CEsc plugin for Take Command / TCC / TCC/LE
beta version 0.60.0.7 2025-01-27
Charles Dye
Purpose:
This plugin provides functions to expand C-style character escape sequences, and to replace troublesome characters with escape sequences.
Installation:
To use this plugin, copy CEsc.dll and
CEsc.chm to some known location on your hard
drive. (If you are using the 32-bit version of Take Command, take
CEsc-x86.dll instead of
CEsc.dll.) Load the .DLL file with a
PLUGIN /L command, for example:
plugin /l c:\bin\tcmd\test\cesc.dll
If you copy these files to a subdirectory named PlugIns within your Take Command program directory, the plugin will be loaded automatically when TCC starts.
Plugin Features:
| New Command: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
EXPECHO | ||||
| New Functions: | ||||
@ESCAPIFY | @ESCENV | @ESCLINE | @ESCREAD | @EXP |
@EXPCMP | @EXPFIND | @EXPREPLACE | @EXPWRITE | |
| New Variable: | ||||
_CESCVER | ||||
Syntax Note:
The syntax definitions in the following text use these conventions for clarity:
BOLD CODE | indicates text which must be typed exactly as shown. |
CODE | indicates optional text, which may be typed as shown or omitted. |
| Bold italic | names a required argument; a value must be supplied. |
| Regular italic | names an optional argument. |
| ellipsis… | after an argument means that more than one may be given. |
Examples are shown in a gray box:
rem This is an example:
for /l %i in ( 0, 1, 20 ) echo %i: %@escline[cesc.html,%i]
Some command options take an argument. These are shown with a colon between the
option and its argument: /A:arg
If you like, you may substitute an equals sign for the colon: /A=arg
This is handy if the arg is a filename, and you want to use tab completion to
enter the filename.
Or you can omit the colon: /Aarg
New Command:
EXPECHO — Expand escapes and
display text.
Syntax:
EXPECHO text
| text | the text to be displayed |
Escape sequences will be expanded, and the resulting text sent to stdout.
EXPECHO does not automatically append an end-of-line. If you
want one, append \r\n to the text.
expecho Test:\t\U1f431\r\n
New Functions:
@ESCAPIFY — Returns the
string, with troublesome characters escaped.
Syntax:
%@ESCAPIFY[string]
| string | string to be escapified |
This function returns the input string, with troublesome characters replaced by C-style character escape sequences. See Escapification for more details.
You can use the CESC_CHARS and CESC_FLAGS environment
variables to tweak the way text is escapified.
echo %@escapify[<p>This is a test.</p>]
See also: @EXP, which performs the
reverse operation, expanding escape sequences in a string.
@ESCENV — Returns the value of an environment
variable, escapified.
Syntax:
%@ESCENV[varname]
| varname | the name of an environment variable |
This function is useful with commands such as INPUT or DO var IN @file,
which stash text directly in an environment variable without first passing it through the command parser.
Do not type a percent sign before the variable name. If you do, TCC’s parser will expand the variable
before @ESCENV sees it.
You can use the CESC_CHARS and CESC_FLAGS environment
variables to tweak the way text is escapified.
input Type some text: %%text
set text=%@escenv[text]
expecho You typed \u201c%text\u201d.\r\n
Note: If you want to use this function in conjunction with the FOR
command, be aware that FOR only stores its control variable in the environment if the variable
name is more than one character long.
@ESCLINE — Returns a line from a
file, escapified.
Syntax:
%@ESCLINE[filename,n]
| filename | the file to read from |
| n | the line to read; 0-based |
Return line n from the file, with special characters escapified.
Line numbers begin at 0. Returns **EOF** for lines past the end of the file.
You can use the CESC_CHARS and CESC_FLAGS environment
variables to tweak the way text is escapified.
This function calls @LINE internally.
for /l %i in ( 0, 1, 20 ) echo %i: %@escline[cesc.html,%i]
@ESCREAD — Returns text from a file,
escapified.
Syntax:
%@ESCREAD[handle,len]
| handle | must be a handle returned by @FILEOPEN |
| len | the number of bytes to read |
Reads text from the file opened as handle, with special
characters escapified. Returns **EOF** if you try to read past the end of the
file.
If len is not specified, @ESCREAD will read
until the next end-of-line. If len is specified, @ESCREAD
will read len bytes regardless of any end-of-line characters.
