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Assign output of a program to a variable using a MS batch file
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How to set commands output as a variable in a batch file [duplicate]
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Closed 9 months ago.
I'm looking to get the result of a command as a variable in a Windows batch script (see how to get the result of a command in bash for the bash scripting equivalent). A solution that will work in a .bat file is preferred, but other common windows scripting solutions are also welcome.
The humble for command has accumulated some interesting capabilities over the years:
D:\> FOR /F "delims=" %i IN ('date /t') DO set today=%i
D:\> echo %today%
Sat 20/09/2008
Note that "delims=" overwrites the default space and tab delimiters so that the output of the date command gets gobbled all at once.
To capture multi-line output, it can still essentially be a one-liner (using the variable lf as the delimiter in the resulting variable):
REM NB:in a batch file, need to use %%i not %i
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
SET lf=-
FOR /F "delims=" %%i IN ('dir \ /b') DO if ("!out!"=="") (set out=%%i) else (set out=!out!%lf%%%i)
ECHO %out%
To capture a piped expression, use ^|:
FOR /F "delims=" %%i IN ('svn info . ^| findstr "Root:"') DO set "URL=%%i"
If you have to capture all the command output you can use a batch like this:
#ECHO OFF
IF NOT "%1"=="" GOTO ADDV
SET VAR=
FOR /F %%I IN ('DIR *.TXT /B /O:D') DO CALL %0 %%I
SET VAR
GOTO END
:ADDV
SET VAR=%VAR%!%1
:END
All output lines are stored in VAR separated with "!".
But if only a single-line console-output is expected, try:
#ECHO off
#SET MY_VAR=
FOR /F %%I IN ('npm prefix') DO #SET "MY_VAR=%%I"
#REM Do something with MY_VAR variable...
#John: is there any practical use for this? I think you should watch PowerShell or any other programming language capable to perform scripting tasks easily (Python, Perl, PHP, Ruby)
To get the current directory, you can use this:
CD > tmpFile
SET /p myvar= < tmpFile
DEL tmpFile
echo test: %myvar%
It's using a temp-file though, so it's not the most pretty, but it certainly works! 'CD' puts the current directory in 'tmpFile', 'SET' loads the content of tmpFile.
Here is a solution for multiple lines with "array's":
#echo off
rem ---------
rem Obtain line numbers from the file
rem ---------
rem This is the file that is being read: You can replace this with %1 for dynamic behaviour or replace it with some command like the first example i gave with the 'CD' command.
set _readfile=test.txt
for /f "usebackq tokens=2 delims=:" %%a in (`find /c /v "" %_readfile%`) do set _max=%%a
set /a _max+=1
set _i=0
set _filename=temp.dat
rem ---------
rem Make the list
rem ---------
:makeList
find /n /v "" %_readfile% >%_filename%
rem ---------
rem Read the list
rem ---------
:readList
if %_i%==%_max% goto printList
rem ---------
rem Read the lines into the array
rem ---------
for /f "usebackq delims=] tokens=2" %%a in (`findstr /r "\[%_i%]" %_filename%`) do set _data%_i%=%%a
set /a _i+=1
goto readList
:printList
del %_filename%
set _i=1
:printMore
if %_i%==%_max% goto finished
set _data%_i%
set /a _i+=1
goto printMore
:finished
But you might want to consider moving to another more powerful shell or create an application for this stuff. It's stretching the possibilities of the batch files quite a bit.
you need to use the SET command with parameter /P and direct your output to it.
For example see http://www.ss64.com/nt/set.html. Will work for CMD, not sure about .BAT files
From a comment to this post:
That link has the command "Set /P
_MyVar=<MyFilename.txt" which says it will set _MyVar to the first line
from MyFilename.txt. This could be
used as "myCmd > tmp.txt" with "set
/P myVar=<tmp.txt". But it will only
get the first line of the output, not
all the output
Example to set in the "V" environment variable the most recent file
FOR /F %I IN ('DIR *.* /O:D /B') DO SET V=%I
in a batch file you have to use double prefix in the loop variable:
FOR /F %%I IN ('DIR *.* /O:D /B') DO SET V=%%I
I would like to add a remark to the above solutions:
All these syntaxes work perfectly well IF YOUR COMMAND IS FOUND WITHIN THE PATH or IF THE COMMAND IS A cmdpath WITHOUT SPACES OR SPECIAL CHARACTERS.
