I am trying to find a string in a file and assign the results to a variable for further processing. But for some reasons the code below doesn't work.
My string is always available on the 2nd line so I tried the code below, from which I can print the correct string on the console, but cannot assign it to a variable:
for /f "tokens=1*delims=:" %%G in ('findstr /n "^" C:\myfolder\payload.xml') do if %%G equ 2 echo %%H
Problem: Using the above method I'm unable to store the result in a variable
I have tried another method as well:
findstr /g "FilePath" C:\myfolder\payload.xml>>D:\Data\tmp.txt
set /p "Prev_FileName="<D:\Data\tmp.txt
echo %Prev_FileName%
Problem: with this method getting the output in the file tmp.txt but not in the variable.
In both contexts used SETLOCAL EnableDelayedExpansion
Could you please help as I am a beginner?
There are no unusual steps that need to be taken to set a variable in either context. How do you know the variable has not been set?
The first code you posted does not attempt to set anything, though if you changed the echo %%H into set "Prev_FileName=%%H", then it should work just find.
The second code should be setting the variable.
Why do you think your variable is not being set? I suspect you are doing something like echo %Prev_FileName%, and not seeing your expected result. That could happen if you are within a parenthesized block of commands, since they are all parsed at once, and %Prev_FileName% is expanded at parse time. You say you setlocal enableDelayedExpansion, but that does nothing unless you you also change the syntax for variable expansion. You should use echo !Prev_FileName! instead.
Related
I have a script that needs to extract a YouTube URL from a text file.
Here's what I have in the text file (output.txt):
---------- NUMBER11.TXT
<link itemprop="url" href="http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnxGkOGNMqQEUMvroOWps6Q">
Note the text file has a line of empty space to start, which is annoying, and the URL is on line 3. Something that doesn't show up in the formatting for this site is the 11 spaces before the actual href starting as well. I'd like to separate it from the mass of other junk.
I've tried something like this:
set /p long= < output.txt
echo %long%
set short1=%long:^<link itemprop^="url" href^="=%
echo %short1% > o1.txt
I thought this would remove the selected text from the file, but I think this is a little over my head.
I'm getting the output.txt from firstly a curl of a youtube video page, and secondly from a find command here:
find "href=""http://www.youtube.com/channel/" %vd% > output.txt
Maybe I'm making this more complicated than it is?
Using batch-files to access files with special characters, like redirect, it can cause some problems, so it is not recommended, but I felt like posting an answer anyway, so given you exact example, here is one way. If your example is not as per your post, which I highly expect it to be, then this probably would not work.
#echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /f "usebackq delims=" %%i in ("output.txt") do for %%a in (%%i) do (
set "var=%%~a"
set "var=!var:>=!"
set "var=!var:"=!"
if "!var:~0,4!" == "http" echo !var!
)
#ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL
SET "sourcedir=U:\sourcedir"
SET "filename1=%sourcedir%\q64572433.txt"
set "url="
FOR /f "tokens=4,5delims=>= " %%a IN (%filename1%) DO if "%%~a"=="href" set "url=%%~b"
echo URL=%url%
GOTO :EOF
You would need to change the setting of sourcedir to suit your circumstances. The listing uses a setting that suits my system.
I used a file named q64572433.txt containing your data for my testing.
The for command tokenises each line of the file, using =, > and space as delimiters (the 3 characters between delims= and ")
On the line of interest, token 4 would be href and token 5 the url - and this is the only line where href is the fourth token. When that is detected, assign the 5th token (in %%b) to the variable, removing the quotes with ~ for good measure.
I would suggest you parse the results directly from your curl command instead of outputting them to a text file, and then using find against that output.
However, instead of using find.exe, I would suggest you use the following method using findstr.exe instead, to get the URL assigned to any line containing href= followed by "http: or "https and subsequently followed by youtube.com.
#Echo Off
SetLocal EnableExtensions DisableDelayedExpansion
For /F Tokens^=*EOL^= %%G In (
'%__APPDIR__%findstr.exe /IR "href=\"http[s:].*youtube\.com" "output.txt"'
) Do (Set "Line=%%G" & SetLocal EnableDelayedExpansion
For /F Tokens^=2Delims^=^" %%H In ("!Line:*href=!") Do EndLocal & Echo %%H)
Pause
If you want the output stored as a variable, instead of Echoing it, change Echo %%H to Set "URL=%%H". You could then use %URL%, (or "%URL%" if you need it doublequoted), elsewhere in your script.
i am trying to code a simple script in batch that can find and replace a line
so far, I've found a snippet that works perfectly fine for my purpose the only problem is that it removes empty lines
and i can't figure out why!!
I've tried to add another if statement in this for loop but I fail
also I found that there is a bat called JREPL, i tried to run few simple commands from the docs and i failed again XD
here is the snippet:
:Variables
set InputFile=t.txt
set OutputFile=t-new.txt
set _strFind= old "data"
set _strInsert= new "data";
:Replace
>"%OutputFile%" (
for /f "usebackq delims=" %%A in ("%InputFile%") do (
if "%%A" equ "%_strFind%" (echo %_strInsert%) else (echo %%A)
)
)
i was expecting that this snippet won't remove my empty lines
and i can't figure out why
I am posting this without testing, as I do not have the environment to test as we speak.
