I need to convert some xls files into xlsx files. I can successfully convert one xls file into xlsx by running this command into cmd prompt (windows):
ssconvert inputFileName.xls outputFileName.xlsx
(ssconvert is a Gnumeric's command-line utility that can convert between different spreadsheet file formats)
I'd like to write a batch file that FOR EACH file in a specified directory runs the command I wrote above, using the current file name both for input and for output filename.
For example, if I have this set of files:
c:\directory\file1.xls
c:\directory\file2.xls
c:\directory\file3.xls
the output should be
c:\directory\file1.xlsx
c:\directory\file2.xlsx
c:\directory\file3.xlsx
so the batch pseudo code should be something like
directory = c:\directory\
for (fileName in directory)
ssconvert fileName.xls fileName.xlsx
Can anyone help me?
for /r %%v in (*.xls) do ssconvert "%%v" "%%vx"
a couple have people have asked me to explain this, so:
Part 1: for /r %%v in (*.xls)
This part returns an array of files in the current directory that have the xls extension. The %% may look a little curious. This is basically the special % character from command line as used in %PATH% or %TEMP%. To use it in a batch file we need to escape it like so: %%PATH%% or %%TEMP%%. In this case we are simply escaping the temporary variable v, which will hold our array of filenames.
We are using the /r switch to search for files recursively, so any matching files in child folders will also be located.
Part 2: do ssconvert "%%v" "%%vx"
This second part is what will get executed once per matching filename, so if the following files were present in the current folder:
c:\temp\mySheet.xls,
c:\temp\mySheet_yesterday.xls,
c:\temp\mySheet_20160902.xls
the following commands would be executed:
ssconvert "c:\temp\mySheet.xls" "c:\temp\mySheet.xlsx"
ssconvert "c:\temp\mySheet_yesterday.xls" "c:\temp\mySheet_yesterday.xlsx"
ssconvert "c:\temp\mySheet_20160902.xls" "c:\temp\mySheet_20160902.xlsx"
Actually this is pretty easy since Windows Vista. Microsoft added the command FORFILES
in your case
forfiles /p c:\directory /m *.xls /c "cmd /c ssconvert #file #fname.xlsx"
the only weird thing with this command is that forfiles automatically adds double quotes around #file and #fname. but it should work anyway
you can run something like this (paste the code bellow in a .bat, or if you want it to run interractively replace the %% by % :
for %%i in (c:\directory\*.xls) do ssconvert %%i %%i.xlsx
If you can run powershell it will be :
Get-ChildItem -Path c:\directory -filter *.xls | foreach {ssconvert $($_.FullName) $($_.baseName).xlsx }
I am doing similar thing to compile all the c files in a directory.
for iterating files in different directory try this.
set codedirectory=C:\Users\code
for /r %codedirectory% %%i in (*.c) do
( some GCC commands )
Related
I am very new to writing batch files, but I am trying to automate some data updating I have to do. I have the pdftotext.exe in a folder with a pdf file that I get each month. I was hoping to use a wildcard in the batch file so that I don't have to change the code each month. So right now I run:
pdftotext -raw -nopgbrk CO_Aug16.pdf
This will run the conversion with the pdf and the executable in the same folder, but if I try to use a wildcard in the filename:
pdftotext -raw -nopgbrk CO*.pdf
It looks for a file named that way, so I tried to create a variable called fname and put the wildcard in that name, but when I run:
set fname = "C:\Users\...\CO*.pdf"
pdftotext -raw -nopgbrk "%fname%"
It acts like it is trying to open a blank file, I get:
I/O Error: Couldn't open file ''
Is it possible for me to be able to use the wildcard? Sorry if this is a basic question, I just started learning to write in a batch file for this project.
Handling of wildcards is done by the applications, not by the terminal.
The approach I use is to find the files using dir *.pdf and then for each file call the command.
for /F "tokens=*" %%f in ('dir /b *.pdf') do pdftotext -raw -nopgbrk "%%~f"
If you're entering this in a batch file use 2 percentage signs. If you're writing direct into cmd then just use 1.
Description:
For /F - run a command for each line of another commands output
tokens = * - Put all the line content into %f
dir /b *.pdf = the command we loop over. Finds all pdfs. Only outputs the minimum of data.
Your command - the %%~f is the filename. The ~ strips any quote marks
I have a bunch of .flv files in subdirs and I need to loop through them and rename it according to its path.