But if you try to use an executable command located in a folder which path contains special characters then you would need to enclose your command path into double quotes (") and then the FOR /F syntax does not work.
Examples:
$ for /f "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %f in (
`""F:\GLW7\Distrib\System\Shells and scripting\f2ko.de\folderbrowse.exe"" Hello '"F:\GLW7\Distrib\System\Shells and scripting"'`
) do echo %f
The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.
or
$ for /f "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %f in (
`"F:\GLW7\Distrib\System\Shells and scripting\f2ko.de\folderbrowse.exe" "Hello World" "F:\GLW7\Distrib\System\Shells and scripting"`
) do echo %f
'F:\GLW7\Distrib\System\Shells' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
or
`$ for /f "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %f in (
`""F:\GLW7\Distrib\System\Shells and scripting\f2ko.de\folderbrowse.exe"" "Hello World" "F:\GLW7\Distrib\System\Shells and scripting"`
) do echo %f
'"F:\GLW7\Distrib\System\Shells and scripting\f2ko.de\folderbrowse.exe"" "Hello' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
In that case, the only solution I found to use a command and store its result in a variable is to set (temporarily) the default directory to the one of command itself :
pushd "%~d0%~p0"
FOR /F "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %%F IN (
`FOLDERBROWSE "Hello world!" "F:\GLW7\Distrib\System\Layouts (print,display...)"`
) DO (SET MyFolder=%%F)
popd
echo My selected folder: %MyFolder%
The result is then correct:
My selected folder: F:\GLW7\Distrib\System\OS install, recovery, VM\
Press any key to continue . . .
Of course in the above example, I assume that my batch script is located in the same folder as the one of my executable command so that I can use the "%~d0%~p0" syntax. If this is not your case, then you have to find a way to locate your command path and change the default directory to its path.
NB: For those who wonder, the sample command used here (to select a folder) is FOLDERBROWSE.EXE. I found it on the web site f2ko.de (http://f2ko.de/en/cmd.php).
If anyone has a better solution for that kind of commands accessible through a complex path, I will be very glad to hear of it.
Gilles
Just use the result from the FOR command. For example (inside a batch file):
for /F "delims=" %%I in ('dir /b /a-d /od FILESA*') do (echo %%I)
You can use the %%I as the value you want. Just like this: %%I.
And in advance the %%I does not have any spaces or CR characters and can be used for comparisons!!
If you're looking for the solution provided in Using the result of a command as an argument in bash?
then here is the code:
#echo off
if not "%1"=="" goto get_basename_pwd
for /f "delims=X" %%i in ('cd') do call %0 %%i
for /f "delims=X" %%i in ('dir /o:d /b') do echo %%i>>%filename%.txt
goto end
:get_basename_pwd
set filename=%~n1
:end
This will call itself with the result of the CD command, same as pwd.
String extraction on parameters will return the filename/folder.
Get the contents of this folder and append to the filename.txt
[Credits]: Thanks to all the other answers and some digging on the Windows XP commands page.
#echo off
ver | find "6.1." > nul
if %ERRORLEVEL% == 0 (
echo Win7
for /f "delims=" %%a in ('DIR "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\*Outlook.EXE" /B /P /S') do call set findoutlook=%%a
%findoutlook%
)
ver | find "5.1." > nul
if %ERRORLEVEL% == 0 (
echo WinXP
for /f "delims=" %%a in ('DIR "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\*Outlook.EXE" /B /P /S') do call set findoutlook=%%a
%findoutlook%
)
echo Outlook dir: %findoutlook%
"%findoutlook%"
You can capture all output in one variable, but the lines will be separated by a character of your choice (# in the example below) instead of an actual CR-LF.
#echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
for /f "delims=" %%i in ('dir /b') do (
if "!DIR!"=="" (set DIR=%%i) else (set DIR=!DIR!#%%i)
)
echo directory contains:
echo %DIR%
Second version, if you need to print the contents out line-by-line. This takes advanted of the fact that there won't be duplicate lines of output from "dir /b", so it may not work in the general case.
#echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set count=0
for /f "delims=" %%i in ('dir /b') do (
if "!DIR!"=="" (set DIR=%%i) else (set DIR=!DIR!#%%i)
set /a count = !count! + 1
)
echo directory contains:
echo %DIR%
for /l %%c in (1,1,%count%) do (
for /f "delims=#" %%i in ("!DIR!") do (
echo %%i
set DIR=!DIR:%%i=!
)
)
#echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
FOR /F "tokens=1 delims= " %%i IN ('echo hola') DO (
set TXT=%%i
)
echo 'TXT: %TXT%'
the result is 'TXT: hola'
You should use the for command, here is an example:
#echo off
rem Commands go here
exit /b
:output
for /f "tokens=* useback" %%a in (`%~1`) do set "output=%%a"
and you can use call :output "Command goes here" then the output will be in the %output% variable.
Note: If you have a command output that is multiline, this tool will set the output to the last line of your multiline command.
Please refer to this http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490982.aspx which explains what you can do with command output.
I am using batch script for windows command line on windows 7. I am currently trying to get the newest file from each sub directory and print them to the screen. For example, if I have:
C:\Home\Hi\Folder1\a 01/05/2016
C:\Home\Hi\Folder1\b 01/10/2016
C:\Home\Hi\Folder2\x 03/05/2016
C:\Homeh\Hi\Folder2\y 03/1/2016
It would return: folders b and x.
I have written some script to attempt this, but it only returns the newest file in the last directory which in my example would be x. The script is:
FOR /R "C:\Users\Maxx\Desktop\tools" %%G in (.) DO (
Pushd %%G
FOR /F %%I IN ('DIR %%G /B /O:D') DO SET NEWEST=%%I
ECHO %NEWEST%
Popd )
Echo "back home"
If anyone knows how to get the newest file from each subdirectory that would be great.
Note: I have looked at various other examples such as: Generate a list of the newest file in each subdirectory in windows batch, which has been very helpful in building what I have now, but ultimately it did not work.
You need to apply delayed expansion as you are writing and reading variable NEWEST within the same block of code:
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
for /R "C:\Users\Maxx\Desktop\tools" %%G in (.) do (
pushd "%%~G"
for /F %%I in ('dir "%%~G" /B /O:D') do set "NEWEST=%%I"
echo !NEWEST!
)
popd
echo back home
endlocal
Alternatively, replace echo %NEWEST% by call echo %%NEWEST%%:
for /R "C:\Users\Maxx\Desktop\tools" %%G in (.) do (
pushd "%%~G"
for /F %%I in ('dir "%%~G" /B /O:D') do set "NEWEST=%%I"
call echo %%NEWEST%%
)
popd
echo back home
In addition, I improved quoting.
#ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL
FOR /R "C:\106x" %%G in (.) DO (
Pushd "%%G"
SET "first="
FOR /F "delims=" %%I IN ('DIR . /a-d /B /O:-D 2^>nul') DO IF NOT DEFINED first SET first=Y&ECHO %%~dpI
Popd
)
Echo "back home"
GOTO :EOF
For each directory, go to the directory, clear a flag first, scan the directory for files (not directories), basic format, reverse-date order, suppressing any "file not found" reports from empty directories.
On finding the first (ie youngest) file set the flag first and report the filename - or parts of the filename you require.
Once first has been set, the report mechanism will not be invoked as if defined works on the current value of the variable.
Please note that when specifying dates, it's advisable to state the format that you are using - or at least use a date where the day number is >12, which should be adequate. For instance, your date "01/10/2016" may be interpreted as Jan 10th or Oct 1st, depending on the respondent's locale. "13/10/2016" or "10/13/2016" would make the issue obvious.
I want to use dir command and have filename as 1st column, creation date time as 2nd column and modified date time as 3rd column.
How could I achieve this?
http://www.computerhope.com/dirhlp.htm
This shows /T might be used but not sure how to use it because dir /TCAW doesn't list the format I need.
As Christopher Painter says, the DIR command cannot do this directly.
