On the command line, you use "" to delimit strings, not ''. (And this has
nothing to do with SQLCMD, that is just the syntax of the DOS BOX.)

Hi

For the command file:

sqlcmd -S %1 -i c:\temp\SQLFile.sql -v dbname=%2 tablename=%3
jstart=%4 id=%5 sys=%6

and the command:

sqltest "(local)" "Tempdb" "test" "20090209" "2" ""

Without en-quoting the jstart parameter it will assume a number

USE $(dbname);
CREATE TABLE $(tablename) ( id int );
INSERT $(tablename) (id ) values ( 1) , (2) ;
SELECT id, CAST('$(jstart)' AS DATE ) AS jstart
FROM $(tablename)
WHERE id = $(id) ;
DROP TABLE $(tablename) ;
Go

If you don't have quotes in the SQL Script

USE $(dbname);
CREATE TABLE $(tablename) ( id int );
INSERT $(tablename) (id ) values ( 1) , (2) ;
SELECT id, CAST($(jstart) AS DATE ) AS jstart
FROM $(tablename)
WHERE id = $(id) ;
DROP TABLE $(tablename) ;
Go

and single quotes in the cmd file

sqlcmd -S %1 -i c:\temp\SQLFile.sql -v dbname=%2 tablename=%3
jstart='%4' id=%5 sys=%6

You can't use double quotes in the command.

John