How do I get the error level of commands in a pipe in Windows batch programming?

Question

Batch files return the error code of the last command by default.

Is it somehow possible to return the error code of a former command. Most notably, is it possible t

Answer 1

The %ERRORLEVEL% variable doesn't get updated before the piped command is run; you have to use a wrapper as advised in the other answers.

However, you can use "IF ERRORLEVEL #". For example:

(
type filename
@REM Use an existing (or not) filename to test each branch
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 (echo ERROR) ELSE (echo OKAY)
) > logfile.txt

The ECHO will only run if an error was returned; however %ERRORLEVEL% seems inconsistent.

Edit: Changed example to be runnable as-is.