Creating a blank file from a batch file - windows

I would like create a file from a batch file. I can use the echo. > donald.txt, but it creates it with an initial blank line. What else I can use to a file starting from the first line?

You just want to create a completely empty file? This will do it:
copy /y nul donald.txt
If you're looking to write something to first line, you want something like this:
echo Hello, World > donald.txt

One of the options is
#echo off
rem Don't destroy an existing file
if exist testfile goto _nocreate
:: Create the zero-byte file
type nul>testfile
:_nocreate
Originally from http://www.netikka.net/tsneti/info/tscmd041.htm which contains some additional methods.

In old MS-DOS days I used this method to create an empty file:
rem > empty.txt
In new Windows this no longer works, but rem may be replaced by any command that show nothing. For example:
cd . > empty.txt

If you're using PowerShell:
function touch {set-content -Path ($args[0]) -Value ($null) }
touch file-name
Source: http://blog.lab49.com/archives/249.

That's because echo. inserts a blank line in your file.
Try using the same code, but without the period appended to the end of the echo statement:
echo "Test string" > donald.txt

Related

Batch: copy content of one txt file into another

Hi this is what i want to do:
I define a directory e.g. C:\TEXT.
If a txt file is posted/generated/moved into that directory, it opens the txt file copies its content, generates a new txt file, pastes that content into the new file and deletes the old one, is that possible?
It is fine if both txt files have pre-defined names.
Thanks a lot if anyone can help here!
You should be able to do something like:
TYPE 1.TXT > FINAL.TXT
TYPE 2.TXT >> FINAL.TXT
Note: the ">" will over-write. The ">>" will append or add to a file.
Hope this helps!
The following will accomplish the same with Boxed headings for every text file or batch file depending on your choice. Simply change the *.txt to *.bat or any text based file and the output will have a boxed heading of the filename along with the actual text from inside.
#echo off
::If the file "Allbatchfiles.txt exists in the running folder then delete it.
IF EXIST Allbatchfiles.txt (
del Allbatchfiles.txt
)
:: For every file with the ".bat" extention Make an entry with
:: a Boxed heading of the filename and the contents of the file
:: and output to the file Allbatchfiles.txt
for %%f in (*.bat) do echo. >>AllBatchfiles.txt && echo ============================================ >>AllBatchfiles.txt && echo ----------"%%f"---------- >> AllBatchfiles.txt && echo ============================================ >>AllBatchfiles.txt && type "%%f" >>AllBatchfiles.txt

Windows batch - concatenate multiple text files into one

I need to create a script, which concatenates multiple text files into one.
I know it's simple to use
type *.txt > merged.txt
But the requirement is to "concatenate files from same day into file day_YYYY-DD-MM.txt" I am a Linux user and Windows batch is hell for me. It's Windows XP.
Windows type command works similarly to UNIX cat.
Example 1: Merge with file names (This will merge file1.csv & file2.csv to create concat.csv)
type file1.csv file2.csv > concat.csv
Example 2: Merge files with pattern (This will merge all files with csv extension and create concat.csv)
When using asterisk(*) to concatenate all files. Please DON'T use same extension for target file(Eg. .csv). There should be some difference in pattern else target file will also be considered in concatenation
type *.csv > concat_csv.txt
At its most basic, concatenating files from a batch file is done with 'copy'.
copy file1.txt + file2.txt + file3.txt concattedfile.txt
In Win 7, navigate to the directory where your text files are. On the command prompt use:
copy *.txt combined.txt
Where combined.txt is the name of the newly created text file.
Place all files need to copied in a separate folder, for ease place them in c drive.
Open Command Prompt - windows>type cmd>select command prompt.
You can see the default directory pointing - Ex : C:[Folder_Name]>.
Change the directory to point to the folder which you have placed files to be copied, using ' cd [Folder_Name] ' command.
After pointing to directory - type 'dir' which shows all the files present in folder, just to make sure everything at place.
Now type : 'copy *.txt [newfile_name].txt' and press enter.
Done!
All the text in individual files will be copied to [newfile_name].txt
I am reiterating some of the other points already made, but including a 3rd example that helps when you have files across folders that you want to concatenate.
Example 1 (files in the same folder):
copy file1.txt+file2.txt+file3.txt file123.txt
Example 2 (files in same folder):
type *.txt > combined.txt
Example 3 (files exist across multiple folders, assumes newfileoutput.txt doesn't exist):
for /D %f in (folderName) DO type %f/filename.txt >> .\newfileoutput.txt
We can use normal CAT command to merge files..
D:> cat *.csv > outputs.csv
cat "input files" > "output files"
This works in PowerShell, which is the Windows preferred shell in current Windows versions, therefore it works. It is also the only version of the answers above to work with large files, where 'type' or 'copy' fails.
Try this:
#echo off
set yyyy=%date:~6,4%
set mm=%date:~3,2%
set dd=%date:~0,2%
set /p temp= "Enter the name of text file: "
FOR /F "tokens=* delims=" %%x in (texto1.txt, texto2.txt, texto3.txt) DO echo %%x >> day_%temp%.txt
This code ask you to set the name of the file after "day_" where you can input the date.
If you want to name your file like the actual date you can do this:
FOR /F "tokens=* delims=" %%x in (texto1.txt, texto2.txt, texto3.txt) DO echo %%x >> day_%yyyy%-%mm%-%dd%.txt
You can do it using type:
type"C:\<Directory containing files>\*.txt"> merged.txt
all the files in the directory will be appendeded to the file merged.txt.
copy is definitely much faster than type - but it sometimes (with large files?) adds a SUB character at the end of the file. So, strictly speaking, it does not simply concatenate the files in the same way as cat in Unix.
So, the correct answer is to use cat - either in something like Git Bash (where it has the same syntax as in Unix), or PowerShell (where it does not).

