if statement - 'else' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file

Question

I try to use with "else" command but I get the foloowing error:

'else' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

My code is:

if "zz"=="TRUE" (
        copy /a zz + /a ee=/a zz
    ) 
    else (
        copy /a e + /a %TMP%=/a e
    )

What the problem?

Answer 1

The else needs to be on the same "line" ^(a) as the if. Remove the new-line before the else like so:

if "zz"=="TRUE" (
    copy /a zz + /a ee=/a zz
) else (
    copy /a e + /a %TMP%=/a e
)

Please also note that "zz"=="TRUE" will never evaluate to true - I suspect you meant "%zz%"=="TRUE"?

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^(a): This isn't always a good description, though it's what the Microsoft documents use. Same command may have been better, and putting ) and else on a different line breaks it into two commands.