Replacing file content with wildcard masks - windows

Question

I have search over SO but cant find similar topic so I have decided to write one. I would like to have a command in my Windows batch file .bat that can replace content of 1 or more files with wildcard masks. For example:
replace *.txt "searchin? str?ng*" "replacing string"
Can someone let me know if that is possible?
Many Thanks,

Answer 1

Windows does not have a native command line tool (except for perhaps PowerShell) that can do this. But there are Windows ports of unix utilities like sed that could do the job well. Any utility that supports regular expression search and replace would work well, though the syntax for wildcards is not what you have in your example. Regular expressions are extremely powerful, and you will want to read some tutorials on how to use them. There are many tutorials available on the web.
I have written a hybrid JScript/batch utility called REPL.BAT that performs a regular expression search/replace on stdin and writes the result to stdout. The utility is pure script that will run natively on any modern Windows machine from XP onward. Full documentation is embedded within the script.
Using REPL.BAT, your example could be implemented as:
#echo off
for %%F in (*.txt) do (
type "%%F" | repl "searchin. str.ng.*" "replacing string" >"%%F.new"
move /Y "%%F.new" "%%F"
)
Note that ? (any 1 character) in your question is expressed as . in a regular expression, and * (any 0 or more characters) is expressed as .*.
The above could easily be converted into a general purpose REPLACE.BAT "command".
#echo off
for %%F in (%1) do (
type "%%F" | repl %2 %3 >"%%F.new"
move /Y "%%F.new" "%%F"
)
Then the above would be called using:
replace *.txt "searchin. str.ng.*" "replacing string"
This assumes that both REPL.BAT and REPLACE.BAT are either in your current directory, or else somewhere within your PATH.

