In batch, how do I create spaces at the beginning of a input prompt string?

Question

Let\'s say I have a batch file that has \"padding\" in it, and I want to indent the beginning of the prompt string for the user to type in. If I use spaces, it will not show up

Answer 1

As the comments above state, Vista and beyond strip leading spaces in a SET /P prompt.

The way to get around the problem is to define and use a backspace character in the prompt.

::define a variable containing a single backspace character
for /f %%A in ('"prompt $H &echo on &for %%B in (1) do rem"') do set BS=%%A

set /p var=%BS%   Leading spaces will not show properly.

Normally the prompt will be at the beginning of a line, so the above works just fine.

But if the prompt is issued from the middle of a line (very unusual), then a leading character should be included prior to the , since the backspace will erase whatever was before it.

 from erasing the :