I was able to loop through them all, but I don't know how to split the path and rename it using batch script.
Here's what I have so far:
echo off
for /R %%F in (*.flv) do (
echo %%~pF
)
The "echo %%~pF" prints the path for the current file on the loop, something like this:
\folder\morefolders\activity\ NameThatIwant \Videos\
I tried spliting with "delims=\" on my for loop but I get only "echo off".
I tried other tutorials, read other questions on SO but none of them were renaming the files from a split string from the path of the file in the loop.
Could you guys help giving suggestions or direct me to any material that explains those %% codes?
Thanks.
I think you do not need to split the path, though you could do it using for /f "delims=NameInthePath tokens=1", where NameInthePath - is some word in the path and tokens= gives you the first part of the path separated by delims.
Actially, if you need to rename file name you need to use REN command. If you need to change the path for the flv file - use copy of move command.
A batch file to rename all .LOG files to .TXT in the 'demo' folder and all sub-folders:
CD C:\demo\
For /R %%G in (*.LOG) do REN "%%G" "%~nG.TXT"
I am looking for a command line which can change the file extension of all the files that are under a folder and its subfolders. Is there any way to do this?
I tried with ren *.js *.txt but this only changes the file extension of the files under one folder.
I assume by ms-dos you really mean the command prompt on Windows. Not many people still use ms-dos.
The following will run your REN command on each folder within the hierarchy that contains .js files. It is probably a bit more efficient then running REN for each file individually.
for /r %F in (.) do #if exist "%F\*.js" ren "%F\*.js" "*.txt"
Double up the percents (%F becomes %%F) if run within a batch script.
You could try this:
For /R %G in (*.js) do REN "%G" "%~nG.txt"
Note that you'll need to use %% instead of % if running from a batch file.
I need copy credits.jpg from C:\Users\meotimdihia\Desktop\credits.jpg to D:\Software\destinationfolder and all subfolders
I read many and i write
/R "D:\Software\destinationfolder" %%I IN (.) DO COPY "C:\Users\meotimdihia\Desktop\credits.jpg" "%%I\credits.jpg"
then i save file saveall.bat but i run it , it dont work at all.
help me write 1 bat
Give this a try:
for /r "D:\Software\destinationfolder" %i in (.) do #copy "C:\Users\meotimdihia\Desktop\credits.jpg" "%i"
Of course, if it's to go into a batch file, double the '%'.
This was the first search I found on google for batch file copy file to all subfolders.
Here's a way with xcopy.
There's also robocopy but that would be too powerful for a simple task like this. (I've used that for entire drive backups because it can use multi-threading)
But, let us focus on xcopy.
This example is for saving to a file with the extension .bat. Just drop the additional % where there is two if running directly on the command line.
cd "D:\Software\destinationfolder"
for /r /d %%I in (*) do xcopy "C:\temp\file.ext" "%%~fsI" /H /K
cd "D:\Software\destinationfolder" change directory to the folder you want to copy the file to. Wrap this in quotes if the path has whitespaces.
the for loop - See help here. Or type for /? in a command prompt.
/r - Loop through files (recurse subfolders)
/d - Loop through several folders
%%I - %%parameter: A replaceable parameter
xcopy - Type xcopy /? in the command line for lots of help. You may need to press Enter to read the entire help on this.
C:\temp\file.ext - The file you want to copy
"%%~fsI" - Expands %%I to a full pathname with short names only
/H - Copies files with hidden and system file attributes. By default, xcopy does not copy hidden or system files
/K - Copies files and retains the read-only attribute on Destination files if present on the Source files. By default, xcopy removes the read-only attribute.
The last two parameters are just examples if you're having trouble with any read-only files and will retain the most important file properties.
Lots more xcopy parameters here
xcopy examples here
Just for completeness. This example below will copy the same file in each folder of the current directory and not any sub-folders. Just the /r option is removed for it to behave like this.
for /d %%I in (*) do xcopy "C:\temp\file.ext" "%%~fsI" /H /K
If you can use it: Here is a PowerShell solution (PowerShell is integrated in Windows 7 and available from XP and up):
$file = "C:\...\yourfile.txt"
$dir = "C:\...\YourFolder"
#Store in sub directories
dir $dir -recurse | % {copy $file -destination $_.FullName}
#Store in the directory
copy $file -destination $dir
I'm pretty sure that the last line can be integrated in dir ... but I'm not sure how (I do not use PowerShell very often).
