There can be used directly in a Windows command prompt window:
%SystemRoot%\System32\reg.exe QUERY HKCU\Console\^%SystemRoot^%_System32_WindowsPowerShell_v1.0_powershell.exe /v QuickEdit /t REG_DWORD
Each of the two percent signs in the registry key is escaped with ^ to be interpreted as literal character. %SystemRoot% inside the registry key name is not interpreted as variable reference because of the caret character ^ left to the two percent signs.
In a batch file can be used:
%SystemRoot%\System32\reg.exe QUERY HKCU\Console\%%SystemRoot%%_System32_WindowsPowerShell_v1.0_powershell.exe /v QuickEdit /t REG_DWORD
The percent sign must be escaped in a batch file with one more percent sign to get it interpreted as literal character.
The entire registry key does not contain a space or one of these characters &()[]{}^=;!'+,`~<>| making it possible to pass the registry key without surrounding " to REG. That makes it easier in command prompt window because there must be used just twice ^ to escape the two percent signs in the registry key name.
There are three outputs possible:
- There is output to STDOUT the registry value
QuickEdit on the registry key %SystemRoot%_System32_WindowsPowerShell_v1.0_powershell.exe exists at all under registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console and the registry value QuickEdit exists under that registry key and being of type 32-bit double word (DWORD). The exit code of REG is in this case 0 indicating a successful execution to cmd.exe processing the batch file or interpreting and executing the entered commands in the command prompt window.
- There is output the following error message to STDERR if the registry key does not exist at all:
ERROR: The system was unable to find the specified registry key or value.
The exit code is 1 in this case to indicate the error to the parent process.
- There is output the following information message to STDOUT if the registry exists but does not contain a registry value with name
QuickEdit at all or contains that registry value with a different type than DWORD.
End of search: 0 match(es) found.
The exit code is also 1 in this case to indicate the failed search for this registry value to the Windows Command Processor.
The output can be suppressed with >nul 2>&1 or >nul 2>nul or 1>nul 2>nul if just the result depending on exit code must be evaluated using either the conditional command operators && and/or || as described by single line with multiple commands using Windows batch file or an IF [NOT] ERRORLEVEL condition as described by the usage help of command IF output on running if /? in a command prompt window.
A FOR /F loop can be used to validate the double word value as demonstrated below.
@echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions DisableDelayedExpansion
set "QUickEdit="
for /F "skip=2 tokens=1,3" %%I in ('%SystemRoot%\System32\reg.exe QUERY HKCU\Console\^^%%SystemRoot^^%%_System32_WindowsPowerShell_v1.0_powershell.exe /v QuickEdit /t REG_DWORD 2^>nul') do if /I "%%I" == "QuickEdit" set "QuickEdit=%%J"
if not defined QuickEdit goto ValueNotFound
for /F "delims=0x" %%I in ("%QuickEdit%") do echo Quick edit is enabled explicitly for Windows PowerShell console.& goto EndBatch
echo Quick edit is disabled explicitly for Windows PowerShell console.& goto EndBatch
:ValueNotFound
echo Could not find registry value QuickEdit of type DWORD under registry key:
echo(
echo HKCU\Console\%%SystemRoot%%_System32_WindowsPowerShell_v1.0_powershell.exe
:EndBatch
endlocal
echo(
pause
There must be considered in this case that the first FOR /F command line is parsed by two cmd.exe. The first one is the Windows Command Processor which is processing the batch file. The command line after parsing before execution of FOR is with Windows installed into C:\Windows:
for /F "skip=2 tokens=1,3" %I in ('C:\Windows\System32\reg.exe QUERY HKCU\Console\^%SystemRoot^%_System32_WindowsPowerShell_v1.0_powershell.exe /v QuickEdit /t REG_DWORD 2>nul') do if /I "%I" == "QuickEdit" set "QuickEdit=%J"
FOR respectively cmd.exe starts in background one more command process with %ComSpec% /c and the command line as shown above appended as additional arguments. There is executed in background:
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c C:\Windows\System32\reg.exe QUERY HKCU\Console\^%SystemRoot^%_System32_WindowsPowerShell_v1.0_powershell.exe /v QuickEdit /t REG_DWORD 2>nul
That is the reason why in this case ^^ (escaped escape character) and %% (escaped percent sign) must be used in the batch file in the FOR /F command line to pass to REG finally twice a percent sign as part of the registry key name. The redirection operator > within 2>nul must be escaped with ^ just for the cmd.exe processing the batch file.
A less comprehensive version to check the QuickEdit value is:
@echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions DisableDelayedExpansion
%SystemRoot%\System32\reg.exe QUERY HKCU\Console\%%SystemRoot%%_System32_WindowsPowerShell_v1.0_powershell.exe /v QuickEdit /t REG_DWORD 2>nul | %SystemRoot%\System32\findstr.exe /I /R "QuickEdit.*0x0*1$" || goto NotEnabled
echo Quick edit is enabled explicitly for Windows PowerShell console.& goto EndBatch
:NotEnabled
echo Quick edit is not enabled explicitly for Windows PowerShell console.
:EndBatch
echo(
endlocal
pause
To understand the commands used and how they work, open a command prompt window, execute there the following commands, and read the displayed help pages for each command, entirely and carefully.
echo /?endlocal /?findstr /?goto /?if /?pause /?reg /?reg query /?set /?setlocal /?
