source_win_bat

SourceWinBat - Source a Windows Batch in Bash!

sw, or SourceWinBat is a CLI utility to run Windows batch files in WSL/MSYS2/Cygwin, and sync the shell environments of Bash and the Windows command line, including

• Environment variables
• Doskeys
• Working directories

Why? What is that useful for?

By environment syncing of SourceWinBat, you can run your Windows batch scripts in WSL, MSYS2, and Cygwin!
That helps you do your daily job's Windows work in your favorite UNIX-compatible environment, avoiding the complexity of Windows command line.
SourceWinBat lets you run Windows initialization scripts in Bash, as if you run source command for Bash scripts.

Usage

After initalization, sw function is defined in your Bash environment. Run your Windows batch files or Windows CLI commands by sw.

You can run a Windows batch file

$ cat winbat.bat
@echo off
set ENV1=bar!  ; Environment variables will be synced
echo foo!      ; Execute Windows echo commands
ver            ; Execute Windows ver command, which outputs the OS version
$ sw winbat.bat  # winbat.bat is executed
foo!

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.17763.195]
$ echo $ENV1     # ENV1 is synced!
bar!

You can also run a Windows command directly.

$ sw ver

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.17763.195]

Examples

Environment Syncing

SourceWinBat syncs environment variables, doskeys, and working directories of the Bash environment with those of the Windows cmd environment where a batch file is executed.

1. Environment variables

A batch file can see the exported environment variables of Bash.
Conversely, Bash has the environment variables defined by the batch file and Windows system after the batch file is executed. PATH is properly converted.

$ export UNIXENV="An UNIX environment variable is imported!"
$ cat syncenv.bat
echo %UNIXENV%
set WINENV=A Windows environment variable is imported!
set PATH=C:\any\path;%PATH%
$ sw syncenv.bat  # syncenv sees the value of $UNIXENV, which we defined in Bash!
An UNIX environment variable is imported!
$ echo $WINENV    # Now we can see $WINENV, which is set in synenv.bat!!
A Windows environment variable is imported!
$ echo $PATH      # PATH is converted to the path of WSL
/mnt/c/any/path:/usr/bin/:/bin:(other paths go on...)

2. Doskeys

SourceWinBat enables Bash to import doskeys from Windows Batch files as Bash functions.

$ cat syncdoskey.bat
doskey echo1stparam=echo $1
doskey echoallparams=echo $*
doskey verver=ver
$ sw syncdoskey.bat
$ echo1stparam 1st 2nd 3rd  # echo1stparam is imported!
1st
$ echo1stparam %OS%         # "echo $1" is executed by cmd.exe, so %OS% is expanded
Windows_NT
$ echoallparams 1st 2nd 3rd
1st 2nd 3rd
$ verver

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.17763.195]

3. Working directories

As source of built-in Bash command syncs working directories, SourceWinBat also syncs them.

$ cd ~
$ cat syncwd.bat
pushd C:\Windows
pushd C:\Windows\system32
cd C:\Windows\system32\drivers
$ sw syncwd.bat
$ pwd   # The current directory of Bash is changed
/mnt/c/Windows/System32/drivers
$ dirs  # The directory stack is synced with that of the batch file
/mnt/c/Windows/System32/ /mnt/c/Windows /home/nullpo

Installation

SourceWinBat is written in Ruby. You can install it by Gem.

# gem install source_win_bat

Execute the line below to add the initialization in your .bashrc.

$ echo 'eval "$(init_sw)"' >> ~/.bashrc

After restarting Bash, you will be able to use sw in your shell.
Currently, SourceWinBat supports only Bash as a shell.

Requirements

1. For WSL users

October update or later is required. SourceWinBat requires ConPTY API.

2. For MSYS2 and Cygwin users

If you use MSYS2 and Cygwin with SourceWinBat, winpty command is required. Clone it from its GitHub repository and build it from the source. The repository is https://github.com/rprichard/winpty .
For MSYS2 users, DO NOT install winpty via pacman. As of 2019/01/03, Pacman installs the latest released version, 0.4.3-1, but this version does not work anymore.

TODOs

• Support non-ascii characters in Cygwin and MSYS2. SourceWinBat already supports them in WSL.
• Support shell operators in doskey such as pipe.