This batch script processes text from the system clipboard and...
September 4, 2025 at 05:30 PM
This batch script processes text from the system clipboard and extracts the first non-empty, trimmed line. Here's a line-by-line breakdown of what it does:
-
@echo off
:- Prevents commands from being displayed in the console as they execute.
-
setlocal enableextensions enabledelayedexpansion
:- Enables advanced batch scripting features, including the use of delayed variable expansion (important when modifying variables in loops).
-
rem grab 1st non-empty line of clipboard, trimmed
:- A comment describing the intent of the upcoming section of code.
-
for /f "usebackq delims=" %%i in (...) do set "clipboard=%%i"
:- Reads the output of the enclosed command and processes it line by line, assigning the first result to the variable
clipboard
.
- Reads the output of the enclosed command and processes it line by line, assigning the first result to the variable
-
Powershell Command inside the
for
loop:powershell -noprofile -c
: Runs a PowerShell command without loading a profile for improved performance.$t=Get-Clipboard -Raw;
: Gets the raw text content from the system clipboard and assigns it to the variable$t
.$t=$t.Trim();
: Trims leading and trailing whitespace from the clipboard content.($t -split '\r?\n')
: Splits the trimmed text into lines (handles both Windows and Unix-style line endings).| ? { $_ -ne '' }
: Filters out empty lines.| select -first 1
: Selects the first non-empty line.- The overall result is the first non-empty, trimmed line of clipboard data.
-
if not defined clipboard (...)
:- Checks if the
clipboard
variable is defined (contains content). If it is empty, a message "clipboard empty" is displayed, and the script exits with an error code1
.
- Checks if the
-
rem robust substring test (won’t choke on & ? = etc)
:- Another comment suggesting that the subsequent code will handle special characters in the clipboard content robustly.
Summary of Functionality:
This script retrieves text from the system clipboard, trims whitespace, selects the first non-empty line, and assigns it to the variable clipboard
. If the clipboard is empty or contains no valid text, it displays a message and exits with an error.
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