Answer 2

This is a vbs program.
ReplaceRegEx.vbs Filename SearchString [ReplaceString]
This is the code.
On Error Resume Next
Set ShellApp = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
ReportErrors "Creating Shell.App"
set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
ReportErrors "Creating Wscript.Shell"
Set objArgs = WScript.Arguments
ReportErrors "Creating Wscript.Arg"
Set regEx = New RegExp
ReportErrors "Creating RegEx"
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
ReportErrors "Creating FSO"
If objArgs.Count = 0 then
MsgBox "No parameters", 16, "Serenity's ReplaceRegExp"
ReportErrors "Help"
ElseIf objArgs.Count = 1 then
MsgBox "Only one parameter", 16, "Serenity's ReplaceRegExp"
ReportErrors "Help"
ElseIf objArgs.Count = 2 then
Set srcfile = fso.GetFile(objArgs(0))
ReportErrors "srcFile"
If err.number = 0 then Set TS = srcFile.OpenAsTextStream(1, 0)
If err.number <> 0 then
Msgbox err.description & " " & srcFile.path, 48, "Serenity's Search"
err.clear
else
ReportErrors "TS" & " " & srcFile.path
Src=ts.readall
If err.number = 62 then
err.clear
else
ReportErrors "ReadTS" & " " & srcFile.path
regEx.Pattern = objArgs(1)
regEx.IgnoreCase = True
regEx.Global = True
If regEx.Test(Src) = True then
Msgbox "Found in " & srcfile.path, 64, "Serenity's Search"
End If
End If
End If
ReportErrors "Check OK" & " " & srcFile.path
Elseif objArgs.count = 3 then
Set srcfile = fso.GetFile(objArgs(0))
ReportErrors "srcFile"
If err.number = 0 then Set TS = srcFile.OpenAsTextStream(1, 0)
If err.number <> 0 then
Msgbox err.description & " " & srcFile.path, 48, "Serenity's Search"
err.clear
else
ReportErrors "TS" & " " & srcFile.path
Src=ts.readall
If err.number = 62 then
err.clear
else
ReportErrors "ReadTS" & " " & srcFile.path
regEx.Pattern = objArgs(1)
regEx.IgnoreCase = True
regEx.Global = True
NewSrc= regEx.Replace(Src, objArgs(2))
If NewSrc<>Src then
Msgbox "Replacement made in " & srcfile.path, 64, "Serenity's Search"
TS.close
Set TS = srcFile.OpenAsTextStream(2, 0)
ts.write newsrc
ReportErrors "Writing file"
End If
End If
End If
ReportErrors "Check OK" & " " & srcFile.path
Else
MsgBox "Too many parameters", 16, "Serenity's ReplaceRegExp"
ReportErrors "Help"
ReportErrors "All Others"
End If
Sub ReportErrors(strModuleName)
If err.number<>0 then Msgbox "An unexpected error occurred. This dialog provides details on the error." & vbCRLF & vbCRLF & "Error Details " & vbCRLF & vbCRLF & "Script Name" & vbTab & Wscript.ScriptFullName & vbCRLF & "Module" & vbtab & vbTab & strModuleName & vbCRLF & "Error Number" & vbTab & err.number & vbCRLF & "Description" & vbTab & err.description, vbCritical + vbOKOnly, "Something unexpected"
Err.clear
End Sub
These are the rules.
Special characters and sequences are used in writing patterns for regular expressions. The following table describes and gives an example of the characters and sequences that can be used.
Character Description
\
Marks the next character as either a special character or a literal. For example, "n" matches the character "n". "\n" matches a newline character. The sequence "\\" matches "\" and "\(" matches "(".
^
Matches the beginning of input.
$
Matches the end of input.
*
Matches the preceding character zero or more times. For example, "zo*" matches either "z" or "zoo".
+
Matches the preceding character one or more times. For example, "zo+" matches "zoo" but not "z".
?
Matches the preceding character zero or one time. For example, "a?ve?" matches the "ve" in "never".
.
Matches any single character except a newline character.
(pattern)
Matches pattern and remembers the match. The matched substring can be retrieved from the resulting Matches collection, using Item [0]...[n]. To match parentheses characters ( ), use "\(" or "\)".
x|y
Matches either x or y. For example, "z|wood" matches "z" or "wood". "(z|w)oo" matches "zoo" or "wood".
{n}
n is a nonnegative integer. Matches exactly n times. For example, "o{2}" does not match the "o" in "Bob," but matches the first two o's in "foooood".
{n,}
n is a nonnegative integer. Matches at least n times. For example, "o{2,}" does not match the "o" in "Bob" and matches all the o's in "foooood." "o{1,}" is equivalent to "o+". "o{0,}" is equivalent to "o*".
{ n , m }
m and n are nonnegative integers. Matches at least n and at most m times. For example, "o{1,3}" matches the first three o's in "fooooood." "o{0,1}" is equivalent to "o?".
[ xyz ]
A character set. Matches any one of the enclosed characters. For example, "[abc]" matches the "a" in "plain".
[^ xyz ]
A negative character set. Matches any character not enclosed. For example, "[^abc]" matches the "p" in "plain".
[ a-z ]
A range of characters. Matches any character in the specified range. For example, "[a-z]" matches any lowercase alphabetic character in the range "a" through "z".
[^ m-z ]
A negative range characters. Matches any character not in the specified range. For example, "[m-z]" matches any character not in the range "m" through "z".
\b
Matches a word boundary, that is, the position between a word and a space. For example, "er\b" matches the "er" in "never" but not the "er" in "verb".
\B
Matches a non-word boundary. "ea*r\B" matches the "ear" in "never early".
\d
Matches a digit character. Equivalent to [0-9].
\D
Matches a non-digit character. Equivalent to [^0-9].
\f
Matches a form-feed character.
\n
Matches a newline character.
\r
Matches a carriage return character.
\s
Matches any white space including space, tab, form-feed, etc. Equivalent to "[ \f\n\r\t\v]".
\S
Matches any nonwhite space character. Equivalent to "[^ \f\n\r\t\v]".
\t
Matches a tab character.
\v
Matches a vertical tab character.
\w
Matches any word character including underscore. Equivalent to "[A-Za-z0-9_]".
\W
Matches any non-word character. Equivalent to "[^A-Za-z0-9_]".
\num
Matches num, where num is a positive integer. A reference back to remembered matches. For example, "(.)\1" matches two consecutive identical characters.
\ n
Matches n, where n is an octal escape value. Octal escape values must be 1, 2, or 3 digits long. For example, "\11" and "\011" both match a tab character. "\0011" is the equivalent of "\001" & "1". Octal escape values must not exceed 256. If they do, only the first two digits comprise the expression. Allows ASCII codes to be used in regular expressions.
\xn
Matches n, where n is a hexadecimal escape value. Hexadecimal escape values must be exactly two digits long. For example, "\x41" matches "A". "\x041" is equivalent to "\x04" & "1". Allows ASCII codes to be used in regular expressions.