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Multiple Commands on a Single Line May Not Run When You Use the && Command Separator

Article ID: 279253 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q279253

SYMPTOMS

The double ampersand (&&) command separator may not run the commands to the right of && command.

For example, when you run the following command, the pause command does not run when a floppy disk is not in drive A, and you receive a "The device is not ready" message:

dir a: && pause

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CAUSE

This behavior occurs because the && command separator performs error checking. If the command to the left of the && command does not return the expected results, the commands to the right of the && command do not run.

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RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, use the single & command separator. When you use a single & command, error checking is not performed and all commands run.

The following sample command displays a list of files in the current folder, and then runs the pause command even if the dir a: command does not work:

dir a: & pause

The following samples provide more examples of the && command separator. Note that in these examples, a, b, and c represent commands.

Example 1

a && b && c

If command a does not run, then commands b and command c do not run. If command b does not run, then command c does not run.

Example 2

a & b & c

In this example, commands a, b, and c always run.

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