Скачать или смотреть How to Automatically Stop a Process in a Batch Script

Learn how to limit the running time for your executable in a batch script while ensuring it stops automatically when the process ends.
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How to Automatically Stop a Process in a Batch Script

When running an executable in a batch script, it often becomes necessary to impose a limit on its execution time. For instance, you might want to keep a process running for only a specific duration or terminate it as soon as it completes. In this guide, we’ll discuss how to limit the running time for exec.exe to 60 seconds while ensuring the script automatically stops if the process ends before the timeout.

The Problem

You might encounter a situation where you need to run an executable file (exec.exe) for a maximum of 60 seconds. However, if the executable completes its task earlier, your script should exit gracefully without waiting for the timeout to elapse. This can be challenging, especially if you're unsure how to correctly implement this logic in a batch script.

The Solution

To solve this problem, we can utilize a simple logic that checks if the process is still running every second. If it detects that the process has stopped, it will terminate the script immediately. Here’s a detailed step-by-step breakdown to help you implement this:

Step 1: Prepare Your Script

Start with a basic batch file structure. Here’s how you can set up your initial script:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Explanation:

@ echo off - Prevents the command prompt from displaying each command before executing it.

set cnt= - Initializes a counter variable that we'll use to track elapsed time.

start "" "S:\sys_\sys_e\exec.exe" - Launches the executable.

Step 2: Create a Countdown Loop

We need to create a loop that will check if the executable is still running every second:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Explanation:

:count - A label that we will loop back to.

(timeout /t 1)>nul - Pauses the script for one second without displaying output.

set /a cnt+ =1 - Increases the counter by one for each loop iteration (every second).

Step 3: Check Process Status

Next, we will implement logic to check the status of exec.exe:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Explanation:

if %cnt% lss 60 - Checks if the counter is less than 60 (i.e., haven’t reached timeout yet).

tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq exec.exe" - Gets the list of currently running processes and filters the output to only show our executable.

| findstr "exec" - Searches for the string "exec" to verify if exec.exe is still running.

>nul - Silences unnecessary output.

&& and || - These operators allow us to control the flow of the script based on whether the previous command succeeded or failed. If the process is still running, we go back to the count label; if not, the script exits.

Step 4: Force Termination

If the 60-second timeout is reached and the process is still active, we’ll force it to terminate:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Explanation:

This command kills the process exec.exe if it has exceeded the allotted time.

Conclusion

With these steps, you can effectively manage your batch script to limit how long exec.exe runs while ensuring it halts automatically if it exceeds its execution time. By utilizing a countdown and checking the process status efficiently, you not only add a level of control but can also avoid unwanted resource consumption.

Feel free to copy and adapt the script provided to suit your needs! If you have any questions or suggestions, don't hesitate to share them in the comments below.