So I need a Windows Script that I can tell it a directory to go through and it will parse all sub-directories and while in each subdir, will archive all files with a certain file extension and keep it in the same subdir, then move onto the next one.
What's the best way to go about this? Perl Automation Scripting, AutoIt?
Any sample code you guys can give me?
Perl is more powerful than batch scripts but since Perl is not included with windows it seems overkill for tasks such as this one. This should for example work:
FOR /R C:\hello\ %%G IN (*.txt) DO "c:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" a %%G.zip %%G && del %%G
Note that you cannot do this directly in the prompt, you must save it as a .bat file. It is of course also possible to allow the user to specify the paths and extensions with command line like this:
FOR /R %1 %%G IN (%2) DO "c:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" a %%G.zip %%G && del %%G
More information about FOR and other windows command line commands can be found here: http://ss64.com/nt/
This would then be run with:
test.bat C:\Hello\ *.txt
EDIT: This obviously requires you to have 7-Zip installed but it's pretty obvious where to change the code if you want to use some other zipper. Also keep in mind to always be Extremely careful when experimenting with scripts such as this. One small mistake could have it delete a lot of files, so you should always test it on a copy of the file system until you are absolutely sure it works.
FORFILES is included with Windows and may be more applicable than FOR to what you're trying to do:
FORFILES [/P pathname] [/M searchmask]
[/S]
[/C command] [/D [+ | -] {MM/dd/yyyy | dd}]
Description:
Selects a file (or set of files) and executes a
command on that file. This is helpful for batch jobs.
Parameter List:
/P pathname Indicates the path to start searching.
The default folder is the current working
directory (.).
/M searchmask Searches files according to a searchmask.
The default searchmask is '*' .
/S Instructs forfiles to recurse into
subdirectories. Like "DIR /S".
/C command Indicates the command to execute for each file.
Command strings should be wrapped in double
quotes.
The default command is "cmd /c echo #file".
The following variables can be used in the
command string:
#file - returns the name of the file.
#fname - returns the file name without
extension.
#ext - returns only the extension of the
file.
#path - returns the full path of the file.
#relpath - returns the relative path of the
file.
#isdir - returns "TRUE" if a file type is
a directory, and "FALSE" for files.
#fsize - returns the size of the file in
bytes.
#fdate - returns the last modified date of the
file.
#ftime - returns the last modified time of the
file.
To include special characters in the command
line, use the hexadecimal code for the character
in 0xHH format (ex. 0x09 for tab). Internal
CMD.exe commands should be preceded with
"cmd /c".
/D date Selects files with a last modified date greater
than or equal to (+), or less than or equal to
(-), the specified date using the
"MM/dd/yyyy" format; or selects files with a
last modified date greater than or equal to (+)
the current date plus "dd" days, or less than or
equal to (-) the current date minus "dd" days. A
valid "dd" number of days can be any number in
the range of 0 - 32768.
"+" is taken as default sign if not specified.
Below one way I would do it in AutoIt since you asked. Replace the MsgBox line with whatever code you need to do whatever it is your wanting to do. AutoIt is fun stuff!
#include <File.au3>
archiveDir(InputBox("Path","Enter your start path."))
Func archiveDir($rootDirectory)
$aFiles = _FileListToArray($rootDirectory)
For $i = 1 To UBound($aFiles) - 1
If StringInStr(FileGetAttrib($aFiles[$i]),"D") Then archiveDir($rootDirectory & $aFiles[$i] & "\")
MsgBox(0,"This would be your archive step!",'"Archiving" ' & $rootDirectory & $aFiles[$i])
Next
EndFunc
One solution could be:
my $dirCnt = 0;
traverse_directory('C:\Test');
sub traverse_directory{
my $directory = shift(#_);
$dirCnt++;
my $dirHandle = "DIR".$dirCnt;
opendir($dirHandle, $directory);
while (defined(my $file = readdir($dirHandle))){
next if $file =~ /^\.\.?$/; # skip . and .. ...
if (-d "$directory\\$file"){ traverse_directory("$directory\\$file"); }
if ($file =~ /\.txt/){ #find txt files, for example
print "$file\n"; #do something with the text file here
}
}
closedir($dirHandle);
}