How to copy files. iterating whitespace directories - batch - for-loop

Hello i want to create a batch file that copies the files from the current directory to another.
for /F "usebackq" %%b IN (`DIR /B /S ""`) DO #(
XCOPY %%b %1
)
So Far so good.
MY problem are the whitespaces in directories.
So when the name of a directory is /Dir whitespaces end/
it does not copy it. "File not found - Dir"
Start bat file with destination
CopyFiles.bat "I:\testFolder*.*"
How can i work around this feature?

Try this:
for /f "delims=" %%b in ('dir /b /s ') do xcopy "%%~b" "%1"
Important is 1) set "delims=" and 2) enclose for loop and other variables in double quotes.

Related

trying to rename folders in batch

SETLOCAL enabledelayedexpansion
(
FOR /f "delims=" %%a IN ('dir /ad /b /S "*-ABC*"') DO (
REM Get the foldername without the path name and without the extension (i.e. Folder1-ABC)
SET "eir_foldername=%%~na"
echo "!eir_foldername!"
REM Remove "-ABC" from the filename (i.e. Folder1)
SET "reg_foldername=!eir_foldername:-EIR=!"
echo "%%~dpa" "!reg_foldername!"
rem for /D /r %%~dpa!reg_foldername! in (*) do rmdir /q /s %%~dpa!reg_foldername!
for /D /r %%i in (%%~dpa!reg_foldername!) do echo %%i
Rename "%%~dpa" "!reg_foldername!"
REM Rename the file (with full path and filename) to the new filename (that does not have "-Eir" in it + the original extension)
)
)
echo Successfully renamed!
rem Endlocal
Endlocal
pause
:end
I have a path which contains various folders with the same name. For example, in the pash C:/Test/First/Second/, I have folders Folder1, Folder1-ABC, Folder2, Folder2-ABC.
What I am trying to do is to remove the folders without -ABC and rremove -ABC if a folder name contains it, for example Folder1-ABC should become Folder1).
#echo off
for /f "delims=" %%A in ('dir /ad /b /s ^| findstr /i /v "\-ABC$"') do (
if /i exist "%%~A-ABC\" (
echo rd /q /s "%%~A"
echo move "%%~A-ABC" "%%~A"
)
)
pause
With paired folder names i.e. name and name-ABC, you are looking for the latter name and removing -ABC from the name. It would be perhaps be easier to append -ABC than to remove -ABC.
findstr with /v will print lines that do not match -ABC at the end of line, due to use of $ anchor. Now each path processed in the loop appends -ABC to %%A to check if the paired name does exist. If it does, then the rd and move commands will execute.
The echo command infront of rd and move are for testing. If satisfied is OK, remove the echo commands.

Windows Batch File, how to rename and remove part of filename

I am trying to rename a group of files in a directory that all have a part in the filename I want removed later on.
The example of names are:
123876.111thepartIwanttoremove.exe
thisisatestfile.111thepartIwanttoremove.exe
this?392!.111thepartIwanttoremove.exe
thankyouall.222thepartIwanttoremove.exe
test.222thepartIwanttoremove.exe
whatis#d354.222thepartIwanttoremove.exe
My code is:
forfiles /S /M *.111thepartIwanttoremove.exe /C "cmd /c rename #file #fname.doc"
ren ???.111thepartIwanttoremove.* ???.doc
ren ????.111thepartIwanttoremove.* ????.doc
ren ?????.111thepartIwanttoremove.* ?????.doc (and so on)
forfiles /S /M *.222thepartIwanttoremove.exe /C "cmd /c rename #file #fname.jpg"
ren ???.222thepartIwanttoremove.* ???.jpg
ren ????.222thepartIwanttoremove.* ????.jpg
ren ?????.222thepartIwanttoremove.* ?????.jpg (and so on)
So for an example I want the file:
123876.111thepartIwanttoremove.exe
To look like this:
123876.doc
what function can I use to remove the .*thepartIwanttoremove.exe part of the name afterwards without writing so many lines with "?"?
Thank you very much for your help.
Assuming all the files have three parts to the file name that are separated by periods, this style of code should work for you.
for /F "tokens=1-3 delims=." %%G in ('dir /a-d /b *.111*.exe') do rename "%%G.%%H.%%I" "%%G.doc"
for /F "tokens=1-3 delims=." %%G in ('dir /a-d /b *.222*.exe') do rename "%%G.%%H.%%I" "%%G.jpg"

