Quote (speech mark) handling in IniRead

[TheFluffyOne]

I am parsing INI files for entries used to launch other processes. A stripped-down example of such a file might be:

[global]
command=wscript.exe
commandline="c:\some folder\with spaces\myscript.vbs"

I'm using IniRead to grab these values like so:

$commandName = IniRead("test.ini", "global", "command", "")
$commandParams = IniRead("test.ini", "global", "commandline", "")
$fullCommand = $commandName & " " & $commandParams
ConsoleWrite($fullCommand)

However IniRead is stripping the quotes from the value, so the output of the script is:

wscript.exe c:\some folder\with spaces\myscript.vbs

In the full script this fails because wscript.exe tries to load a script called "c:\some". If, however, I have a value that doesn't start and end with a quote, the path is quoted as expected. An example of an INI file that would work:

[global]
command=wscript.exe
commandline="c:\some folder\with spaces\myscript.vbs" scriptinput.txt

The output when using this as input is:

wscript.exe "c:\some folder\with spaces\myscript.vbs" scriptinput.txt

Is this expected behaviour? If so, does this mean I'm going to have to write my own INI parser to work around this behaviour? (Note that the INI files are from an old system, which is why I can't just alter the input file format).

[Pain]

Try with single quote '"c:\some folder\with spaces\myscript.vbs"'

[Valuater]

I'm thinking it might be easier to change this...

$commandName = IniRead("test.ini", "global", "command", "")
$commandParams = IniRead("test.ini", "global", "commandline", "")
$fullCommand = $commandName & ' "' & $commandParams & '"'
ConsoleWrite($fullCommand)

8)

[TheFluffyOne]

Try with single quote '"c:\some folder\with spaces\myscript.vbs"'

I don't understand how this would resolve the problem. Could you explain please?

[TheFluffyOne]

I'm thinking it might be easier to change this...

$commandName = IniRead("test.ini", "global", "command", "")
$commandParams = IniRead("test.ini", "global", "commandline", "")
$fullCommand = $commandName & ' "' & $commandParams & '"'
ConsoleWrite($fullCommand)

The problem here is that my second example gets mangled to:

wscript.exe ""c:\some folder\with spaces\myscript.vbs" scriptinput.txt"

This also won't launch. I need to cope with entries that are completely enclosed in quotes as well as those that are not.

[Pain]

$commandName = IniRead("test.ini", "global", "command", "")
$commandParams = IniRead("test.ini", "global", "commandline", "")

$fullCommand = '"' & $commandName &'" ' & '"' &$commandParams & '"'
ConsoleWrite($fullCommand)

[TheFluffyOne]

$commandName = IniRead("test.ini", "global", "command", "")
$commandParams = IniRead("test.ini", "global", "commandline", "")

$fullCommand = '"' & $commandName &'" ' & '"' &$commandParams & '"'
ConsoleWrite($fullCommand)

Suffers from the same problem as the suggestion by Valuater, unfortunately. Thanks anyway.

Btw, the font you are looking for (the Common Tasks pane font) is 8pt Tahoma Bold with anti-aliasing disabled.

[ResNullius]

Can you add single quotes around the values when you write them to the ini file, regardless of whether they have double quotes or not

[global]

command=wscript.exe

commandline='"c:\some folder\with spaces\myscript.vbs"'

[TheFluffyOne]

Can you add single quotes around the values when you write them to the ini file, regardless of whether they have double quotes or not

The INI files are historical files supplied from elsewhere. For various reasons it is not a good idea for us to modify these.

Edited January 13, 2009 by TheFluffyOne

[youknowwho4eva]

$result = stringtrimright($commandName,stringlen($commandName)-1)

if $result = '"' then

else

endif

fill in the blanks

Edit: forgot the -1

Edited January 13, 2009 by youknowwho4eva

[saywell]

Would IniReadSection have the same problem?

William

[ResNullius]

Would IniReadSection have the same problem?

William

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INI_file

Quoted values

Some implementations allow values to be quoted, typically using double quotes and/or apostrophes. This allows for explicit declaration of whitespace, and/or for quoting of special characters (equals, semicolon, etc.). The standard Windows function GetPrivateProfileString supports this, and will remove quotation marks that surround the values.

That's why I suggested the single quotes when writing the ini values

I think the final solution is going to involve RegExp on the values when they're read: if they have a space in them but don't have quotes then add the quotes? Or some such...

[ResNullius]

The problem here is that my second example gets mangled to:

wscript.exe ""c:\some folder\with spaces\myscript.vbs" scriptinput.txt"

This also won't launch. I need to cope with entries that are completely enclosed in quotes as well as those that are not.

@TheFluffyOne

In your ini for the second example

[global]
command=wscript.exe
commandline="c:\some folder\with spaces\myscript.vbs" scriptinput.txt

does the parameter "scriptinput.txt" ever have a space in it, like "script input.txt" or does it ever have a full path as well, like "c:\some other folder\scriptinput.txt" ?

Edit: Answered one of my own questions and changed it to get clarification.

Edited January 14, 2009 by ResNullius

[TheFluffyOne]

does the parameter "scriptinput.txt" ever have a space in it, like "script input.txt" or does it ever have a full path as well, like "c:\some other folder\scriptinput.txt" ?

Yes, in some cases the path will have spaces and when this happens it will be quoted like so:

[global]
command=wscript.exe
commandline="c:\some folder\with spaces\myscript.vbs" "c:\Program Files\Noddy Program\fixme.txt"

[ResNullius]

Yes, in some cases the path will have spaces and when this happens it will be quoted like so:

[global]
command=wscript.exe
commandline="c:\some folder\with spaces\myscript.vbs" "c:\Program Files\Noddy Program\fixme.txt"

Can you post an ini that has all possible combinations of entries as you would encounter them:

ie: quoted paths, unquoted paths, unquoted with spaces in the "scriptinput.txt" parameter, etc.

It will help immensely in developing a solution that works for all instances;

rather than figure one out and then find out it doesn't work for another example.

Also, are all your paths when referenced using actual drive letters:

"C:" "D:", etc, or do some reference network paths "\\Server\folder with space\myscript.vbs"?