You can use the CESC_CHARS and CESC_FLAGS environment
variables to tweak the way text is escapified.
This function calls @FILEREAD internally.
@echo off
rem Batch file to test @ESCREAD:
setlocal
set handle=%@fileopen[%_batchname,r]
do
set line=%@escread[%handle]
if "%line" == "**EOF**" leave
echo %line``
enddo
set rv=%@fileclose[%handle]
endlocal
See also: @EXPWRITE, which
does the reverse.
@EXP — Expands C escape sequences
in a string.
Syntax:
%@EXP[string]
| string | the string to be expanded |
This function returns the input string after expanding escape sequences.
echo %@exp[Hello:\t\U1f601]
See also: @ESCAPIFY, which performs
the reverse operation, escaping troublesome characters in a string.
@EXPCMP — Compares two strings after expanding
escapes.
Syntax:
%@EXPCMP[string1,string2,flags]
| string1 | the first string to compare |
| string2 | the second string to compare |
| flags | 1: case insensitive |
Use commas to separate arguments. If you need a comma in either string, either enclose the
string in double quotes, or else use \c or \x002c to represent the
comma.
If you need a double quote in either string, use \q or \x0022 to
represent it.
This function returns 0 if the two strings match, or nonzero if they don’t.
rem Case sensitive:
echo %@expcmp[Cr\ue8me br\ufbl\u00e9e \u20ac3.50,CR\uc8ME BR\udbL\u00c9E \u20ac3.50]
rem Case insensitive:
echo %@expcmp[Cr\ue8me br\ufbl\u00e9e \u20ac3.50,CR\uc8ME BR\udbL\u00c9E \u20ac3.50,1]
@EXPFIND — Searches for one string within
another after expanding escapes.
Syntax:
%@EXPFIND[string,substring,n,flags]
| string | the string to search within |
| substring | the string to search for |
| n | nth match in string |
| flags | 1: case sensitive |
8: return offset and length |
Use commas to separate arguments. If you need a comma in either string, either enclose the
string double quotes, or else use \c or \x002c to represent the
comma.
If you need a double quote in either string, use \q or \x0022 to
represent it.
This function returns -1 if the substring was
not found in the string, or a different value if it was. If
either string or substring is empty,
there is no match and the function returns -1.
The n argument can be used to look for multiple occurences
of the substring in the string.
If n is positive, @EXPFIND will return the
nth instance of substring.
If n is negative, @EXPFIND will return the
last, next-to-last, etc. instance. If n is zero,
@EXPFIND will return the number of matches. If n
is not specified, it defaults to 1 — the first instance.
When a match is found, the return value is the zero-based offset in the original
string — i.e. before any expansion of escapes. If bit 4
of flags is set, @EXPFIND returns both the
offset and the length of substring, separated by a
+ sign. Again, these refer to the original string before any expansion of
escapes.
rem Case insensitive:
echo %@expfind[\x41\x42\x43\x44\x45\x46\x47\x48,cde]
rem Case sensitive:
echo %@expfind[\x41\x42\x43\x44\x45\x46\x47\x48,cde,,1]
There may be multiple matches in one string. You can use the n argument to select each:
for /l %i in ( 0, 1, 5 ) echo %i - %@expfind["B\x61n\x61n\x61 b\x61n\x61n\x61r\x61m\x61!",ana,%i]
@EXPREPLACE Replaces text in an escaped
string.
Syntax:
%@EXPREPLACE[from,to,flags,string]
| from | the substring to find and replace |
| to | the text which will replace from |
| flags | 1: case insensitive |
2: replace only the first match | |
4: do not escapify the resulting string | |
| string | the string in which to find and replace text |
Use commas to separate arguments. If you need a comma in any string, either enclose
it in double quotes, or else use \c or \x002c to represent
the comma. If you need a double quote, use \q or \x0022 to
represent it.
All three string arguments — from, to, and string — may contain character escapes; they will be expanded before the search.
You can use the CESC_CHARS and CESC_FLAGS environment
variables to tweak the way text is escapified.
echo %@expreplace[:),\U1f600,4,:):) Have a nice day! :):)]
@EXPWRITE — Writes a line to a file,
with escapes expanded.
Syntax:
%@EXPWRITE[handle,text]
| handle | a handle returned by @FILEOPEN |
| text | the text to write to the file |
A carriage return and line feed will be appended to the text automatically.