But there is a simple command line one liner that displays your information without header or footer info. This command lists only files. It works as long as your locality displays time stamps using 3 space delimited components. For example, my U.S. time stamps display as mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss am.
for /f "tokens=1-4*" %A in ('dir /a-d /tc^|findstr "^[0-9]"') do #echo %E %A %B %C %~tE
Change /a-d to /a if you want to include directories. Or simply remove /a-d entirely if you want both files and directories but you want to exclude hidden and system files/directories.
Here is the same command in a nicely formatted batch script:
#echo off
for /f "tokens=1-4*" %%A in (
'dir /a-d /tc^|findstr "^[0-9]"'
) do echo %%E %%A %%B %%C %%~tE
I don't like the output format with the file name in the front because the width of the name varies - it is hard to read the output because the columns don't line up. I prefer to put the file name at the end:
#echo off
for /f "tokens=1-4*" %%A in (
'dir /a-d /tc^|findstr "^[0-9]"'
) do echo %%A %%B %%C %%~tE %%E
DIR doesn't support what you are trying to do. the /T:Fileld ID can only show one set of time information at a time. I'm not sure what you are trying to do but I see you have some C# experience. You could write your only console app that outputs the way you out and call that instead.
# ECHO OFF
(FOR /f "delims=" %%a IN ('dir /b /a-d') DO (
FOR /f "tokens=1-3*" %%x IN ('dir /a-d /tc "%%~a"^|findstr "^[0-9]"') DO (
ECHO "%%a",%%~ta,%%x %%y %%z
)
)) > DIR.txt
TYPE DIR.txt
the answer in refered to : Windows batch file to create csv list of file and dates
I have a directory with thousands of files, and I need to find specific filenames by file count (files are sorted by name or date).
Is there an easy way to make it using cmd commands?
Thank you.
If you want the 11th file then you want to skip the first 10. Here is a simple batch file that does the trick. Change the DIR command in the FOR IN() clause to get the results you need.
#echo off
for /f "skip=10 eol=: delims=" %%F in ('dir /b /a-d') do set "chosenFile=%%F" & goto break
:break
echo The 11th file is %chosenFile%
exit /b
If all you want to do is list the 11th file to the screen, then you can do this on the command line:
cmd /c "for /f "skip=10 eol=: delims=" %F in ('dir /b /a-d') do echo %F&exit"
I need to generate lists of all files that has been created, modified and accessed respectively on a windows system.
I have found the command forfiles here http://technet.microsoft.com/sv-se/library/cc753551(v=ws.10).aspx but apparently this does not use the created and accessed timestamps, I need those also (in separate lists).
I have also looked into using the dir command but I have only found references to sorting and not filtering in the help sections.
Your question have some unclear details, so I made some assumptions.
The Batch file below create three separated text files: created.txt, modified.txt and accessed.txt, with the lists of the files in current folder; each list have the respective date in YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format followed by the file name, so it may be easily processed.
#echo off
setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion
for %%f in (created modified accessed) do if exist %%f.txt del %%f.txt
set "folder=%CD:~2%"
for /F "skip=1 tokens=1-3*" %%a in (
'"wmic datafile where (path='%folder:\=\\%\\') get InstallDate, LastModified,
LastAccessed, Name"'
) do (
for /F "delims=." %%A in ("%%a") do echo %%A %%d>> created.txt
for /F "delims=." %%B in ("%%b") do echo %%B %%d>> modified.txt
for /F "delims=." %%C in ("%%c") do echo %%C %%d>> accessed.txt
)
rem Process each list this way:
for /F "tokens=1*" %%a in (created.txt) do echo %%a - %%b
In the subject there was also "between dates" :) How about that?
forfiles doesn't allow to put 2 date conditions ('+' and '-').
I also have a problem with a date condition with unequalness in wmic.
for example:
wmic datafile where (path='%folder:\=\\\\%\\\\' and lastmodified ^> "20120713" and lastmodified ^< "20120714") get Name
returns nothing (I needed an escape ('^') before '<' and '>' to run the command).
wmic datafile where (path='%folder:\=\\\\%\\\\' and lastmodified ^> "20120713") get Name
returns only files modified after 20120714000000 (in the wmic notation).