test.KiX contains just a single line of code 
? $var

A few 'tests' give the following results:

D:\>KIX32.EXE test.KiX $var="abc"
abc

D:\>KIX32.EXE test.KiX $var="a b c"
a b c

D:\>KIX32.EXE test.KiX $var="\abc"
\abc

D:\>KIX32.EXE test.KiX $var="\\abc"
\\abc

D:\>KIX32.EXE test.KiX $var="a\b\c"
a\b\c

D:\>KIX32.EXE test.KiX $var="abc\"
abc"

D:\>KIX32.EXE test.KiX $var="abc\\"
abc\

D:\>KIX32.EXE test.KiX $var="abc\\\"
abc\"

D:\>KIX32.EXE test.KiX $var="abc\\\\"
abc\\

D:\>KIX32.EXE test.KiX $var="\abc\\\\"
\abc\\

D:\>KIX32.EXE test.KiX $var="\\abc\\\\"
\\abc\\

D:\>KIX32.EXE test.KiX $var="\\\a\b\c\\\\"
\\\a\b\c\\

Quote:

---

Try echo \> and echo ^>

---

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
	for (int i = 0;i<argc;i++) {
		int o = printf("%d -> %s\n",i, argv[i]);
	}
	return 0;
}

D:\>KIX32.EXE test.KiX $var="\\aa\\bb\\cc\\"
\\aa\\bb\\cc\   <- only the trailing backslash is escaped, I would have expected either \\aa\\bb\\cc\\ or \aa\bb\cc\ as result

D:\>KIX32.EXE test.KiX $var="\aa\bb\cc\"
\aa\bb\cc"      <- only the trailing backslash is escaped

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
	for (int i = 0;i<argc;i++) {
		cout << i << " -> " << argv[i] << "\n";
	}
	return 0;
}

Quote:

---

My only point is that it is unexpected behaviour...

---

  If Left($Recipient,1) = "#"
    $Recipient = Right($Recipient,Len($Recipient)-1)
  endif

#include "windows.h"
#include <iostream>
int main() {
	printf("%s",GetCommandLine());
}

Quote:

---

Are there more known 'irregularities' than the one that started this topic?

---

Quote:

---

If not, isn't 'correcting' just this one 'odd' behaviour relatively simple without introducing new stuff?

---

Quote:

---

If there are more issues than the trailing escape character issue than I'd go for leaving the current commandline parsing as it is and introduce the new @commandline macro as suggested by Ruud.

---

Quote:

---

PS.. just curious: is the problem in C/C++ in printf/cout or in argv?

---

This issue specifically is in the handling of the command line arguments. The handling of strings by library functions like printf() is standardised and is not an issue (unless they are badly broken ).

Quote:

---

again.
fixing this issue is rather simple.
instead of using the args parsed for you, parse them yourself from the raw commandline.

---

Quote:

---

and richie, not sure I understand your flaming of MS here.

---

Quote:

---

you just posted a while ago that same issue is there with gcc.
last time I checked, it's not MS compiler.

---

Quote:

---

It is a work-around, but I don't think that it's a good long term solution to say 'using $var="VALUE" on the command line doesn't always work as you'd expect so you're better off parsing the line yourself'. Much better to fix '$var="VALUE"' so that it always works as expected.

---

Quote:

---

but lets not mistake that I ever said user should parse the commandline.
it was ruud and some other folks.

---

Quote:

---

how many scripts you figure might break because of it ?

---

Quote:

---

I still vote for fixing the commandline parsing of KiX but if not please let's document this odd behaviour very clearly with one or more good examples.

---