I have to show the filenames using given template. I've written the following code:
if "%2" == "" (
echo "Missing second argument!"
set /p FileName="Input file name template ('*', '?' are allowed): "
set /p FileType="Input file type ('text', 'bat', 'all' only): "
if FileType == "all" (set FileType = "*")
) else (
set FileType="%2"
)
echo %DirSearch%\%FileName%.%FileType%
for %%i in (%DirSearch%\%FileName%.%FileType%) do (echo "Thats it: %%i")
If the second argument is empty, I ask user about filename template, extension (if its equal to 'all' I rewrite it's value as '*'.
Now the first trouble is that it isn't rewritten. When I put 'all' the 'FileType' is still 'all' after setting it to '*'. Why?
And echo shows up:
"C:\Folder"\test.all
"Thats it: "C:\Folder"\test.all"
How to interpretate it as single value and use in for?
New code:
if "%2" == "" (
...
if "%FileType%" == "all" (set FileType=*)
) else (
...
)
set result=%DirSearch%\%FileName%.%FileType%
echo %result%
for %%i in (%result%) do (echo "Thats it: %%i")
// echo %result%:
"C:\Data\test"\test.all
// in for cycle
"Thats it: "C:\Data\test"\test.all"
The right string should be: "C:\Data\test\test.all"
You are not testing the value of FileType in the correct manner. Also, you are not setting the new value in the correct manner. The code should read
if "%FileType%" == "all" (set FileType=*)
Otherwise, you are just comparing the strings "FileType" and "all", which of course never succeeds.
Aside: You also seem to have some error in the code that sets DirSearch; there's an extra trailing double quote there that shouldn't be.
Related
I have Windows Batch code where I'm trying to test if the first character of value is a hyphen but the code fails when the first character of value is a double quote. (value is coming from elsewhere in the real code.)
set value=""This is a test""
set arg="%value%"
set prefix=%arg:~1,1%
if "%prefix%" == "-" ...
Evaluates to
if """ == "-"
and generates The syntax of the command is incorrect. I tried inserting a caret into both sides of the equality check
if "^%prefix%" == "^-" ...
but that generates the same error with
if "^"" == "^-"
You can use the caret to escape a single character, like
if ^"^%prefix%^" == "-" ...
The trick is to escape the quotes, too, else the inner caret has no special meaning.
This can't work for more than one character, but you could switch to the even simple delayed expansion. It's expansion is always safe.
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set "value="This is a test""
set "arg=!value!"
set "prefix=!arg:~1,1!"
if "!prefix!" == "-" ...
test if the first character of value is a hyphen
Another approach (using the original string, no additional variables):
#echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set value1=-correct
set value2=xfail
set value3="fail
set value
echo ---------
echo !value1!|findstr /bc:"-" >nul && echo hyphen || echo something else
echo !value2!|findstr /bc:"-" >nul && echo hyphen || echo something else
echo !value3!|findstr /bc:"-" >nul && echo hyphen || echo something else
I am making an experimental program in batch for a simple chatting interface. In this one, I made a function where if there is the word r placed in chat, it ignores it and just redisplays the text file again. It works fine if I put r and it just refreshes, and if I put one word it works fine, but if I put a word and a space and another word, it breaks and shows the following error:
Chat(Put r for refresh):hey hi
hi was unexpected at this time.
Does anyone know how to fix this? Thanks.
Code:
#echo off
cls
cd %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\Chat
for /f "delims=" %%A in (chat.txt) do (
set %%A
)
echo %chatt%
echo %chatp%
echo %chatn%
cd %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\Chat\Servers\%chatt%
:1
cls
type %chatn%.chat
set /p in=Chat(Put r for refresh):
if %in% == r goto 1
echo %chatp%: %in%>>%chatn%.chat
goto 1
The usual way to deal with spaces in a string variables contents is to wrap it in quotes. This is the case here. When you use the variables contents with %in% the contents are inserted verbatim, so the suspect line would look like this:
if hey hi == r goto 1
It starts off okay if hey but then instead of seeing a comparison operator like == it sees hi and chokes. So wrap it all in quotes:
if "%in%" == "r" goto 1
That way it will be interpreted like
if "hey hi" == "r" goto 1
and the bat engine will know that "hey hi" should be treated as one entity.