@echo off
rem Batch file to test @ESCWRITE:
setlocal
option //unicodeoutput=no
set h1=%@fileopen[%_batchname,r]
set h2=%@fileopen[testfile.out,w]
do
set line=%@escread[%h1]
if "%line" == "**EOF**" leave
set rv=%@expwrite[%h2,%line]
enddo
set rv=%@fileclose[%h1] %@fileclose[%h2]
endlocal
See also: @ESCREAD, which
does the reverse.
New Variable:
_CESCVER — Returns the version of
ExpandEscapes.cpp used to build this plugin.
Syntax:
%_CESCVER
This variable returns the version number of ExpandEscapes.cpp
in this plugin. Note that this is not the same thing as the plugin version; use
%@PLUGINVER[CESC] to get that.
Escape Sequences:
This plugin recognizes these escape sequences:
| Code: | Expands to: | Example: |
|---|---|---|
\nnn | octal value, up to 777 | \101 → A |
\\ | backslash (0x5c) | |
\a | ASCII BEL character (0x07) | |
\b | backspace | |
\c | comma | |
\e | ASCII ESC character (0x1b) | |
\f | form feed (0x0c) | |
\k | grave accent (0x60) | |
\n | line feed (0x0a) | |
\q | double quotes (0x22) | |
\r | carriage return (0x0d) | |
\s | space (0x20) | |
\t | tab (0x09) | |
\unnnn | Unicode character, up to U+FFFF | \u03a3 → Σ |
\Unnnnnnnn | Unicode character, up to U+10FFFF | \U0001f63a → 😺 |
\v | vertical tab (0x0b) | |
\xnnnn | hexadecimal value, up to FFFF | \x0041 → A |
\#nnnnn | decimal value, up to 65535 | \#65 → A |
Note that case is significant for the letter after the backslash. All must be lowercase,
except for \Uxxxxxxxx.
Case is not significant in hexadecimal values. \uxxxx
and \xxxxx read up to four hexadecimal digits;
\Uxxxxxxxx reads up to eight. You may use fewer than four
(or eight) digits if the following character is not a valid hex digit.
Similarly, octal character escapes read up to three octal digits. You may use fewer than three if the following character is not an octal digit. Decimal escapes read up to five decimal digits; you may use fewer than five if the following character is not a digit.
Escapification:
These characters will be replaced with escape sequences:
| Value: | Characters: |
|---|---|
| 0x01 - 0x1f | ASCII control characters |
| 0x22 | " double quotes |
| 0x25 | % percent sign |
| 0x26 | & ampersand |
| 0x3c | < less-than sign |
| 0x3e | > greater-than sign |
| 0xb5 | [ open bracket |
| 0x5c | \ backslash |
| 0x5d | ] close bracket |
| 0x5e | ^ caret |
| 0x60 | ` grave accent |
| 0x7c | | vertical bar |
| 0x7f | ASCII DEL character |
| 0x80 - 0x9f | C1 control characters |
| 0xa0 | non-breaking space |
| 0x10000 - 0x10ffff | any Unicode character not in the BMP |
| TCC’s current command separator character | |
| TCC’s current escape character | |
anything in the CESC_CHARS environment variable |
Two environment variables affect the escapification process:
CESC_CHARS contains a list of characters to be escaped. This list is
in addition to the characters in the table above, which will always be escaped regardless
of CESC_CHARS. For example, if you need the dollar sign to be replaced with
an escape sequence, you could:
set cesc_chars=$
CESC_FLAGS is a bitmapped numeric value:
1 | escape all non-ASCII characters, i.e. everything above 0x7F DEL |
4 | use the nonstandard \e \q \c \k for ESC, double quote, comma, grave accent |
8 | allow short form of numeric escapes at the end of the string |
Startup Message:
This plugin displays an informational line when it initializes. The
message will be suppressed in transient or pipe shells. You can disable it
for all shells by defining an environment variable named NOLOADMSG,
for example:
set /e /u noloadmsg=1
Status and Licensing:
Consider this beta software. It may well have issues. Try it at your own risk. If you find a problem, you can report it in the JP Software support forum.
CEsc is currently licensed only for testing purposes. I may make binaries and source code available under some free license once I consider it ready for use.
Download:
You can download the current version of the plugin from https://charlesdye.net/dl/cesc.zip.