build 7.6 "open with..." association does not open files with spaces in filenames

FredThompsonII

Builds up to an including 7.5.8 could be added to the Windows context menu to open any file. Here is the .reg file which allows this:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*\shell\Notepad++]
@=“Edit with &Notepad++”
“Icon”=“C:\Portable\- Linked\Notepad++\notepad++.exe,0”

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*\shell\Notepad++\Command]
@=“C:\Portable\- Linked\Notepad++\Notepad++.exe %L”

Build 7.6 will NOT open files with spaces in their filenames.

Why is this and what can be done to fix the problem?

PeterJones

Fix = put quotes around %L in the registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*\shell\Notepad++]
@="Edit with &Notepad++"
"Icon"="C:\Portable\- Linked\Notepad++\notepad++.exe,0"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*\shell\Notepad++\Command]
@="C:\Portable\- Linked\Notepad++\Notepad++.exe \"%L\""

The “why” = the author changed handling of command-line arguments to be more consistent with other windows programs, where filenames with spaces on the command line must be surrounded by quotes to be interpreted as a single filename.

PeterJones

example for the why = otherwise,

notepad++.exe a file here.txt

would be ambiguous as to whether it’s opening one file called a file here.txt with spaces in the name, or whether it’s opening three files – one called a, one called file, and one called here.txt.

If all four files existed, it would be impossible to grok your intention.

Now, it requires

notepad++.exe "a file here.txt"

to tell it that it’s one filename, and will assume multiple filenames if there aren’t quotes around it.

MrSimurq

Are you sure the registry code above is correctly spelled? I tried this (adjusted for my Notepad++ location) but I get a registry error “This file doesn’t have associated program…”

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*\shell\Notepad++]
@=“Edit with &Notepad++”
“Icon”=“C:\Notepad++\notepad++.exe,0”

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*\shell\Notepad++\Command]
@=“C:\Notepad++\Notepad++.exe “%L””

Thanks!

PeterJones

@MrSimurq ,

Sorry, no – I had just copy/edit/pasted what was originally posted by @FredThompsonII , and didn’t notice that it was missing a \ before the *. For your example, I believe it should be:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Notepad++]
@="Edit with &Notepad++"
"Icon"="C:\\Notepad++\\notepad++.exe,0"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Notepad++\command]
@="C:\\Notepad++\\Notepad++.exe \"%L\""

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Aside: I believe what happened is that because the original poster did not indent the .reg text four spaces in the forum, the forum software converted the quotes to “smart quotes” (which I noticed and fixed) and also converted the \* to a plain * – it interpreted it as escaping the * character (which is used to start/stop emphasis and bold) instead of as wanting a literal \*. It also probably changed the \\ in the paths to \, and possibly converted \" to just “. That’s why Markdown provides the indenting feature for code blocks – to tell Markdown to treat the text as purely literal. I believe I have correctly edited your example to include all the correct escaping and quotes.

In case it’s not, here’s my example from my registry: it’s for the “txtfile” entry, rather than the “*” entry, but it shows the syntax properly (because I know this association works):

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\txtfile\shell\Notepad++]
@="Notepad++"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\txtfile\shell\Notepad++\command]
@="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Notepad++\\notepad++.exe \"%1\""

-----
edit: note: see this post for a link describing %1 vs %L in registry entries.

PeterJones

extra: in case you’re curious, since the OP used %L but my example used %1: see this post for a link describing %1 vs %L in registry entries. In short: it doesn’t really matter in this case, because the difference is only significant on old 16bit windows OS (like Win3.11). On modern Windows, %L and %1 are interchangeable in the registry associations. (Only %1 works in .bat/.cmd files, though, which is why I’ve gotten used to using %1.)