But to explain your issue, cmd will ommit empty lines as it is built that way. It is the same as setting a variable to nothing and expecting it to return a result, so we simply assign values to each line by sort of simulating a detection of line breaks (Don't know exactly how to explain that one) but nevertheless, we will add some additional characters to the lines to ensure we get line breaks, the just get rid of them once we have them, So here goes:
#echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set inputfile=t.txt
set outputfile=t-new.txt
set _strfind=old "data"
set _strinsert=new "data";
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('type "%inputfile%" ^| find /v /n "" ^& break ^> "%inputfile%"') do (
set "str=%%a"
set "str=!str:*]=!"
if "!str!"=="%_strfind%" set "str=%_strinsert%"
>>%outputfile% echo(!str!
)
That should send to output file.. You can however make the output file the same as the input as it would then be the same as replacing the text inline in the original file. Once I am able to test, I will fix the answer if there are any issues with it.
As a side note, be careful of where you have additional whitespace in your variables you set. For instance:
set a = b
has 2 issues, the variable, containing a space after a will be created with the space. So it will be seen as:
%a %
The aftermath of this is that the value of the variable will start with a leading space, so when you expected b as the value, it in fact became b
Then lastly, it is alsways a good idea to enclose your variables with double quotes, simply again to eliminate whitespace, because:
set a=b
Even though you cannot see it with your naked eyes, contains a space at the end, so doing a direct match like:
if "b"=="b"
Will result in a false statement as in fact we have:
if "b"=="b "
So the correct statement would be to set variables as:
set "a=b"
if "%a%"=="b"
which will be a perfect match.
Note I posted this from my phone, so any spelling, grammar and code issues I will resolved as I go though my answer.
…and one way using JREPL
JRepl "old \qdata\q" "new \qdata\q;" /I /XSEQ /F "t.txt" /O "t-new.txt"
There are a handful of questions on SO that look similar, but I cannot figure out some behaviour and I am looking for help.
Below is a snippet from a batch file I am trying to write which will load in a set of directories and potentially replace letter substitutions with an expanded path, e.g. the properties file might look like:
location1=C:\Test
location2=[m]\Test
Where location1 points to C:\Test and location2 points to C:\Program Files(x86)\MODULE\Test, because [m] is a shorthand to C:\Program Files(x86)\MODULE.
The batch script, to this point, is simply trying to read in the list of file paths and expand/replace the [m].
SET build.dir=%~dp0%
SET progfiles=%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%
IF "%progfiles%"=="" SET progfiles=%ProgramFiles%
SET local.properties=%build.dir%local.properties
SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
FOR /F "tokens=1* delims==" %%i IN (%local.properties%) DO (
SET local.dir=%%j
SET local.dir=!local.dir:[m]=%progfiles%\MODULE!
echo !local.dir!
)
ENDLOCAL
Running this kicks out an error:
\MODULE was unexpected at this time.
If I replace the FOR with the following instead:
set test="[m]\Proj\Dir"
set test=!test:[m]=%progfiles%\MODULE!
echo %test%
I get the desired C:\Program Files(x86)\MODULE\Proj\Dir printed out...so I'm confused why it works fine outside of the FOR loop.
My understanding about delayed expansion is that it 'expands' at runtime...which you get to happen using !! instead of %% wrapped around the variable. Furthermore, as I'm creating the local.dir variable inside the FOR loop scope, I must use delayed expansion in order to access it with the updated value for the iteration.
I feel like the problem is using %progfiles%, like there's some special syntax I need to use in order to make it work but nothing is adding up for me. When I echo %progfiles%, it prints out as C:\Program Files(x86 -- note the missing trailing ).
Any ideas? Thanks
Tested suggestion:
D:\Projects\Test\Build>test
*** "D:\Projects\Test\Build\local.properties"
*** "","C:\Program Files (x86)"
[m]=C:\Program Files (x86)\MODULE
Adding quotes around the whole expression makes it work -- can't use other characters for some reason (like []) -- and since I want to append to the path later, we can safely remove the quotes afterwards:
SET local.dir="!local.dir:[m]=%progfiles%\MODULE!"
SET local.dir=!local.dir:"=!
Test this to see if you can nut out the issue:
The double quotes are to provide robust handling in a system with long file/path names.
The () are unquoted which are a problem in a batch script, when inside a loop.
#echo off
SET "build.dir=%~dp0%"
SET "progfiles=%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%"
IF "%progfiles%"=="" "SET progfiles=%ProgramFiles%"
SET "local.properties=%build.dir%local.properties"
echo *** "%local.properties%"
SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
FOR /F "usebackq tokens=1* delims==" %%i IN ("%local.properties%") DO (
SET "local.dir=%%j"
echo *** "!local.dir!","%progfiles%"
SET "local.dir=!local.dir:[m]=%progfiles%\MODULE!"
echo !local.dir!
