Only First 8 Characters in a Batch Label Recognized (63071)


The information in this article applies to:
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 4.01
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0a
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.0
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.2
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.21
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.22
This article was previously published under Q63071

SUMMARY

MS-DOS recognizes only the first eight characters of a batch file label; subsequent characters are ignored.

NOTE: This eight-character limitation also applies to the %config% variable passed to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file in MS-DOS versions 6.0 or later when you use multi-boot configurations.

For example, the labels LATESTCHANGE and LATESTCHANGES are identical to MS- DOS. The line "GOTO LATESTCHANGE" (without the quotation marks) transfers to the first label in the file that has same first eight characters as LATESTCHANGE.

MORE INFORMATION

The following examples illustrate this limitation.

Example 1

The following example

goto latestch
: latestchanges
echo two
: latestch
echo three

displays the following

two
three

rather than displaying the following:

three

Example 2

The following example

:latestch
echo zero
:latestchanges
echo one
goto latestchanges

displays the following until CTRL+C is pressed, terminating the batch file:

zero
one
zero
one
zero
one
etc.

Modification Type: Major Last Reviewed: 5/12/2003
Keywords: KB63071
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