Get error code from within a batch file

Question

I have a batch file that runs a couple executables, and I want it to exit on success, but stop if the exit code <> 0. How do I do this?

Answer 1

A solution better than Hellion's answer is checking the %ERRORLEVEL% environment variable:

IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 (
  REM do something here to address the error
)

It executes the IF body, if the return code is anything other than zero, not just values greater than zero.

The command IF ERRORLEVEL 1 ... misses the negative return values. Some progrmas may also use negative values to indicate error.

BTW, I love Cheran's answer (using && and || operators), and recommend that to all.

For more information about the topic, read this article

Answer 2

Sounds like you'll want the "If Errorlevel" command. Assuming your executable returns a non-0 exit code on failure, you do something like:

myProgram.exe
if errorlevel 1 goto somethingbad
echo Success!
exit
:somethingbad
echo Something Bad Happened.

Errorlevel checking is done as a greater-or-equal check, so any non-0 exit value will trigger the jump. Therefore, if you need to check for more than one specific exit value, you should check for the highest one first.

Answer 3

You can also use conditional processing symbols to do a simple success/failure check. For example:

myProgram.exe && echo Done!

would print Done! only if myProgram.exe returned with error level 0.

myProgram.exe || PAUSE

would cause the batch file to pause if myProgram.exe returns a non-zero error level.