)
ENDLOCAL
pause
It has to do with the () characters that end up in your progfiles string. If you take them out, the substitution seems to work fine.
My suggestion is to ditch command for this particular purpose and use one of the other standard tools that Windows comes with. While my personal preference would be Powershell (since it's so much more powerful and expressive), you may just need something quick that you can integrate into existing cmd.exe stuff.
In that case, try the following VBScript file, xlat.vbs:
set arg = wscript.arguments
wscript.echo Replace(arg(0),arg(1),arg(2))
Your batch file then becomes something like, noting the inner for /f which captures the output of the VBS script and assigns it to the variable:
#echo off
SET build.dir=%~dp0%
set progfiles=%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%
if "%progfiles%"=="" set progfiles=%ProgramFiles%
set local.properties=%build.dir%local.properties
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /f "tokens=1* delims==" %%i in (%local.properties%) do (
set local.dir=%%j
for /f "delims=" %%x in ('cscript.exe //nologo xlat.vbs "!local.dir!" "[m]" "%progfiles%\MODULE"') do set local.dir=%%x
echo !local.dir!
)
endlocal
Running that, I get the output:
C:\Test
C:\Program Files (x86)\MODULE\Test
which I think is what you were after.
So I was tasked with making a batch file that does a few specific things. I've never worked with batch before, and I'm finding it hard to find tutorials on what exactly I need. (I've done basic tutorials)
I'm trying to get the most currently edited file from a directory. The only thing I've came up with (and I've noticed other people said to do) is a for loop of files in the directory sorted by date and then just get the first file and break the loop.
Some problems:
1) My loop never breaks
2) My ECHO %variable% doesn't work at the end.
#echo off
SET count=0
FOR /f %%i in ('DIR Y:\ /B /O:-D') DO (
IF count==0 (
SET NewestFile=%%i
SET count=1
)
)
#echo on
ECHO %NewestFile%
When I run this, I get:
C:\>testing.bat
C:\>ECHO
ECHO is on.
I am 100% new to Batch. Maybe I'm doing something that this is really picky about? (Other StackOverflow questions have been solved by people just adding aa space or stuff like that)
Your condition is never met because the string count is never equal to the string 0. You need
if !count!==0 (
set NewestFile=%%i
set count=1
)
But then you also need delayed expansion (at the beginning of your batch file):
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
The problem here is that you need to tell the batch file that there is a variable. Like foo in Perl won't magically resolve to the contents of the $foo variable count in your batch file isn't equivalent to %count% (the variable contents) or !count! (the same, but with delayed expansion).
Delayed expansion is necessary because the whole for loop is parsed at once. And cmd replaces normal (%foo%) variables with their contents during parsing so that during execution only the values remain. So once execution reaches the if there would be the condition 0==0 because that's what count's value was before the loop. Delayed expansion (using the !foo! syntax) expands the variables immediately prior to execution, so this does not happen.
For more help on delayed expansion you can read help set.
Another way would be to just use absence or presence of the count variable:
SET count=
FOR /f %%i in ('DIR Y:\ /B /O:-D') DO (
IF not defined count (
SET NewestFile=%%i
SET count=1
)
)
This works around the problem above because there is no variable to replace during parsing. All we're doing is a run-time check whether the variable count exists.
If you supplied accurate code then you want to get the first line - and this is one way to do that.
#echo off
FOR /f %%i in ('DIR Y:\ /B /O:-D') DO SET "NewestFile=%%i" & goto :done
:done
ECHO %NewestFile%
If you change the dir command to list the files in ascending order instead of descending order, you can use this one-liner which doesn't need any of the common bizarre cmd.exe scripting hacks. It just keeps the last line of output in the NewestFile variable (I guess it might qualify as a cmd.exe scripting hack, but I don't think it qualifies as bizarre):
for /f %%i in ('DIR Y:\ /B /O:D') do set NewestFile=%%i
FOR /F "tokens=*" %%A IN ('gpresult /r ^| FIND "string"') DO SET Result=%%A
if '%Result%'=='this is where the word string shows up'
echo Success > %homepath%\Desktop\Success.txt
Does not actually write the file to the desktop even though the strings match.
You need
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
at the top of your batch file, and then instead of
'%Result%'=='this is where the word string shows up'
you need
'!Result!'=='this is where the word string shows up'
- notice the ! instead of %. Otherwise, %Result% is expanded when the batch file is first parsed, at which point the Result variable does not contain anything. These changes mean that it delays parsing it until its within the for loop, by which point it will have been populated appropriately.
Try using setlocal enabledelayedexpansion in your code. Then access your variables using "!variable!" instead of "%variable%".
Also make sure if %%A is fetching the required token or not.
The echo should be on the same line as the if:
if '%Result%'=='this is where the word string shows up' echo Success > %homepath%\Desktop\Success.txt
or put parentheses around it:
if '%Result%'=='this is where the word string shows up' (
echo Success > %homepath%\Desktop\Success.txt
)