i have an edited version of a config file specific for my machine.
i have the same config file in multiple different directories in my development folder.
i want to, in a single bat file, replace all instances of this file with my edited one.
So in pusedo code:
Take C:\edited.config and copy to C:\Projects\ /s wherever original.config is found
i want the final file to have the name of original.config, not edited.config
so i am guessing i need some combination of a FOR, a rename and copy or something like that
is this easier to do in Powershell?
can anybody help?
Thanks
I blogged about this a little bit ago at http://jamesewelch.com/2008/05/01/how-to-write-a-dos-batch-file-to-loop-through-files/
I think your solution will look something similar to (below is untested but used to show general idea)
for /f %%a IN ('dir /b *.config') do copy c:\master.config %%a
There's probably a switch there on the copy to suppress file overwrite warnings, but I don't remember what the switch is. This will copy your master.config and overwrite your local file (variable of %%a).
I'm amazed what DOS batch file experts make work. Since I'm not one of them, I take an approach that's pragmatic for me. It might work for you as well.
Get a list of destination folders
C:
Cd\
Dir original.config /s > original.bat
Edit original.bat in your favorite text editor (I like Notepad++)
Search for "original.config" and replace with "" (empty string)
Insert the text "Xcopy C:\edited.config " at the front of each line
Proof-read the result to be sure it's what you want. If you're not sure put an "Echo " in front of each line for a dry run.
Run the batch file.
#echo off
C:
cd \Projects
FOR /F "tokens=*" %%G IN ('DIR /B /S original.config') DO xcopy /y c:\edited.config %%G
Related
I use the following batch file to delete unwanted files on several drives.
set /p DELPATH=<"C:\DELETE-ALL.txt"
for /f "usebackq delims=;" %%i in ("C:\DELETE-ALL.txt") do #del /q "D:\HFI\%DELPATH%\%%i" > C:\DELETE-ALL-4.txt 2>&1
... same command for other local and network drives.
The DELETE-ALL.txt looks like this:
mydirectory
TEST.xlsx
TEST2.xlsx
This works great. It deletes files in single directory. But now I need it to do more. I need the batch file to delete files in different directories. So, it boils down to how to change directory on the fly.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
I answer you here because i can't comment now with my lower reputation.
I strongely recommend to use PowerShell or python or others program scripts to do this. Using windows batch, it will take you more time to find a good way and there may be no way to do such a little complex misson.
The answer turns out to be easier than I thought. Although my original question was for deleting files, I got it to work for rename. It should work for delete with little modification.
#(for /f "tokens=1,2 delims=;" %%A in ('"TYPE C:\RENAME-ALL.txt"') do (
#echo "%%A" | find /i "\"
#if errorlevel 1 (
RENAME "%%A" "%%B" >> C:\RENAME-ALL-4.txt 2>&1
) ELSE (
CD /D D:\mydirectory\%%A
)
)
)
The script looks for "\". If found, it assumes that line is a directory and change to the corresponding directory with "D:\mydirectory\" as a path prefix. Otherwise, it assumes the line contains file name. Since back slash is not allowed in filename, the assumption is safe.
Hope this will help other people.
I have a bunch of video files with names like so:
6592110904-Ivory-2.mp4
6592280588-Cornflower.mp4
6592321696-Ballet Pink.mp4
I want to rename them to get rid of everything after the first hyphen so they end up like:
6592110904.mp4
6592280588.mp4
6592321696.mp4
How do I go about doing this?
Please put the code below in a bat file, place it in directory with mp4 files. Before running real renaming, please remove "echo" before "move". please be carefull with renaming bacause (theoretically) it is possible to have same name for different files.You'll be prompted to confirm if you want to override the old one.
Code splits each filename after dash and renames the file taking first item. Good luck.
#echo off
for /F "tokens=1,* delims=-" %%a in ('dir /A-D /B "*.mp4"') do (
echo move "%%a-%%b" "%%a%%~xb"
)
I'm trying to teach myself some simple DOS commands and have used relatively simple commands to copy or move files, however this specific request is presenting a challenge for me and would appreciate some expertise from this forum.
C:\Parent\library.eds (location of my source file)
Any time I update library.eds in the parent directory, I would like to copy that file into every Child directory that contains a folder named "LIB". I have standardized the Child directories to the following:
C:\Parent\Child1\INPUT
C:\Parent\Child1\OUTPUT
C:\Parent\Child1\LIB {paste library.eds here}
C:\Parent\Child2\INPUT
C:\Parent\Child2\OUTPUT
C:\Parent\Child2\LIB {paste library.eds here}
and loop through until all children with LIB directories contain the updated file "library.eds"
Thank you for your help!
Mark
Here's a command that can get you started:
FOR /F "delims=" %%D IN ('DIR /b /a:D /s C:\Parent\LIB') DO #ECHO COPY "C:\Parent\library.eds" "%%~D"
Once you get it working the way you want, remove the #ECHO part to actually do the copy:
FOR /F "delims=" %%D IN ('DIR /b /a:D /s C:\Parent\LIB') DO COPY "C:\Parent\library.eds" "%%~D"
Extra help for these commands
HELP FOR
HELP DIR
How this works
FOR /F ... %variable IN ('command') DO otherCommand %variable...
This lets you execute command, and loop over its output. Each line will be stuffed into %variable, and can be expanded out in otherCommand as many times as you like, wherever you like. %variable in actual use can only have a single-letter name, e.g. %V.
"delims="
This lets you ignore any whitespace output by 'command', so it properly handles directories that have spaces in their names.
