How to test if a path is a file or directory in Windows batch file?

Question

I searched here, found someone using this

set is_dir=0
for %%i in (\"%~1\") do if exist \"%%~si\"\\nul set is_dir=1

but didn\'t work, when

Answer 1

This solution combines the file attribute parameter extension (%~a1) with variable substring extraction (%variable:~0,1%):

@ECHO OFF

CALL :is_directory C:\Windows
CALL :is_directory C:\MinGW\share\doc\mingw-get\README
CALL :is_directory C:\$Recycle.Bin
CALL :is_directory "C:\Documents and Settings"
CALL :is_directory "%LOGONSERVER%\C$\Users\All Users"

GOTO :EOF

:is_directory
    SETLOCAL
    SET file_attribute=%~a1
    IF "%file_attribute:~0,1%"=="d" (
        ECHO %file_attribute% %1 is a directory
    ) ELSE (
        ECHO %file_attribute% %1 is NOT a directory
    )
    ENDLOCAL
    GOTO :EOF

Output:

d-------- C:\Windows is a directory
--a------ C:\MinGW\share\doc\mingw-get\README is NOT a directory
d--hs---- C:\$Recycle.Bin is a directory
d--hs---l "C:\Documents and Settings" is a directory
d--hs---l "\\MYCOMPUTER\C$\Users\All Users" is a directory