how to get batch file parameters from Nth position on?

@ECHO OFF
SET REST=
::# Guess you want 3rd and on.
CALL :SUBPUSH 3 %*
::# ':~1' here is merely to drop leading space.
ECHO REST=%REST:~1%
GOTO :EOF

:SUBPUSH
SET /A LAST=%1-1
SHIFT
::# Let's throw the first two away.
FOR /L %%z in (1,1,%LAST%) do (
  SHIFT
)
:aloop
SET PAR=%~1
IF "x%PAR%" == "x" (
  GOTO :EOF
)
ECHO PAR=%PAR%
SET REST=%REST% "%PAR%"
SHIFT
GOTO aloop
GOTO :EOF

I like to use subroutines instead of EnableDelayedExpansion. Above is extract from my dir/file pattern processing batch. Don't say this cannot handle arguments with =, but at least can do quoted path with spaces, and wildcards.

The following code uses shift, but it avoids to parse the command line using for and lets the command line interpreter do this job (regard that for does not parse double-quotes properly, for instance argument set A B" "C is interpreted as 3 arguments A, B", "C by for, but as 2 arguments A, B" "C by the interpreter; this behaviour prevents quoted path arguments like "C:\Program Files\" from being handled correctly):

@echo off

set "par1=%1" & shift /1
set "par2=%1" & shift /1
set "par3=%1" & shift /1

set therest=
set delim=

:REPEAT
if "%1"=="" goto :UNTIL
set "therest=%therest%%delim%%1"
set "delim= "
shift /1
goto :REPEAT
:UNTIL

echo the script is "%0"
echo Parameter 1 is "%par1%"
echo Parameter 2 is "%par2%"
echo Parameter 3 is "%par3%"
echo and the rest are "%therest%"
rem.the additional double-quotes in the above echoes^
    are intended to visualise potential whitespaces

The remaining arguments in %therest% might not look like the way they were originally concerning the delimiters (remember the command line interpreter also treats TABs, ,, ;, = as delimiters as well as all combinations), because all delimiters are replaced by a single space here. However, when passing %therest% to some other command or batch file, it will be parsed correctly.

The only limitation I encountered so far applies to arguments containing the caret character ^. Other limitations (related to <, >, |, &, ") apply to the command line interpreter itself.

Here's how you can do it without using SHIFT:

@echo off

for /f "tokens=1-3*" %%a in ("%*") do (
    set par1=%%a
    set par2=%%b
    set par3=%%c
    set therest=%%d
)

echo the script is %0
echo Parameter 1 is %par1%
echo Parameter 2 is %par2%
echo Parameter 3 is %par3%
echo and the rest are %therest%

@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

set therest=;;;;;%*
set therest=!therest:;;;;;%1 %2 %3 =!

echo the script is %0
echo Parameter 1 is %1
echo Parameter 2 is %2
echo Parameter 3 is %3
echo and the rest are: %therest%

This works with quoted arguments and with arguments that have equal signs or commas, as long as first three arguments didn't have these special delimiter chars.

Sample output:

test_args.bat "1 1 1" 2 3 --a=b "x y z"
Parameter 1 is "1 1 1"
Parameter 2 is 2
Parameter 3 is 3
and the rest are: --a=b "x y z"

This works by replacing %1 %2 %3 in original command line %*. The first five semicolons are there just to make sure that only the first occurrence of these %1 %2 %3 is replaced.