I have to filter a text file filter.tmp containing two types of lines, this shows the difference:
findstr /r "^[0-9][0-9]*.*$" filter.tmp > filter-numbers.tmp
findstr /r "^[^0-9][^0-9]*.*$" filter.tmp > filter-text.tmp
What I need to do is to append lines containing text together like this and if line does contain number just put it to output file:
IF "current line" contains text THEN
previous line = concatenate "previous line" + "/" + "current line"
ELSE
echo "previous line" >> filter.out
echo "current line" >> filter.out
filter.tmp contains something like:
Hello
World
Foo
Bar
45: this is some line
Trouble
with code
66: another line
filter.out should look like:
Hello/World/Foo/Bar
45: this is some line
Trouble/with code
66: another line
I realize, this is very simple, but I just can not get it working. As I am thinking about it, it would be much easier to use C++....
This is a quite verbatim translation of your pseudocode and your regexes, based on the assumption that »contains numbers« really means »starts with two digits« (which is what your regexes show):
#echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set Prev=
for /f "delims=" %%x in (filter.tmp) do (
set "Line=%%x"
if "!Line:~0,2!" GEQ "00" if "!Line:~0,2!" LEQ "99" (
if not "!Prev!"=="" (>>filter.out echo !Prev!)
>>filter.out echo !Line!
set Prev=
) else (
if "!Prev!"=="" (set "Prev=!Line!") else (set "Prev=!Prev!/!Line!")
)
)
if not "!Prev!"=="" (>>filter.out echo !Prev!)
This uses several things. First of all, we need delayed expansion which enables us to manipulate environment variables within the loop. Then we iterate over the lines in the file with for /f. Note that this will skip empty lines in the file, but you cannot avoid that. Inside the for /f loop the variable Line holds the current line and Prev the previous one (if there has been a previous one). I swapped the then and else branches of the condition since numbers at the start of the line are easier to check for than non-numbers.
With the echo you'll notice that I moved the redirection to the start of the line; this is to prevent trailing numbers in Prev or Line from having an effect on the redirection (and also to avoid trailing spaces).
If you're not adverse to PowerShell, you can use the following:
$(switch -Regex -File filter.tmp {
'^\D' { if ($prev) { $prev += "/$_" } else { $prev = $_ } }
'^\d{2}' { if ($pref) {$prev}; $_; $prev = '' }
}
if ($prev) { $prev }
) | Set-Content filter.out
Windows user defined environment variable names can contain any character except =.
Special characters can be included by escaping them. A simpler method is to simply enclose the entire SET expression within quotes. For example:
set "A weird & "complex" variable=My value"
set A weird ^& "complex" variable=My value
Both expressions above give the same result. The variable name is A weird & "complex" variable and the value is My value
The IF DEFINED construct is used to test if a variable is defined. Quotes don't work for this test, special characters in the name (including quotes) must be escaped.
set "A&B=value"
if defined A^&B echo This works
if defined "A&B" echo This does not work
The above escaped test works just fine. The quoted test does not work
But how can I test if a variable containing spaces exists?
set "A B=value"
if defined A^ B echo this does not work!
It seems like the above should work, but it doesn't!
I'm looking for an answer that does NOT involve expanding the variable using %A B% or !A B!
Interessting question (I love this syntax base questions).
Obviously you know how to check it with delayed expansion and also FOR-parameters works.
#echo off
setlocal
set "AAA BBB=value"
set ""AAA BBB"="
set "AAA="
for %%a in ("AAA BBB") do if defined %%~a echo FOR: This works
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set "varname=AAA BBB"
if defined !varname! echo Delayed: This works
if defined %varname% ( echo percent: Never comes here
) ELSE ( echo percent: Never comes here ? )
if defined AAA^ BBB ( echo escape1: Never comes here
) ELSE ( echo escape1: fails )
set AAA=Hello
if defined AAA^ BBB (
echo escape2: It only test for AAA the BBB will be "removed"
) ELSE ( echo escape2: fails )
set "space= "
if defined AAA!space!BBB echo inject space: This works
if defined "AAA BBB" (echo Quote1: Never comes here
) ELSE ( echo Quote1: Fails )
set ""AAA BBB"=value"
if defined "AAA BBB" echo Quote2: This works, it checks for "AAA BBB" with quotes
In my opionion, in the escape2 example the parser first split the line into tokens this way:
<if> <defined> <AAA BBB> <echo ....