DIR /b /a:D /s C:\Parent\LIB
This will search for all files under C:\Parent that have the name LIB. It will recursively go through subdirectories because of /s. It will only find directories (because of /a:D). It will output them in a way that is useful for looping, because of /b.
%%D instead of %D
This is required in batch files. If you did this on the command prompt, you would use %P instead.
if you know all the child directories before hand the simplest solution is batch files tutorial on batch files
I dont know how loops work in ms dos but in linux bash shell loops are simple to program..
Any ways batch files are the simplest option
if you can download cygwin then you can use the following bash script to do the job without hardcoding it
The code
P.S you will need to change the name of the folder from tmp to LIB and the filename from LOL to ur file name .. The script is pretty self explanatory.
Unix shells are better than MS-DOS so it might be a good idea to get cygwin anyways
During a recent backup/restore cycle I've realized that I managed to omit the 'tmp' directories from within the '.svn' directories, and because of this I can't update my working copies. The problem goes away if I manually create a new, empty 'tmp' directory so I am looking for a way to recursively go through each folder, find '.svn' ones and create a 'tmp' folder inside them.
As I don't want to mess up the existing folders I thought I's ask for help before I did something silly :)
Comments/suggestions will be appreciated, thanks!
PS: This is on a Windows machine so sadly Bash and other unix utilities are not present.
The script above doesn't work on my on Windows 7 machine. The "dir /b /s .svn" doesn't get all dirs, I get a "File Not Found" error.
I changed the script to have /ad in addition to select directories only and that works! Here is the srcipt which works for me.
#echo off
for /f "usebackq delims=" %%I in (`dir /ad /b /s .svn`) do (
echo Fixing %%I...
mkdir "%%I\tmp"
)
Depends on how many there are.
List the directories with
dir/B/S .svn >dirs.bat
Edit dirs.bat in your editor of choice. Add md at the beginning of each line (since each line begins with something like C: you can use a fairly dumb editor - including notepad - to change C: to md C: ). Add /tmp to the end of each line (replace .svn with .svn\tmp). Save. Run the BAT file
Job done.
Here's how to automate the entire process. Put the following in a file like fixtmp.cmd:
#echo off
for /f "usebackq delims=" %%I in (`dir /b /s .svn`) do (
echo Fixing %%I...
mkdir "%%I\tmp"
)
I have many folders in a directory that contain various files. Each filename begins with XXX_ where XXX could be the name of the folder the file is in. What I am needing to do is to go through all those folders and delete any file where XXX is the name of the folder that file is in.
Please have an eye out this question: Iterating through folders and files in batch file?.
I think this should help you.
Please let me know if you need further assistance.
EDIT #1
The joker character in DOS command line is *. Then, while searching a directory for certain files, you may consider your regular expression, that is, your XXX_, and complete it with *, this shall return only the files for which you're looking for.
This means that instead of *.zip pattern in one of the FOR loops given the linked question, your first FOR loop should contain your directory name, then take this variable concatenated with the * character to obtain only the files you're looking for.
For example, consider trying the following:
dir /s XXX_*.*
This should return only the files you're interested in, given the right folder name.
EDIT #2
Thanks for having precised your concern.
Here is a code sample that, I do hope so, should help. Now I know you say you have the looping correct, so that perhaps only piece of this code might be needed.
#echo off
setlocal enableextensions enabledelayedexpansion
for /F "delims==" %%d in ('dir /ogne /ad /b /s .') do (
for /F "delims==" %%f in ('dir /b "%%d\%%~nd_*.*"') do (
echo %%d\%%f
)
)
endlocal
This works and lists the files contained in subfolders from the current (.) folder.
I have tested it from the following folder:
C:\Docume~1\marw1\MyDocu~1\MyMusi~1
Where a 'XXX' folder is contained. This 'XXX' folder contains the following files:
Copy of XXX_blah.bmp;
XXX_blah.bmp;
XXX_1234.ppt;
XXX_textfile.txt.
From this structure, the output is:
C:\Docume~1\marw1\MyDocu~1\MyMusi~1\XXX\XXX_blah.bmp
C:\Docume~1\marw1\MyDocu~1\MyMusi~1\XXX\XXX_1234.ppt
C:\Docume~1\marw1\MyDocu~1\MyMusi~1\XXX\XXX_textfile.txt
I then suspect that putting a del instruction instead of an echo command shall do the trick. This means that to isolate the foldername itself from its path, you need to use the ~n instruction with your folder variable name like %%~nd, where your iterating folder variable name is %%d.
Furthermore, you could even use a parameterized batch file in the process, instead of hardcoding it, that is, if your 'set YourFolder =...' is part of your production code. This could look like:
#echo off
setlocal...
set root = %1
set root = %root:~1%
set root = %root:~0,-1%
...
endlocal
Instead of having '.' as pictured in my first FOR loop, your would replace it with "%root%" in order to consider your command line parameter instead of a hardcoded filepath.
I do help this helps, sincerely!
As Ron says, since the question is tagged "windows".
EDIT:
Ron's answer, which seems to have disappeared!, was to use del /s
EDIT2:
OK, it's valid only for file names, not for directories. For the directories you'd have to use something like sketched below.
Additional info: when you want to do the same thing recursively to files in a directory tree, and (unlike del) there's no command that already does the traversing for you, you can use the /R option of the for command.
To see the for command's docs, do e.g. start "for-help" cmd /k for /?.
Cheers & hth.,
– Alf
cd C:\"foldername"
del /s XXX_"*"
cls
exit