on November 23, 2010 at 7:43 am | Reply leegend
  
  It could use some of the code in the post. You could call your script by running something like:
  
  cscript “CreateNewUser.vbs” “Frederick New”
  
  and then within your script anytime you use
  
  WScript.Arguments(0) you will get “Frederick New”
  
  Hope that helps.
on November 23, 2010 at 5:29 pm | Reply Roland

That is helping me on the right track

What I intend to do is create a script that will let me specify the input into the commannd line. Essentially, what I want to do is to run the script and specify a username and password in the command line and for the script to obey the arguments in the command line (IE: I type in the command line that I want username to be Roland and password as lemon38 for example and for the script to set those actions when creating the object/user)
on March 26, 2011 at 1:13 am | Reply John

In my vbs i need receive parameters and send these parameters to the batch file.

my code:

Set WshShell = CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)
Set ArgObj = WScript.Arguments
Dim ArgObj, var1, var2
var1 = ArgObj(1)
var2 = ArgObj(2)
WshShell.Run chr(34) & “InstallHide.bat ” & var1 & ” ” & var2
Set WshShell = Nothing

This is not working. When i execute i have an error “subscript out of range”.

What i’m doing wrong ? Someone can help me ?
- on March 28, 2011 at 7:29 am | Reply leegend
  
  It’s probably on the line var2 = ArgObj(2)
  In VBScript, the arguments start from 0, so you’d probably want
  var1 = ArgObj(0)
  var2 = ArgObj(1)
  
  You’d probably also need to check your quoting around InstallHide.bat
on March 28, 2011 at 7:18 pm | Reply John

I put like you said and return an error. Invalid character.

This VBS is called from a .bat file. So this bat faile receive thar arguments, process them and then call this vbs. The line in the .bat file to call the vbs is:

cscript InstallHide.vbs “%1″”%2″”%3″”%4″”%5″”%6″”%7″”%8″”%9″

The vbs only receive the parameters and send them to the InstallHide.bat.

Can you help me ?
- on March 13, 2012 at 10:23 am | Reply leegend
  
  Check that the quotes are straight rather than angled quotes perhaps?
on August 27, 2011 at 11:26 am | Reply Fred J. Cimo Jr.

I have been using the Command Line since it was created!
I am now experimenting & learning to use VBScript.
This thread has got my attention & I came up with the following:
HOPE IT HELPS!!!!!

BATCH FILE TO RUN EVERYTHING:
ECHO %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
CSCRIPT ARGUMENTS.VBS “%1″ “%2″ “%3″ “%4″ “%5″ “%6″ “%7″ “%8″ “%9″

VBScript:
‘ Set WshShell = CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)
Set ArgObj = WScript.Arguments
Dim ArgObj, var1, var2, var3, var4, var5, var6, var7, var8, var9
var1 = ArgObj(0)
var2 = ArgObj(1)
var3 = ArgObj(2)
var4 = ArgObj(3)
var5 = ArgObj(4)
var6 = ArgObj(5)
var7 = ArgObj(6)
var8 = ArgObj(7)
var9 = ArgObj(8)
response = var0&var1&var2&var3&var4&var5&var6&var7&var8&var9
MsgBox(“Arguments: “&response)
Set WshShell = Nothing

Not sure why I had to comment out the 1st line to get it to work!
RESULTING OUTPUT IN COMMAND WINDOW:
C:\scripts\TESTS>ARGUMENTS A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9

C:\scripts\TESTS>ECHO A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9
A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9

C:\scripts\TESTS>CSCRIPT ARGUMENTS.VBS “A1″ “A2″ “A3″ “A4″ “A5″ “A6″ “A7″ “A8″ “A9″
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.8
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\scripts\TESTS>

The script shows a MsgBox with all the arguments!
on January 9, 2012 at 2:44 pm | Reply What next? Requests? « A little work blog

[...] it turns out, over 63% of visitors have been to one of just 2 articles (Sweet VBScript – command line parameters and VBScript Current Directory or Folder) I’m puzzled. These are brilliantly useful [...]
on March 13, 2012 at 7:26 am | Reply George Romero

is there a way to call in multiple scripts : i.e. if script one isnt there use script two.
- on March 13, 2012 at 8:05 am | Reply leegend
  
  Of course, you might like something like
  
  Set objFSO = CreateObject(“Scripting.FileSystemObject”)
  Set objShell = CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)
  If objFSO.FileExists(“c:\script1.vbs”) Then
  return = objShell.Run(“cscript c:\script1.vbs”,0,True)
  ElseIf objFSO.FileExists(“c:\script2.vbs”)
  return = objShell.Run(“cscript c:\script1.vbs”,0,True)
  End If