Limit user input in Windows batch script with predefined symbols only

Question

I've written the following windows batch script for WinPE to make some tasks easier:

@ECHO OFF
CLS

:MENU
SETLOCAL
SET QUIT=FALSE
SET /P INPUTCHOICES=Type 1, 2, 3 or 4 and press ENTER: 
CALL :EXECUTECHOICES %INPUTCHOICES%
ENDLOCAL

GOTO :EOF

:EXECUTECHOICES
IF [%1]==[] (GOTO :MENU) ELSE (CALL :%1)
SHIFT
GOTO :EXECUTECHOICES

GOTO :EOF

:1
cls
SET /P RB_OR_SD=Type R to reboot or type S to shutdown your PC when done, and press ENTER: 
ECHO Performing task 1
ECHO.
pause
IF "%RB_OR_SD%"=="R" (GOTO :3)
IF "%RB_OR_SD%"=="S" (GOTO :4)
ELSE (GOTO :3)

:2
cls
SET /P RB_OR_SD=Type R to reboot or type S to shutdown your PC when done, and press ENTER: 
ECHO Performing task 2
ECHO.
pause
IF "%RB_OR_SD%"=="R" (GOTO :3)
IF "%RB_OR_SD%"=="S" (GOTO :4)
ELSE (GOTO :3)

:3
cls
ECHO The system will now reboot
ECHO.
pause
GOTO :MENU

:4
cls
ECHO The system will now shutdown
ECHO.
pause
GOTO :MENU

GOTO :EOF

This script seems to be working fine, until the user inputs anything other than 1, 2, 3, 4, R or S.

In case of INPUTCHOICES any wrong symbol just leads to "The system cannot find the batch label specified" message and the prompt reloads.

But in case of putting anything other than R or S into RB_OR_SD the script just executes the next available batch label, which is absolutely not OK.

I want to limit the user input with exactly one symbol from the scope of 1, 2, 3 and 4 for the INPUTCHOICES, and from the scope of R and S for the RB_OR_SD.

Preferably making the user input case-insensitive.

Any help would be highly appreciated.

Answer 1

I'm not completely sure I understand what you're trying to achieve, but I think this might be able to help you:

:MENU
CLS
SETLOCAL
SET QUIT=FALSE
SET /P INPUTCHOICES=Type 1, 2, 3 or 4 and press ENTER:
CALL :VALIDATOR
ENDLOCAL

:validator
call :check 1
call :check 2
call :check 3
call :check 4
call :check "R"
call :check "S"
GOTO MENU

:check
IF %INPUTCHOICES% == %~1 ( CALL :EXECUTECHOICES %INPUTCHOICES% )
exit /b 0

Answer 2

Just restricting myself to answering your question, without any changes/edits to your code...

Use findstr to check if input:

if [length == 1]  /be [begin/end]  with one number [1,2,3,4] and operator || == return non 0 

---

setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

:menu
cls & setlocal & set "_quit=false"
set /p "_input=type 1, 2, 3 or 4 and press enter: " || goto :menu
<con: echo\%_input%| 2>nul %__AppDir__%findstr.exe/be [1-4] >nul || goto :menu

the command here only execute if findstr command return 0

If input fail goto :menu If input is not in ranger 1-4 goto :menu

Similar you can do with r b case-insensitive:

setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

:menu
cls & setlocal & set "_quit=false"
set /p "_input=type r or s and press enter: " || goto :menu
<con: echo\%_input%| 2>nul %__AppDir__%findstr.exe/be "r s" >nul || goto :menu

the command here only execute if findstr command return 0

---

@ECHO OFF

CLS
cd /d "%~dp0"
SetlocaL EnableDelayedExpansion

:MENU
SET "QUIT=FALSE"
set "INPUTCHOICES="

2>nul (
SET /P "INPUTCHOICES=Type: 1, 2, 3 or 4 & press [ENTER] "
) || goto :MENU 

2>nul (
echo\!INPUTCHOICES!| findstr /rbe [1-4] >nul
) || goto :MENU 

for /l %%i in (1 1 4)do if %%i equ !INPUTCHOICES! CALL :%%i

ENDLOCAL

GOTO :EOF

:1
cls
set "RB_OR_SD="

2>nul (
SET /P "RB_OR_SD=Type R to reboot or type S to shutdown your PC when done, and press ENTER: "
) || goto :1

2>nul (
echo\!RB_OR_SD!| findstr /be "R S" >nul
) || goto :1

ECHO Performing task 1
ECHO.
pause
IF "%RB_OR_SD%"=="R" (GOTO %:^3)else GOTO %:^4

:2
cls
set "RB_OR_SD="

2>nul (
SET /P "RB_OR_SD=Type R to reboot or type S to shutdown your PC when done, and press ENTER: "
) || goto :2

2>nul (
echo\!RB_OR_SD!| findstr /be "R S" >nul
) || goto :2

ECHO Performing task 2
ECHO.
pause
IF "%RB_OR_SD%"=="R" (GOTO %:3)else GOTO %:4

:3
cls
ECHO The system will now reboot
ECHO.
pause
GOTO :MENU

:4
cls
ECHO The system will now shutdown
ECHO.
pause
GOTO :MENU