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In this article, we will see how to write a C# program that can run a batch file from a directory.

Running batch scripts in C#

In C#, when we want to execute a batch file, it acts as a process. You can follow the sample code below to run a batch script using a C# program.

System.Diagnostics.Process pros = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
pros.StartInfo.FileName = "C:\\MyDir\\simple.bat";
pros.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = "C:\\MyWorkDir";
pros.Start();

In the sample code above, we execute a batch script called simple.bat. Here, you need to set the working directory before starting the process.

The above example is a code snippet that can run a batch file from a specified directory. In the following code snippet, we quickly perform the same task.

Code - C#:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Diagnostics;
namespace BatchLoader
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
        private void Button_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // initialize empty process
            Process pros = null;
            try
            {
                string BatFileDir = string.Format(@"D:"); // directory of the file
                pros = new Process();
                pros.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = BatFileDir;
                pros.StartInfo.FileName = "Mybat.bat"; // batch file name to be execute
                pros.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = false;
                pros.Start(); // run batch file
                pros.WaitForExit();
                MessageBox.Show("Batch file successfully executed !!");
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(ex.StackTrace.ToString());
            }
        }
    }
}

First, we initialize all the required packages for our code. Then we initialize all the graphics components.

We provide an action to run the batch file via a button. With Process pros = null;the line, we initialize an empty process.

We keep the main part of the code in the exception handler because it may generate a runtime error. With the line string BatFileDir = string.Format(@"D:");we get a string containing the directory of the file.

After that, we declare a new process and initialize the working directory using the variable BatFileDir. We set the file name with the line pros.StartInfo.FileName = "Mybat.bat"; and pros.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = false;disable opening new windows with the line.

We then pros.Start();execute the batch file with the line . The line pros.WaitForExit();tells the program to wait until the batch file is finished executing.

Finally, we MessageBox.Show(“Batch file successfully executed !!”);display a message to the user that the batch file has been successfully executed by .