Windows cmd pass output of one command as parameter to another

Question

In linux it is possible t do this:

git diff $(git status -s -b | sed -n '2p' | cut -d' ' -f2-)

or a simpler case

ls $(pwd)

The question is how can I achieve the same in windows? (not using a batch file, a one liner in command prompt). Not all commands support piping so how can we evaluate one and pass result as parameter to another?

I've tried piping and < and > but none work.

git diff < (git status -s -b | sed -n '2p' | cut -d' ' -f2-)

Try that yourself it expects a file. And | doesn't work either as git diff doesn't support it

git status -s -b | sed -n '2p' | cut -d' ' -f2- | git diff // results in illegal seek

Use doublequotes in windows instead of singlequotes (as on linux). — user2956477
– user2956477, Commented Apr 5, 2017 at 8:43

aschipfl · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-05 08:59:04Z

42

There is no $ operator in cmd.
Redirection operators (<, >, >>) expect files or stream handles.
A pipe | passes the standard output of a command into the standard input of another one.

A for /F loop however is capable of capturing the output of a command and providing it in a variable reference (%A in the example); see the following code:

for /F "usebackq delims=" %A in (`git status -s -b ^| sed -n '2p' ^| cut -d' ' -f2-`) do git diff %A

answered Apr 5, 2017 at 8:59

aschipfl

35.3k12 gold badges62 silver badges106 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

5 Comments

Arman Over a year ago

This is exactly what I was looking for. Update for for /F "usebackq delims=" %A in (`git status -s -b ^| sed -n '$1p' ^| cut -d" " -f3`) do git diff %A $2 $3 $4 ($n is command line arguments for this alias) and it'll diff the right file by number from git status output

Patrick Michaelsen Over a year ago

Everything is so simple in linux

bigjosh Over a year ago

@PatrickMichaelsen I just spent better part of an hour on a 3 line BASH script because (1) alias just don't work in a shell script, (2) if you assign the output of a command to a variable with var=$(cmd) and that output has JSON in it, then the JSON gets mangled. So maybe we can agree that both BASH and WINBAT suck? :)

mselmany Over a year ago

@bigjosh maybe cross platform PowerShell worth a try :)

tripleee Over a year ago

Nothing mangles JSON in a command substitution. Something else was wrong there. (But yeah, aliases suck.)

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Windows cmd pass output of one command as parameter to another

1 Answer 1

5 Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

5 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related