Change output of pause command in batch script
"Not really what I was looking for, I was wondering whether there was a way of actually changing the output text of the Pause command, not just a workaround to it." – Hashim
Yes, you can! But you must be aware that PAUSE is an internal command of CMD.EXE program, so, to modify the message that PAUSE show, you must modify CMD.EXE file. To do that, you must use an editor that may modify binary files. I used XVI32 program via these steps:
1- Copy CMD.EXE file to a new folder created for this purpose: COPY %COMSPEC%
2- Edit the copy of CMD.EXE with XVI32.EXE program:
2.1- Locate the message you want. Messages are stored in 16-bits elements with the high byte equal zero. To locate a message:
2.1.1- In Search> Find> Text string> enter the message you want.
2.1.2- Convert Text -> Hex
2.1.3- Insert a zero after each letter-value
2.1.4- Press Ok
2.2- Modify the message for the new one. Modify existent letters only and keep zeros in place. Note that you can NOT extend any message.
2.3- End the edition and save the modified file.
You may now run CMD.EXE to get the modified PAUSE message. I made a test of this procedure:
C:\DOCUME~1\Antonio\MYDOCU~1\My Webs\XVI32 Hex File Editor
>pause
Press any key to continue . . .
C:\DOCUME~1\Antonio\MYDOCU~1\My Webs\XVI32 Hex File Editor
>cmd
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
C:\DOCUME~1\Antonio\MYDOCU~1\My Webs\XVI32 Hex File Editor
>pause
Oprime una tecla para seguir. .
Notes to everyone that read this answer:
NOTE 1: Please, don't post that comment saying that modifying CMD.EXE file must NEVER be done! I think the same. I just posted this answer so the OP realized what he really asked for...
NOTE 2: The reviewing of CMD.EXE file with a text editor, like Notepad, is very interesting. You may see all the internal commands, interesting details (like =ExitCode and =ExitCodeAscii variables), all the error messages, etc. For example, these are the internal commands:
C O L O R T I T L E C H D I R C L S C M D E X T V E R S I O N
D E F I N E D C O P Y P A T H P R O M P T P U S H D P O P D
A S S O C F T Y P E D A T E D E L D I R E C H O E N D L O C A L
E R A S E E R R O R L E V E L E X I T E X I S T B R E A K F O R
G O T O I F K E Y S M K D I R M D N O T P A U S E R D
R E M M O V E R E N A M E R E N R M D I R S E T S E T L O C A L
S H I F T S T A R T T I M E T Y P E V E R I F Y V E R V O L = , ; + / [ ] " : . \
P A T H E X T P A T H P R O M P T
F O R / ? I F / ? R E M / ?
% s % s
% s
/ A / P : E O F
f d p n x s a t z D O
/ L / D / F / R I N E L S E ( % s ) % s % s % s % s
% c % c % s % s & ( ) [ ] { } ^ = ; ! % ' + , ` ~
Here's a one-liner
pause>nul|set/p =any key to exit ...
It's slightly shorter (one less 'nul') than Aacini's solution:
set/p<nul =any key to exit ...&pause>nul
and, with the 'pause' first, I think that it's a little clearer what the intent is.
With both
cursor stays on the same line
ANY key works, not just 'enter'
Neither are as good, however, as the hypothetical
pause/t any key to exit ...
It's hard to believe that 'pause' has survived 35 years without this ability ;-)
The solutions with 'echo' have the possibly undesirable
trailing new-line,
but do provide for multiple lines of text:
Pause>nul|(echo All your bases &echo are belong to us &echo Press any key to die...)
bv
You could hide the text from the pause command by using this:
pause >nul
Then you could echo your own message to tell the user it has paused:
echo The batch file has paused
So the full script might look like this:
@echo off
echo Hello World!
echo The batch file has paused
pause >nul