Ytukyg

I'm trying to start a fixed number of concurrent batch processes that have similar filenames, all in the same directory:

TestMe1.bat

TestMe2.bat

TestMe3.bat

All batches should start at the same time, and all should complete before the batch continues, e.g. a master.bat:

echo Starting batches



(

start "task1" cmd /C "TestMe1.bat"

start "task2" cmd /C "TestMe2.bat"

start "task3" cmd /C "TestMe3.bat"

) | pause



echo All batches have stopped and we can safely continue

I'm trying to find a way to start all batches in the directory that match TestMe*.bat, so that I don't have to craft a new master.bat file each time. Something like this, but, you know, working:

echo Starting batches



(

for /f "delims=" %%x in ('dir /b /a-d TestMe*.bat') do start "task" cmd /C "%%x"

) | pause



echo All batches have stopped and we can safely continue

Thanks to this and this for getting me this far.

Advice and ideas gratefully received!

First you have to understand how this special method of using pipe with the pause command works and why it can be used for waiting for multiple parallel processes.

Taking your first working code sample as the starting point

(

start "task1" cmd /C "TestMe1.bat"

start "task2" cmd /C "TestMe2.bat"

start "task3" cmd /C "TestMe3.bat"

) | pause

It works because each new instance of CMD which is invoked by the start command will be started in a new console with its stdout and stderr redirected to to that new console, so the outputs of the child CMDs will not be redirected to the pipe and so will not be consumed by the pause command which is waiting for input from the pipe.


BUT,


Still each of the processes have inherited the pipe handle, so the handle to the pipe will remain open as long as the child processes are alive.

As a consequence the pause command in the right side of the pipe will remain active, waiting for input from the left side of the pipe until it receives input from the pipe(which will never happen) or all child processes have terminated and closed the handle to the pipe.

So the main CMD instance which is executing your master batch file, is actually waiting for the pause command (right side of the pipe) to terminate which in turn is waiting for child processes (potential pipe writers) to terminate.

Now it becomes clear why your second attempted code involving the FOR loop is not working.

(

for /f "delims=" %%x in ('dir /b /a-d TestMe*.bat') do start "task" cmd /C "%%x"

) | pause

The FOR command inside the pipe is executed by the child CMD in command line mode, In this mode the command echoing in on by default, so every command inside the FOR body will be echoed to standard output(the pipe) before execution, which in turn feeds the pause command and terminate its process before even the first child process is created, Therefor the batch file execution continues without ever waiting for the child processes to finish.

This can be easily resolved by putting the @ after do will turn the command echoing off inside the FOR body.

(

for /f "delims=" %%x in ('dir /b /a-d TestMe*.bat') do @start "task" cmd /C "%%x"

) | pause>nul

You may also want to hide the output of pause command by redirecting it to nul

EDIT: It seems I missed the point of this question. Despite that, I think I'll leave this here anyway for other people to find. Feel free to downvote though.

Here are other suggestions on waiting for subordinate processes to complete.

Your main process should periodically check if every subordinate processes is done. There is a multitude of ways of doing that. I'll name a few:

Before that, please insert a delay between checks to not consume all CPU in a tight loop like this:

timeout /t 1 /nobreak

Marker files

Make subordinate processes create or delete a file when they are about to finish

You can create files like this:

echo ANYTHING>FILENAME

Main script should periodically check if those files exist like this:

if exist FILENAME goto IT_EXISTS

When all/none of the files exist your task is complete.

To prevent clutter, create files in a %random% folder inside %temp% directory and pass its name to subordinates via arguments %1, %2 ...

Check process existance by window title

Run tasklist and parse its output to determine if your subordinate programs still run.

Probably the easiest way is to use window name to filter out "your" processes.

Start them like this:

start "WINDOW_TITLE" "BATCH_FILE" ARGUMENTS

then search for them like this:

TASKLIST /fi "Windowtitle eq WINDOW_TITLE" | find ".exe"

if "%errorlevel%" == "0" goto PROCESS_EXISTS

if none are found your task is finished.

Further information can be found at: A, B, C

Check process existance by PID

Instead of window title you can use processes' PID.

To obtain it run your process with WMIC as described here

External programs

You can download or write an external program to facilitate inter-process communication. Examples include:

• TCP server and clients with netcat
  


• Use mkfifo from GnuWin32 coreutils to create a named pipe and use it


• Windows semaphores and events via custom C/C#/AutoIT program


• Utilities such as NirCmd and PsExec may simplify PID checking procedure

....and more

If none of solutions work for you please edit the question to narrow down your query.