Hi, I am writing a batch file that convert decimal value to hex. I have a main program calling the subroutines that do the calculation. The subroutines output the conversion to a temp.dat. My main program will output the temp.dat to a variable. But when I m doing this in a loop, the command line set /p hexvar=<temp.dat doesn't work. The hexvar was always empty. Any suggestion how to get round this and why this probblem occurs? The following is my code: :main FOR /L %%N IN (9,1,12) DO ( call :convert_dec2hex_4byte %%N set /p hexvar=<temp.dat ECHO overlay %hexvar%....... ) :convert_dec2hex_4byte :: Enable delayed variable expansion SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION echo argument=%1 :: Use PING to split the number into 4 2-digit hexadecimal numbers that :: are displayed again as 4 decimal numbers from 0 to 255 (FOD or Four :: Octet Decimal) FOR /F "tokens=2 delims= " %%A IN ('PING %1 -n 1 -w 1 2^>NUL') DO IF "!FOD!"=="" SET FOD=%%A FOR /F "tokens=1-4 delims=." %%A IN ('ECHO.%FOD%') DO ( IF "%%~D"=="" ( ENDLOCAL ) ELSE ( CALL :D2H TmpA %%A CALL :D2H TmpB %%B CALL :D2H TmpC %%C CALL :D2H TmpD %%D ) ) :: Display the end result ECHO 0x%TmpA%%TmpB%%TmpC%%TmpD% > temp.dat :: Done ENDLOCAL GOTO:EOF :D2H :: Split the number (0-255) into 2 single "digits" SET /A Tmp2 = %2 / 16 SET /A Tmp1 = %2 - 16 * %Tmp2% :: Convert decimal 0-15 to single digit hexadecimal SET Cvt=0123456789ABCDEF SET Tmp1=!Cvt:~%Tmp1%,1! SET Tmp2=!Cvt:~%Tmp2%,1! :: Concatenate the 2 hexadecimal digits SET %1=%Tmp2%%Tmp1% GOTO:EOF GOTO :EOF

if you can afford to download GNU tools and Gawk (see my sig) here's a simpler solution C:\test>echo 255|gawk "{printf \"%x\", $0}" ff C:\test>echo 10|gawk "{printf \"%x\", $0}" a GNU win32 packages | Gawk

At first glance, my guess is you're getting snagged by the setlocal/endlocal. ===================================== If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2

Your main lacks to enable the delayed expansion as you can't set and then refer a variable inside the same block sequence (a set of statements embraced by ()), At the end of your main should be coded a GOTO :EOF before the subroutine label. More as M2 pointed out it seems you do not have a clear understand of the use of setlocal/endlocal directives, but I leave to you (or another guy) to go further on this issue as now I have to attend to other business. :main setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion FOR /L %%N IN (9,1,12) DO ( call :convert_dec2hex_4byte %%N set /p hexvar=<temp.dat ECHO overlay !hexvar!...... )

@echo off & setlocal enableextensions set decimal_=%1 call :DecimalToHex %decimal_% hex_ echo Decimal %decimal_% = Hexadecimal %hex_% endlocal & goto :EOF :DecimalToHex DecimalIn HexOut setlocal enableextensions set /a dec_=%1 if %dec_% LSS 0 (endlocal & set %2=Error: negative & goto :EOF) set hex_= :_hexloop set /a dec1_=%dec_% set /a dec_=%dec_% / 16 set /a hexdigit_=%dec1_% - 16*%dec_% set /a hexidx_=%hexdigit_%+1 for /f "tokens=%hexidx_%" %%h in ( 'echo 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F') do set hexdigit_=%%h set hex_=%hexdigit_%%hex_% if %dec_% GTR 0 goto :_hexloop endlocal & set %2=%hex_% & goto :EOF