The input line is too long.

[Meg]

I get the error "The input line is too long" when trying
to run a batch file from the command prompt in Windows
2000. I can't seem to find a way to increase the buffer
and haven't seen any solutions on the net.

The problem is that the path I'm using is too long so I
have a workaround that requires mapping a network drive to
the path so that the input line is "x:" instead of
c:\blah\blah\blah but I'd prefer to change my
configuration to eliminate the error.

Any ideas??

 

[Herb Martin]

Review Ritchie response.

How long IS YOUR input command?

If it fits on one line then something weird is wrong.

The actual limit is like 1 or 2 KB (or more.)

 

[Meg]

Oh, it's pretty long. I'm running a java app using the
classpath flag to define a very long classpath so I don't
think it's something wierd. I think I'm exceeding the
limit. Is there any way to increase the limit? This is
not conducive to large software development projects.
While we use great development tools we still like to be
able to run builds and tests overnight using batch
processes.

 

[Herb Martin]

I sat the other day and just kept setting a environment variable
to "itsvalue -- itsvalue" to set a long one.

Went on quite a while but I don't remember the actual limit.

 

[meg]

Thanks for the tips. There are many people who need to be
able to run this so I don't really want to suggest
replacing cmd.exe as the go forward solution. I will
recommend using a drive mapping or SUBST as a workaround
but if anyone knows how to up the limit, please let me
know!