How to make SHIFT work with %* in batch files

Question

In my batch file on Windows XP, I want to use %* to expand to all parameters except the first.
Test file (foo.bat):

Answer 1

I had to do this recently and came up with this:

setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

rem Number of arguments to skip
set skip=1

for %%a in (%*) do (
  if not !position! lss !skip! (
    echo Argument: '%%a'
  ) else (
    set /a "position=!position!+1"
  )
)

endlocal

It uses loop to skip over N first arguments. Can be used to execute some command per argument or build new argument list:

setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

rem Number of arguments to skip
set skip=1

for %%a in (%*) do (
  if not !position! lss !skip! (
    set args=!args! %%a
  ) else (
    set /a "position=!position!+1"
  )
)

echo %args%

endlocal

Please note that the code above will add leading space to the new arguments. It can be removed like this:

• How to remove trailing and leading whitespace for user-provided input in a batch file?