What does % mean?

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What does % mean when used in reference with Run box commands?

Example: In the Run box or at any command prompt, type
%systemdrive%\documents and settings. (from XP Inside Out, Ed Bott,et all).

I see the % sign in many XP instructions. Are you actually suppose to type
in the % sign when you are entering a Run command, or is the author using %
like "quotes"?

Call me newbie!
 
In ezbit <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
What does % mean when used in reference with Run box commands?

Example: In the Run box or at any command prompt, type
%systemdrive%\documents and settings. (from XP Inside Out, Ed Bott,et
all).

I see the % sign in many XP instructions. Are you actually suppose to
type in the % sign when you are entering a Run command, or is the
author using % like "quotes"?

Call me newbie!
Click to expand...

% means, basically, that it's an environment variable (I think.) You can see
a bunch of them here:

http://home.earthlink.net/~rlively/MANUALS/ENV/INDEX.HTM

Yes you type them as well. If you wanted, here's a shortcut, you can just
type %temp% into the run box and it will open your temp folder. There's also
%systemroot% and %windir% and many more. Usually I've used them for
installers to send something, for instance, to %WinDir%\system32 for
instance to make sure that it works on ANY Windows based computer even if
it's installed on X drive.

Galen
--

"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby."

Sherlock Holmes
 
Good question. The "%" symbols are delimiters, which means they mark the
beginning and end of a defined term. In this case, the term is
"systemdrive". The term "systemdrive" is understood by Windows to mean the
drive on which Windows is installed. Typically, Windows is installed on the
C drive, but there's no law saying it has to be. If you type %systemdrive%
in a command, you don't have to worry whether Windows is installed on C or D
or whatever...Windows will take care of it.

So yes, you do type the symbols. But if you know that Windows is installed
on the C drive on your computer, you can save your fingers some keystrokes
by replacing %systemdrive% with C:\
 
Thanks for your responses. It makes sense to me now.
I did try a few searches at different tech sites before my post, but was
unable to find anything.
Delimiter may become my new favorite word!
 
"Backup" should be your favorite word. "Delimiter" is up there, alright, but
"backup" tops them all. For computing, at least.
 
Coincidently UPS just delivered NovaBackup v7.2 about 10 minutes ago. I have
not used a backup applc before. I thought I needed separate applcs for data
and system. This one apparently is not drive-imaging, but it is still suppose
to backup my system as well as data. I think it is file based, which probably
means a complete system restore would take a lot longer?
Backup is tonight's learning experience!
 
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