The external program "[location]\RunCommand.bat" returned an error code: 1.

[Paulomi]

I am using a run command tool to create new folders within my workflow on Alteryx. The bat file is simple - 

mkdir C:\Users\username\Desktop\foldername

But I am getting an error that says - The external program "[location]\RunCommand.bat" returned an error code: 1. 

Could you tell me where I could be going wrong? 

And my run command configuration is as: 

[Luke_C]

If you run the bat file manually does it work?

[Paulomi]

Strangely enough the folder is created even on Alteryx, but there is still an error. 

[RolandSchubert]

Hi @Paulomi ,

I think, the error says, there is an error in the command, maybe there are any spaces in the directory string,  You could try: 

mkdir "C:\Users\username\Desktop\foldername" 

Let me know if it works for you.

Best,

Roland

[MatthiasSeil · Accepted solution]

Hey,
I suppose you use Alteryx to create the .bat file, right?

Means you have the cmd in Alteryx created, e.g. via Formula tool:

Note to set the path in quotes, only then Windows can understand spaces in a string. Also note that the string max. size must not exceed 64000.

You then create the .bat file (no matter whether to temp or a drive):
When choosing for an output .csv is too cumbersome to configure for me, thus I usually go via Flat ASCII:

The rest of your configuration looks good, so that should do the trick.

Let me know if that works and if yes, please select it as solved.

Cheers

Matthias

[Paulomi]

@MatthiasSeil I had actually created the bat manually, saved it in a location and used the run command tool to access it. However, now that you suggested a different approach, I also tried to create the file through Alteryx, and I got the same error. 

[Paulomi]

@RolandSchubert No, unfortunately, I tried this and got the same error 

[Paulomi]

@MatthiasSeil Its working now! There was a minor error that I almost missed. In your method, I had to use a select tool to cut out some other columns because that was getting concatenated with the bat command. But, thank you so much! I'll accept your answer as the solution! 🙂 

[Paulomi]

@MatthiasSeil On a similar note, I had another issue. Is it possible for alteryx to run the run command for new folder creation without errors when a folder already exists by the same name? 

[MatthiasSeil]

Due to Windows behaviour I do not see this feasible, since also Windows is displaying an error when tying to overwrite:

Alteryx is simply picking that error and showing it as an Windows error ("Code 1").