But at the execution time of the if defined it rescan the <AAA BBB> token so it only gets the AAA.
You can't inject a second escape like AAA^^^ BBB as this only searches for the variable named AAA^
I can't see a solution without delaying/FOR, as the escaping of the space always fails.
EDIT: It can also be solved with SET <varname>
The solution of ijprest uses the SET command to test the variable without the need of escaping the varname.
But it also shows interessting behaviour with spaces inside and at the end of a varname.
It seems to follow these rules:
SET varname searches for all variables beginning with varname, but first it removes all characters after the last space character of varname, and it removes all leading spaces.
So you can't search for variables with beginning with space (but it is also a bit tricky to create such a varname).
The same behaviour is also active if the variablename is enclosed into quotes, but then exists one more rule.
First remove all characters after the last quote, if there are at least two quotes.
Use the text inside of the quotes, and use the "space"-rule.
Sample.
set " abc def ghi" junk junk
*** 1. removes the junk
set " abc def ghi"
*** 2. removes the quotes
set abc def ghi
*** 3. removes all after the last space, and the trailing spaces
set abc def
*** Search all variables beginning with abc def
I also love this sort of question! :)
Here's another possible solution I came up with... using SET itself to test the existence, and using the ERRORLEVEL result:
set "A B=foo"
set A B >nul 2>nul&& echo 1. This works
set "A B ">nul 2>nul&& echo 2. This works
set "A weird & "complex" variable=foo"
set A weird ^& "complex" variable >nul 2>nul&& echo 3. This works
set "A weird & "complex" variable ">nul 2>nul&& echo 4. This works
Note that this only works if your variables are unique in the sense that no variable name is the prefix of another one. Otherwise you risk false positives, as SET's default behavior is to show all variables that start with the parameter you pass. If this could be the case, you could filter the results with findstr:
set "A B="
set "A B C=foo"
set "A B ">nul 2>nul&& echo 5. Failed (false positive)
set "A B "|findstr /B /L /C:"A B=" >nul||echo 6. This works (no false positive)
Also, the single trailing space after the variable name seems to be required. Without it, SET often mis-parses the input. Bizarrely, if you add an extra space between the "2>nul" and "&&" in case #3 it stops working (unless you remove the space before ">nul")... weird.
The other way is to reassign it to another variable (one without spaces) and test that. See here:
rem Prepare ONLY variable 'a b'
set "a b=123"
echo [a b]=%a b%
rem This will ouput: [a b] is defined
set var=%a b%
if defined var (
echo [a b] is defined
) else (
echo [a b] is not defined
)
rem This will output: [c d] is not defined
set var=%c d%
if defined var (
echo [c d] is defined
) else (
echo [c d] is not defined
)
I do it by defining a flag as TRUE if needed...
rem /* sample code */
set VAR_SET=
if <some condition> set VAR_SET=TRUE&set VAR=this data has spaces
rem /* test for VAR_SET using 'if defined' */
if defined VAR_SET (
rem /* do something with the other data in the variable %VAR% */
)
rem /* clear the flag */
set VAR_SET=
I want to assign the alpha numeric value to one variable in Batch scripting.
I tried following one but getting error.
setlocal
set test = \765514e2aad02ca658cc56cdb7884947 *E:\\test1
echo %test%
endlocal
Error:
C:\Users\bgannu>setlocal
C:\Users\bgannu>set test = \765514e2aad02ca658cc56cdb7884947 *E:\\test1
C:\Users\bgannu>echo 0
0
C:\Users\bgannu>endlocal
The syntax for set is set [[/a [expression]] [/p [variable=]] string]
The = has to be directly after your variable so you need to change:
set test = \765514e2aad02ca658cc56cdb7884947 *E:\\test1
to:
set test=\765514e2aad02ca658cc56cdb7884947 *E:\\test1
Otherwise your variable name would have a space at the end. You can easily try this out:
> set bar = foo
> echo %bar%
%bar%
> echo %bar %
foo
Note that both the variable name and its content got a space.
Lose the /A. the /A is used for arithmetic.
C:\test>set var=\765514e2aad02ca658cc56cdb7884947 *E:\\test1
C:\test>echo %var%
\765514e2aad02ca658cc56cdb7884947 *E:\\test1