Escapes cmd.exe Special Characters

source/isaaclab/isaaclab/cli/utils.py

@@ -143,6 +143,34 @@ def _print_debug_env(prefix: str, env: dict[str, str] | None) -> None:
         print_debug(f"{prefix}: ENV removed: {env_removed}")
 
 
+_CMD_METACHARACTERS = frozenset("<>|&^")
+
+
+def _escape_for_cmd_exe(cmd: list[str] | tuple[str, ...]) -> str | list[str]:
+    """
+    Quote ``cmd.exe`` metacharacters when invoking ``.bat``/``.cmd`` files.
+
+    Returns a command string (not list) so ``subprocess.run`` bypasses
+    ``list2cmdline`` which doesn't escape cmd.exe metacharacters (<, >, |, &, ^).
+    """
+    # Only .bat/.cmd files are executed via cmd.exe.
+    exe = str(cmd[0]).lower()
+    if not (exe.endswith(".bat") or exe.endswith(".cmd")):
+        return list(cmd)
+
+    # Wrap args that contain metacharacters or whitespace in double quotes.
+    parts: list[str] = []
+    for arg in cmd:
+        s = str(arg)
+        if any(c in s for c in _CMD_METACHARACTERS) or " " in s or "\t" in s:
+            parts.append(f'"{s}"')
+        else:
+            parts.append(s)
+
+    # Return a string so subprocess skips list2cmdline.
+    return " ".join(parts)
+
+
 def run_command(
     cmd: str | list[str] | tuple[str, ...],
     cwd: str | Path | None = None,
@@ -179,6 +207,10 @@ def run_command(
     print_debug(f'run_command(): CMD: "{command_str}"')
     _print_debug_env("run_command()", env)
 
+    # On Windows, escape cmd.exe metacharacters when invoking .bat/.cmd files.
+    if isinstance(cmd, (list, tuple)) and is_windows():
+        cmd = _escape_for_cmd_exe(cmd)
+
     try:
         return subprocess.run(
             cmd,