How to create file in partially known folder name using batch file

I want to create a 0 byte file names dblank in a specific directory C:\Users\myUser\*.data\.
echo. 2>"C:\Users\myUser\*.data\dblank.txt"
The * sign in the above command refers to any letters or numbers. I do not know. How can I refer to any letters or numbers in my batch code?
Maybe this:
setlocal enableextensions
for /D %%i in (C:\Users\myUsers\*.data) do copy nul "%%~i\dblank.txt"
endlocal
You can omit setlocal/endlocal if command extensions are already enabled (cmd /E:on).
This works on every existing *.data folder, if any.
#echo off
for /f "delims=" %%f in ('dir /b /s /ad C:\Users\myUser\*.data') do echo. 2>"%%f\dblank.txt"
EDIT
Filter results:
#echo off
for /f "delims=" %%f in ('dir /b /s /ad C:\Users\myUser\*.data^|findstr /r "\\[0-9a-zA-Z]*\.data$"') do (
echo. 2>"%%f\dblank.txt"
)

DOS Batch FOR Loop to delete Files not Containing a String

I want to delete all the files in the current directory which do not contain the string "sample" in their name.
for instance,
test_final_1.exe
test_initial_1.exe
test_sample_1.exe
test_sample_2.exe
I want to delete all the files other than the ones containing sample in their name.
for %i in (*.*) do if not %i == "*sample*" del /f /q %i
Is the use of wild card character in the if condition allowed?
Does, (*.*) represent the current directory?
Thanks.
Easiest to use FIND or FINDSTR with /V option to look for names that don't contain a string, and /I option for case insenstive search. Switch to FOR /F and pipe results of DIR to FIND.
for /f "eol=: delims=" %F in ('dir /b /a-d * ^| find /v /i "sample"') do del "%F"
change %F to %%F if used in a batch file.
The answer from Aacini worked for me. I needed a bat file to parse the directory tree finding all files with xyz file extension and not containing badvalue anywhere in the path. The solution was:
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
for /r %%f in (*.xyz) do (
set "str1=%%f"
if "!str1!" == "!str1:badvalue=!" (
echo Found file with xyz extension and without badvalue in path
)
)
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
for %i in (*.*) do (set "name=%i" & if "!name!" == "!name:sample=!" del /f /q %i)

