Multiple spaces in command CMD

Question

Ok so i am trying to flash a hex file onto my arduino pro micro following this sorta guide:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/69woay/hand_built_keypad_gateron_blues_first_hand_wire/

And I am really struggling with step 2. The problem that i am having is that my thing (Not sure what to call it) looks like this:

""C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr/bin/avrdude" "-CC:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr/etc/avrdude.conf" -v -patmega32u4 -cavr109 -PCOM5 -b57600 -D -Uflash:wC:"\Users\My Name\Desktop\Layout\layout.hex:i""

I am getting a this error:

'""C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command,

operable program or batch file.

Which i tried fixing with the speech marks following these recommendations:

How do I specify C:\\Program Files without a space in it for programs that can't handle spaces in file paths?

How to use spaces in CMD?

So that's the issue i am probably making one minor mistake or many major ones, but you help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Let's look at a simpler example. You might try to run C:\\Program Files (x86)\\myapp\\myprogram like this:

C:\Program Files (x86)\myapp\myprogram --parameter:value

It doesn't work because the first thing CMD does is split on spaces. This is called *tokenisation` and the result is a list of tokens :

• C:\\Program
• Files
• (x86)\\myapp\\myprogram
• --parameter:value

Then it takes the first token, C:\\Program and tries to find a file with that name.

'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command

The tokenisation routine pays attention to quotes. When it encounters a quote, it strips it, then it doesn't treat spaces as token separators, until it encounters the next quote.

So:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\myapp\myprogram" --parameter:value

Tokenises to:

• C:\\Program Files (x86)\\myapp\\myprogram
• --parameter:value

For some reason in your example you have put more quotes around the whole thing:

""C:\Program Files (x86)\myapp\myprogram" --parameter:value"

Tokenisation treats the double " as a literal "" , so now it tokenises to:

• ""C:\\Program Files
• (x86)\\myapp\\myprogram
• --parameter:value

So you get an error because there is no executable file ""C:\\Program Files .

Understand how quoting and tokenisation works. Make sense of the commands rather than blindly copying them, and you should be able to solve this.

Answer 2

Let's analyze your string

""C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr/bin/avrdude" "-CC:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr/etc/avrdude.conf" -v -patmega32u4 -cavr109 -PCOM5 -b57600 -D -Uflash:wC:"\Users\My Name\Desktop\Layout\layout.hex:i""

The problem occurs right away with your double quote "". This is interpreted as an empty string between these two quotes. Thus making your C:\\Program Files end up outside quotes.

Try this instead

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr/bin/avrdude" "-CC:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr/etc/avrdude.conf" -v -patmega32u4 -cavr109 -PCOM5 -b57600 -D -Uflash:wC:"\Users\My Name\Desktop\Layout\layout.hex:i"