Set /p giving invalid syntax error

Question

I have the following function that works like this: You input a string that resembles: text text=text like this: call :afterchar text text=text and it outputs with text=text on a line without creating a new one. While it is currently working well, it also outputs "The Syntax of this command is incorrect" when I run it the first time. I don't understand what is triggering this error.

@echo off
:read
shift
if "%1"=="" set err=2 & goto help
if "%2"=="where" goto where
set DB=%1.db
if not exist "C:\users\Public\Temp\%DB%"  call :c 0c "Database not found: %2" & exit /b 1
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set numline=0
for /f "tokens=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10* delims=# skip=1" %%A in (C:\users\Public\Temp\%DB%) do (
    set /a numline+=1
    if not "%%A"=="" call :afterchar %%A
    if not "%%B"=="" call :afterchar %%B
    if not "%%C"=="" call :afterchar %%C
    if not "%%D"=="" call :afterchar %%D
    if not "%%E"=="" call :afterchar %%E
    if not "%%F"=="" call :afterchar %%F
    if not "%%G"=="" call :afterchar %%G
    if not "%%H"=="" call :afterchar %%H
    if not "%%I"=="" call :afterchar %%I
    if not "%%J"=="" call :afterchar %%J
    echo.
)
goto skpp

:afterchar
echo|set /p="  %2=%3  "
exit /b




:skpp
if %errorlevel%==0 call :C 0a "Success."
exit /b

Answer 1

When you execute the code exactly as given in your example,
code flow runs through into the subroutine because there is no goto :eof or Exit /b in front of the label :afterchar to prevent this.

As there are no arguments passed to the main batch this time the try to execute:

echo | set /p="  =  "

causes the error. You would see this if you execute the batch with set echo on

:: Q:\Test\2018\07\28\SU_1344049.cmd

call :afterchar text text=text

:: here belongs a termination
goto :eof

:afterchar
echo|set /p="  %2=%3  "
exit /b