Iterate all files in a directory using a 'for' loop

How can I iterate over each file in a directory using a for loop?
And how could I tell if a certain entry is a directory or if it's just a file?
This lists all the files (and only the files) in the current directory and its subdirectories recursively:
for /r %i in (*) do echo %i
Also if you run that command in a batch file you need to double the % signs.
for /r %%i in (*) do echo %%i
(thanks #agnul)
Iterate through...
...files in current dir: for %f in (.\*) do #echo %f
...subdirs in current dir: for /D %s in (.\*) do #echo %s
...files in current and all subdirs: for /R %f in (.\*) do #echo %f
...subdirs in current and all subdirs: for /R /D %s in (.\*) do #echo %s
Unfortunately I did not find any way to iterate over files and subdirs at the same time.
Just use cygwin with its bash for much more functionality.
Apart from this: Did you notice, that the buildin help of MS Windows is a great resource for descriptions of cmd's command line syntax?
Also have a look here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490890.aspx
To iterate over each file a for loop will work:
for %%f in (directory\path\*) do ( something_here )
In my case I also wanted the file content, name, etc.
This lead to a few issues and I thought my use case might help. Here is a loop that reads info from each '.txt' file in a directory and allows you do do something with it (setx for instance).
#ECHO OFF
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for %%f in (directory\path\*.txt) do (
set /p val=<%%f
echo "fullname: %%f"
echo "name: %%~nf"
echo "contents: !val!"
)
*Limitation: val<=%%f will only get the first line of the file.
There is a subtle difference between running FOR from the command line and from a batch file. In a batch file, you need to put two % characters in front of each variable reference.
From a command line:
FOR %i IN (*) DO ECHO %i
From a batch file:
FOR %%i IN (*) DO ECHO %%i
This for-loop will list all files in a directory.
pushd somedir
for /f "delims=" %%f in ('dir /b /a-d-h-s') do echo %%f
popd
"delims=" is useful to show long filenames with spaces in it....
'/b" show only names, not size dates etc..
Some things to know about dir's /a argument.
Any use of "/a" would list everything, including hidden and system attributes.
"/ad" would only show subdirectories, including hidden and system ones.
"/a-d" argument eliminates content with 'D'irectory attribute.
"/a-d-h-s" will show everything, but entries with 'D'irectory, 'H'idden 'S'ystem attribute.
If you use this on the commandline, remove a "%".
Hope this helps.
%1 refers to the first argument passed in and can't be used in an iterator.
Try this:
#echo off
for %%i in (*.*) do echo %%i
I had trouble getting jop's answer to work with an absolute path until I found this reference: https://ss64.com/nt/for_r.html
The following example loops through all files in a directory given by the absolute path.
For /R C:\absoulte\path\ %%G IN (*.*) do (
Echo %%G
)
Here's my go with comments in the code.
I'm just brushing up by biatch skills so forgive any blatant errors.
I tried to write an all in one solution as best I can with a little modification where the user requires it.
Some important notes: Just change the variable recursive to FALSE if you only want the root directories files and folders processed. Otherwise, it goes through all folders and files.
C&C most welcome...
#echo off
title %~nx0
chcp 65001 >NUL
set "dir=c:\users\%username%\desktop"
::
:: Recursive Loop routine - First Written by Ste on - 2020.01.24 - Rev 1
::
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
rem THIS IS A RECURSIVE SOLUTION [ALBEIT IF YOU CHANGE THE RECURSIVE TO FALSE, NO]
rem By removing the /s switch from the first loop if you want to loop through
rem the base folder only.
set recursive=TRUE
if %recursive% equ TRUE ( set recursive=/s ) else ( set recursive= )
endlocal & set recursive=%recursive%
cd /d %dir%
echo Directory %cd%
for %%F in ("*") do (echo → %%F) %= Loop through the current directory. =%
for /f "delims==" %%D in ('dir "%dir%" /ad /b %recursive%') do ( %= Loop through the sub-directories only if the recursive variable is TRUE. =%
echo Directory %%D
echo %recursive% | find "/s" >NUL 2>NUL && (
pushd %%D
cd /d %%D
for /f "delims==" %%F in ('dir "*" /b') do ( %= Then loop through each pushd' folder and work on the files and folders =%
echo %%~aF | find /v "d" >NUL 2>NUL && ( %= This will weed out the directories by checking their attributes for the lack of 'd' with the /v switch therefore you can now work on the files only. =%
rem You can do stuff to your files here.
rem Below are some examples of the info you can get by expanding the %%F variable.
rem Uncomment one at a time to see the results.
echo → %%~F &rem expands %%F removing any surrounding quotes (")
rem echo → %%~dF &rem expands %%F to a drive letter only
rem echo → %%~fF &rem expands %%F to a fully qualified path name
