The Book of Batch Scripting

29 ARRAYS AND HASH TABLES

“Arrays? Batch doesn’t have arrays!” After daring to mention the use of this data structure in Batch code, I’ve received an array of incredulous responses. Technically, these skeptics have a point. Arrays are not intrinsic to the language, and the creators of Batch never anticipated their use.

However, over the years, some innovative coders have found ways to build something that looks like an array, walks like an array, and even quacks like an array (if arrays could quack ... and walk). In this chapter, I’ll explore multiple ways of building fixed- and variable-length arrays in Batch. You’ll learn how to iterate ...