Windows batch: Unicode parameters for (robo) copy

Question

I need to copy multiple files in a single batch file. The files have Unicode names that map to different codepages.

Example:

set ArabicFile=ڊڌڵڲڛشس
set CyrillicFile=щЖЛдЉи
set GermanFile=Bücher

copy %ArabicFile% SomePlaceElse
copy %CyrillicFile% SomePlaceElse
copy %GermanFile% SomePlaceElse

Problem: Batch files cannot be Unicode.

Question: How can I write the Unicode file names to the batch file so that the copy command recognizes them?

Notes:

I do not care how the file names are displayed.
Actually the batch file does much more than just copy these files, I just simplified the description to make the problem clearer.

Correct batch file:

With Arnout's answer I modified my batch file as follows. It now works correctly without requiring a font change (which would be messy, as Arnout commented).

@echo off

chcp 65001

set ArabicFolder=ڊڌڵڲڛشس
set CyrillicFolder=щЖЛдЉи
set GermanFolder=Bücher

robocopy /e d:\temp\test\%ArabicFolder% d:\temp\test2\%ArabicFolder% /log:copy.log
robocopy /e d:\temp\test\%CyrillicFolder% d:\temp\test2\%CyrillicFolder% /log+:copy.log
robocopy /e d:\temp\test\%GermanFolder% d:\temp\test2\%GermanFolder% /log+:copy.log

Answer 1

If

• I add CHCP 65001 as the first line of your batch file,
• save the file as UTF-8 without BOM, and
• set my console font to something else than "Raster Fonts" (on my Win7 box I can choose Consolas or Lucida Console),

it works. Simple, no? :-)

(The font change is actually not necessary, provided you're not writing non-ASCII output to the console.)

Answer 2

I want to create a batch file (e.g. RunThis.bat) which creates directories of names that can be Russians or others.

Example:
When DOS Windows is open with prompt:

D:\>md "Russia - Шпионка"

This work in command like and the name appear correctly.

But if I try that using Notepad and save in ANSII, I can’t.
So if I use again Notepad and save in UTF-8, it will work but with garbage characters.

RunThis.bat (Notepad save UTF-8), give garbage characters.

chcp 65001
set fn14="Russia - Шпионка"
md %fn14%

The problem with notepad it uses UTF-8 with BOM.

To save the .bat using UTF-8 without BOM we must use editor like Notepad++.

RunThis.bat (Notepad++ save UTF-8 – no BOM)

chcp 65001
set fn14="Russia - Шпионка"
md %fn14%

This time its work perfectly when we run “RunThis.bat” directly from explorer.exe

Answer 3

I'm not certain, but I think the short (8.3) filename will be ASCII, so you could refer to it that way? You can find out the short filename with dir /X .