rem echo → %%~pF &rem expands %%A to a path only
rem echo → %%~nF &rem expands %%F to a file name only
rem echo → %%~xF &rem expands %%F to a file extension only
rem echo → %%~sF &rem expanded path contains short names only
rem echo → %%~aF &rem expands %%F to file attributes of file
rem echo → %%~tF &rem expands %%F to date/time of file
rem echo → %%~zF &rem expands %%F to size of file
rem echo → %%~dpF &rem expands %%F to a drive letter and path only
rem echo → %%~nxF &rem expands %%F to a file name and extension only
rem echo → %%~fsF &rem expands %%F to a full path name with short names only
rem echo → %%~dp$dir:F &rem searches the directories listed in the 'dir' environment variable and expands %%F to the fully qualified name of the first one found. If the environment variable name is not defined or the file is not found by the search, then this modifier expands to the empty string
rem echo → %%~ftzaF &rem expands %%F to a DIR like output line
)
)
popd
)
)
echo/ & pause & cls
To iterate through all files and folders you can use
for /F "delims=" %%a in ('dir /b /s') do echo %%a
To iterate through all folders only not with files, then you can use
for /F "delims=" %%a in ('dir /a:d /b /s') do echo %%a
Where /s will give all results throughout the directory tree in unlimited depth. You can skip /s if you want to iterate through the content of that folder not their sub folder
Implementing search in iteration
To iterate through a particular named files and folders you can search for the name and iterate using for loop
for /F "delims=" %%a in ('dir "file or folder name" /b /s') do echo %%a
To iterate through a particular named folders/directories and not files, then use /AD in the same command
for /F "delims=" %%a in ('dir "folder name" /b /AD /s') do echo %%a
for %1 in (*.*) do echo %1
Try "HELP FOR" in cmd for a full guide
This is the guide for XP commands. http://www.ss64.com/nt/
The following code creates a file Named "AllFilesInCurrentDirectorylist.txt" in the current Directory, which contains the list of all files (Only Files) in the current Directory. Check it out
dir /b /a-d > AllFilesInCurrentDirectorylist.txt
It could also use the forfiles command:
forfiles /s
and also check if it is a directory
forfiles /p c:\ /s /m *.* /c "cmd /c if #isdir==true echo #file is a directory"
I would use vbscript (Windows Scripting Host), because in batch I'm sure you cannot tell that a name is a file or a directory.
In vbs, it can be something like this:
Dim fileSystemObject
Set fileSystemObject = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Dim mainFolder
Set mainFolder = fileSystemObject.GetFolder(myFolder)
Dim files
Set files = mainFolder.Files
For Each file in files
...
Next
Dim subFolders
Set subFolders = mainFolder.SubFolders
For Each folder in subFolders
...
Next
Check FileSystemObject on MSDN.
I use the xcopy command with the /L option to get the file names. So if you want to get either a directory or all the files in the subdirectory you could do something like this:
for /f "delims=" %%a IN ('xcopy "D:\*.pdf" c:\ /l') do echo %%a
I just use the c:\ as the destination because it always exists on windows systems and it is not copying so it does not matter. if you want the subdirectories too just use /s option on the end. You can also use the other switches of xcopy if you need them for other reasons.
Try this to test if a file is a directory:
FOR /F "delims=" %I IN ('DIR /B /AD "filename" 2^>^&1 ^>NUL') DO IF "%I" == "File Not Found" ECHO Not a directory
This only will tell you whether a file is NOT a directory, which will also be true if the file doesn't exist, so be sure to check for that first if you need to. The carets (^) are used to escape the redirect symbols and the file listing output is redirected to NUL to prevent it from being displayed, while the DIR listing's error output is redirected to the output so you can test against DIR's message "File Not Found".
try this:
::Example directory
set SetupDir=C:\Users
::Loop in the folder with "/r" to search in recursive folders, %%f being a loop ::variable
for /r "%SetupDir%" %%f in (*.msi *.exe) do set /a counter+=1
echo there are %counter% files in your folder
it counts .msi and .exe files in your directory (and in the sub directory). So it also makes the difference between folders and files as executables.
Just add an extension (.pptx .docx ..) if you need to filter other files in the loop
In my case I had to delete all the files and folders underneath a temp folder. So this is how I ended up doing it. I had to run two loops one for file and one for folders. If files or folders have spaces in their names then you have to use " "
cd %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp\
rem files only
for /r %%a in (*) do (
echo deleting file "%%a" ...
if exist "%%a" del /s /q "%%a"
)
rem folders only
for /D %%a in (*) do (
echo deleting folder "%%a" ...
if exist "%%a" rmdir /s /q "%%a"
)

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