Hide filenames in type command batch file

I'm creating a batch file and the final part of the batch is to concatenate the text from multiple csv files into one. The csv that is created is correct, however when I run the command it shows the file names on a separate line. Even with echo off it still shows. When I simply copy and paste the line into a blank txt file and use #echo off and that's it.. it still shows the output.
type lak-print01.csv lak-print02.csv lak-print03.csv lak-print04.csv or-sdc-print.csv tac-print01.csv tac-print02.csv tuk-print01.csv wa-02print01.csv wa-110print01.csv wa-61print01.csv > MasterPrinterList.csv
The output shown in cmd line is as follows. I just want it to perform the type command w/o showing the files.
lak-print02.csv
lak-print03.csv
lak-print04.csv
or-sdc-print.csv
tac-print01.csv
tac-print02.csv
tuk-print01.csv
wa-02print01.csv
wa-110print01.csv
wa-61print01.csv
Any help?
Redirect StdErr to nul by appending 2>nul. (type outputs filenames into that.) The command you want is this:
type lak-print01.csv lak-print02.csv lak-print03.csv lak-print04.csv or-sdc-print.csv tac-print01.csv tac-print02.csv tuk-print01.csv wa-02print01.csv wa-110print01.csv wa-61print01.csv > MasterPrinterList.csv 2>nul
type lak-print01.csv lak-print02.csv lak-print03.csv lak-print04.csv or-sdc-print.csv tac-print01.csv tac-print02.csv tuk-print01.csv wa-02print01.csv wa-110print01.csv wa-61print01.csv > MasterPrinterList.csv 2>nul
the file names are printed in error stream so all you need is to add 2>nul at the end.
type also accepts wildcards so you can make your line shorter e.g
type lak*.csv or*.csv tac*.csv wa*.csv > MasterPrinterList.csv 2>nul

Windows Batch file Dynamic create statements

I need to get a list of file names from a directory using a windows batch program. I would like to take each FILE NAME and combine that with another command line statement.
Note i only need the file name not the contents of the file.
How would this be done?
If i have a 'Data' directory on the D drive with the below files (note there could be many files)
--------------
myFile1.abc
myfile2.abc
------------------
How could i dynamically create something like this using a windows batch program?
move C:\myFile1.abc C:\newdir
move C:\myFile2.abc C:\newdir
note - (i know there is a easier way move files but but i am trying to understand the logic so i can use it in a different command)
You can use a for loop:
for %%X in (D:\*) do (
echo move %%X C:\newdir
)
Try on the command line:
for %X in (D:\DataFiles\*) do echo move "%~fX" C:\newdir>>logfile.txt
It puts all file names from D:\DataFiles in logfile.txt (except hidden files).

How to combine filename and extension in windows batch file?

I have managed to extract the filename and the extension and passed that to a .bat file in windows. It's like
%1 = filename
%2 = extension
The problem that I am having is that I can't seem to do %1%2 because the command doesnt seem to like the %1%2 command ? If I do %1<space>%2 it seems happy but then the file is broken because its like file<space>.js
How am I able to get them side by side and still print out ?
#set NAME=somefile
#set SUFFIX=txt
#echo file = %NAME%.%SUFFIX%
OUTPUT:
file = somefile.txt

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