CMD file processing creates a weird character...

[sitko]

Hi,
I have a batch cmd file that calls a program three times, each time it generates a txt file.
Then I use (MS DOS) copy to append the three files together.

At the end of the newly created combination file, there is a mysterious character that looks like a short fat pipe "|" . The command file takes two arguments, an input file and an output file. The program meshUtil does certain things to the file depending on how many arguments are passed in. MeshUtil works correct. If I run JUST step three, it doesn't create the short fat pipe. Its definitely created by the copy command. Unsure if it matters, but the input file was saved as a UNIX file.

meshUtil %1 out1.txt
meshUtil %1 Xmax 2 out2.txt box
meshUtil %1 out3.k copy
copy out1.txt+out2.txt+out3.k %2
del out1.txt
del out2.txt
del out3.k
 

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Sitko.

[sitko]

I guess no one has ever seen anything like this?

[copilot]

Not sure if you found a solution but for others that may stumble on this:

I can confirm that on XP SP2 my copy command leaves a strange character at the end of the newly created file when I use the append mode

copy file1+file2+file3 newfile

I found that if I made sure that all the source files were saved in a UTF-8 and I used the "/b" binary switch then it worked and I didn't have the strange characters.

copy /b file1+file2+file3 newfile
 

Hope that helps somebody. I still wish I had a better explanation of what exactly is happening and an easier solution.

[sitko]

Not sure if you found a solution but for others that may stumble on this:

I can confirm that on XP SP2 my copy command leaves a strange character at the end of the newly created file when I use the append mode

copy file1+file2+file3 newfile

I found that if I made sure that all the source files were saved in a UTF-8 and I used the "/b" binary switch then it worked and I didn't have the strange characters.

copy /b file1+file2+file3 newfile
 

Hope that helps somebody. I still wish I had a better explanation of what exactly is happening and an easier solution.

I'll try it, but I do know that I need the files to be text instead of binary, but I'm sure thats just a binary copy, instead of making binaries...

:)

[ahelwig]

In Vista, COPY file1+file2 introduces the same weird characters into file1 when file1 or file2 contains carriage returns and linefeeds.

copy /b file1+file2+file3

worked for me. Thanks!

[davekrn]

Same issue with Windows 7 Enterprise.
There was always a HEX 1A at the end.

copy /b file1+file2 targetfile
worked for me also, Thanks!