Strip CMD output to just show directories - powershell

Question

I'm currently trying to replace a powershell script with a cmd script as it's more suitable for what is trying to be done.
In Powershell I'm using this bit of code to return a list of personal folder directories on the computer
$Name = [Environment]::UserName
get-item HKCU:\software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Search\Catalog - ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | select -expandProperty property | Out-File Z:\global\pst\PowershellOutput\$Name.txt -append
This does what I want and outputs a list of directories like so
H:\PST\My Outlook Data File 1.pst
H:\PST\My Outlook Data File 2.pst
C:\PST\My Outlook Data File 3.pst
However when I run this line to extract the registry key
regedit.exe /e Z:\global\battest\%username%.txt "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Search\Catalog"
I get an output with lots of unnecessary data
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Search\Catalog]
"H:\\PST\\My Outlook Data File 1.pst"=hex:0c,01,00,00,00,00,00,00
"H:\\PST\\My Outlook Data File 2.pst"=hex:f8,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"C:\\PST\\My Outlook Data File 3.pst"=hex:ac,02,00,00,00,00,00,00
This data is passed onto another program* so a work-around could be to use data within the "" marks however it also has the double backslashes which makes the data awkward to pass on.
Is there a better way to grab these values within CMD or perhaps a parameter which I've missed which just shows the directories?
-Sorry for not including this before however this program is not a CMD program, it's visual basic

Answer 1

While I don't have Office installed to test, this should get the work done
#echo off
setlocal enableextensions disabledelayedexpansion
set "HKCU=&H80000001"
set "subKey=software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Search\Catalog"
>> "Z:\global\pst\PowershellOutput\%username%.txt" (
for /f "tokens=2 delims={" %%a in ('
wmic
/NameSpace:\\root\default
Class StdRegProv
Call EnumValues
hDefKey^="%HKCU%"
sSubKeyName^="%subkey%"
2^>nul
^| find "sNames = {"
') do for %%b in (%%a) do (
for /f delims^=^" %%c in ("%%~b") do echo(%%~fc
)
)
It uses wmic to retrieve the list of values defined under the indicated key and filter the output to only retrieve the line with the names of those values in the form sNames = {"v1", "v2", "v3"}.
The { is used to separate the start of the line from the list of values (%%a) , and this list is iterated (%%b) to get each value. The last element in the list includes an ending } that needs to be removed, this is handled by %%c using the quotes in the value as delimiters.
The equivalent vbs version could be
Option Explicit
Const HKEY_CURRENT_USER = &H80000001
Const ForAppending = 8
Const SUB_KEY = "software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Search\Catalog"
Const OUTPUT_PATH = "Z:\global\pst\PowershellOutput"
Dim fso, shell
Set fso = WScript.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set shell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Dim values
Call GetObject( _
"winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\.\root\default:StdRegProv" _
).EnumValues( _
HKEY_CURRENT_USER, SUB_KEY, values _
)
Dim outputFile
Set outputFile = fso.OpenTextFile( _
fso.BuildPath( _
OUTPUT_PATH, shell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%username%") & ".txt" _
) _
, ForAppending _
, True _
)
Dim value
If Not IsNull(values) Then
For Each value In values
Call outputFile.WriteLine(fso.GetAbsolutePathName( value ))
Next
End If
Call outputFile.Close()

Answer 2

You would probably need to use the REG QUERY command. In a single bat file it would like like:
#echo OFF
for /f "usebackq tokens=1-3" %%A in (`REG QUERY "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Search\Catalog"`) do (
set ValueName=%%A
)
echo %ValueName% > Z:\global\battest\%username%.txt
Got this from How can I get the value of a registry key from within a batch script?

Answer 3

Here is a batch code to get the list of *.pst files (not directories) which work independent on number of *.pst files and their file names as long as the file names end with .pst.
#echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions EnableDelayedExpansion
for /F "skip=1 delims=" %%# in ('%SystemRoot%\System32\reg.exe query HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Search\Catalog 2^>nul') do (
set "RegData=%%#"
set "DelData=!RegData:*.pst=!"
if not "!DelData!" == "!RegData!" call :OutputFileName
)
endlocal
goto :EOF
:OutputFileName
set "RegData=!RegData:%DelData%=!"
echo !RegData:~4!
goto :EOF
*.pst files are Outlook Personal Storage files which are container files for emails, contacts, ...
The command FOR runs console application REG to query all values of registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Search\Catalog
The output on Windows Vista and later Windows versions is for the example:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Search\Catalog
H:\PST\My Outlook Data File 1.pst REG_SZ whatever the
H:\PST\My Outlook Data File 2.pst REG_SZ data value is
C:\PST\My Outlook Data File 3.pst REG_SZ of each value
There is output the registry key and next the registry values each indented with 4 spaces and with 4 spaces between value name and value type and 4 spaces between value type and data value.
But on Windows XP the output is for the example:
! REG.EXE VERSION 3.0
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Search\Catalog
H:\PST\My Outlook Data File 1.pst REG_SZ whatever the
H:\PST\My Outlook Data File 2.pst REG_SZ data value is
C:\PST\My Outlook Data File 3.pst REG_SZ of each value
So there are first two header lines before the registry key. The registry values are also indented with 4 spaces. But there are 1 or more tabs instead of spaces between the value name and the value type and there are also 1 or more tabs instead of spaces between value type and data value.
Note: I don't know if REG_SZ is the right registry value type. I don't have this registry key at all in my Windows registry and therefore just added the 3 registry values as string values with the dummy strings.
So the tricky part is how to get the registry value name containing also spaces to get just the name of the *.pst files independent on file name.
This is done by assigning each output line with the exception of first line because of skip=1 to environment variable RegData and get next from this line everything after .pst assigned to environment variable DelData.
If the line contains .pst in any case at all resulting in value of DelData being not equal value of RegData, the subroutine OutputFileName is called for further processing and printing the file name of the *.pst file.
In the subroutine OutputFileName first the string right of *.pst file name is removed from RegData using a string substitution. Next *.pst file name is output without the 4 indent spaces at beginning.
If the number of indent spaces would not be always exactly 4 spaces, the line echo !RegData:~4! could be replaced by following code to work independent on number of indent spaces/tabs.
for /F "tokens=1*" %%I in ("%RegData%") do (
if "%%J" == "" (
echo %%I
) else (
echo %%I %%J
)
)
The usage of REG instead of REGEDIT has the advantage that no elevated privileges of an administrator is necessary for running this batch code.
For understanding the used commands and how they work, open a command prompt window, execute there the following commands, and read entirely all help pages displayed for each command very carefully.
call /?
echo /?
for /?
goto /?
reg /?
reg query /?
set /?
setlocal /?
Nothing is output if the registry key does not exist. The error message output to handle STDERR is suppressed here by redirecting it with 2^>nul to device NUL. See the Microsoft article Using command redirection operators for details. The redirection operator > must be escaped here with caret character ^ to be interpreted as literal character on parsing the FOR command line and being interpreted as redirection operator on execution of the REG command line by FOR.