shell - Batch files - number of command line arguments

Question

Just converting some shell scripts into batch files and there is one thing I can't seem to find...and that is a simple count of the number of command line arguments.

eg. if you have:

myapp foo bar

In Shell:

• $# -> 2
• $* -> foo bar
• $0 -> myapp
• $1 -> foo
• $2 -> bar

In batch

• ?? -> 2 <---- what command?!
• %* -> foo bar
• %0 -> myapp
• %1 -> foo
• %2 -> bar

So I've looked around, and either I'm looking in the wrong spot or I'm blind, but I can't seem to find a way to get a count of number of command line arguments passed in.

Is there a command similar to shell's "$#" for batch files?

ps. the closest i've found is to iterate through the %1s and use 'shift', but I need to refernece %1,%2 etc later in the script so that's no good.

Answer 1

Googling a bit gives you the following result from wikibooks:

set argC=0
for %%x in (%*) do Set /A argC+=1

echo %argC%

Seems like cmd.exe has evolved a bit from the old DOS days :)