Command Prompt "dir /b /s > file.txt" need to remove directories from results - command

I am using the following command to dump the complete file listings recursively from a directory.
dir /b /s c:\myfolder > c:\mylist.txt
This works fine but it is display the results with the full path as well, beacuse I am using a regex expression on the results I need them to display only the filenames.
Anyone any ideas?

Kind of an old question but if someone stumbles across this hoping for an answer, perhaps this will help them out.
Running this from the windows command line (CMD.exe) use:
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /f "delims=" %a in ('dir /b /s c:\myfolder"') do (#echo %~nxa >>c:\mylist.txt)
endlocal
Running this from a windows .BAT script use:
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /f "delims=" %%a in ('dir /b /s c:\myfolder"') do (#echo %%~nxa >>c:\mylist.txt)
endlocal
The output might look something like this depending on what files are in the folder you're running the code in:
file1.fil
file2.fil
file3.fil
UNDERSTANDING WHAT THE CODE IS DOING
for /f
means to run a loop through files in this case using the dir /b /s command to help get those files names from directories (folders) and subdirectories (subfolders). As stated in the question, this will give you complete paths to the files. So instead of file.txt you will get C:\folder\file.txt.
"delims="
in this case tells the for loop that it wants the variable %a or %%a
to only have 1 folderpath and filename for every loop.
%a (CMD.exe) %%a (.BAT)
as mentioned above is a variable that changes with each loop. so
everytime the command dir /b /s finds a new filename the variable
%%a changes to the filename.
example:
Loop 1: %%a = c:\folder\file1.fil
Loop 2: %%a = c:\folder\file2.fil
dir /b /s
is the command to print out the files of a directory (folder). By
using the /b and /s the questioner is adding additional criteria.
the command dir not only prints out the files and directories
(folders) in that directory (folder) but also some additional
information about the directory.
the /b tells the command dir that it doesn't want the additional
information.. just the filenames.
The /s tells the command dir to include all the files and
subdirectories (subfolders) in that folder.
do
is the part of the loop that tells what to do during that particular
loop. So in this case it is only doing this one command every loop
(#echo %%~nxa >>c:\mylist.txt)
#echo
is a simple command that prints out whatever you want either to your
computer screen or in this case to a txt file by using #echo %%~nxa
>>c:\mylist.txt
the >> before c:\mylist.txt is especially important. Every time a
loop happens it starts a new line in the txt file and writes the
variable to that line. If only one > is specified it will overwrite
the line in the txt file everytime the loop happens. Which will
defeat the purpose of what this script is designed to do.
%~nxa (CMD.exe) %%~nxa (.BAT)
is the variable %%a as mentioned above except it is parsed (edited)
out the way the questioner #fightstarr20 asked for. Instead of
printing out the variable as C:\myfolder\myfile.fil the variable
will print out as myfile.fil
the ~ in %%~nxa tells the program you want to modify the variable
%%a. In this case by adding n and x.
the n in %%~nxa tells the program you want to modify the variable %%a by
excluding the path from the variable.
example.
-variable %%a = C:\folder\filename.fil
-variable %%~na = filename.
-If you notice however that it leaves the extension .fil off of the filename.
the x in %%~nxa tells the program you want to modify the variable %%a
by excluding the path and the filename from the variable, so all you will get is the extension of the filename.
example.
-variable %%a = C:\folder\filename.fil
-variable %%~xa = .fil
so if you combine both of the modifiers n and x to the variable %%a
you will get the full filename including the extension.
example:
-variable %%a = c:\folder\filename.fil
-variable %%~nxa = filename.fil
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
explained simply is a command that needs to be in the script before
the for loop in order to allow the variable %%a to be modified or "expanded".
endlocal
this turns off the setlocal enabledelayedexpansion command
To get a very helpful explanation and reference for CMD commands I recommend reading ss64.com and for a great forum to get CMD answers I'd recommend dostips.com

Change your regex to get the filename from the entire path.
If you can use powershell, look at Get-ChildItem. You can have more powerful options with it.

Use it like this
dir /b /s C:\myfolder>C:\temp.txt
echo exit>>C:\temp.txt
goto loop
:loop
set /p _x=<temp.txt
findstr /v /c:"%_x%" temp.txt>temp2.txt
type temp2.txt>temp.txt
set _x=%_x:*\=%
echo %_x%>file.txt
if "%_x%" == "exit" (
del temp.txt
del temp2.txt
exit
)
goto loop
You can use for instead of goto if you like, but it will be basicaly the same.
Sorry about the last one...

I know I'm a bit late, but it hurts me that nobody said to take away the /s
dir /b c:\myfolder > c:\mylist.txt
That should do it.

This would surely work, as it works for me.
dir D:(Path to files) /s /b >d:\filelist.txt

You can just use this code:
dir /b > A_fileslist.txt
Copy inside a notepad editor and save as "Fileslist.bat".

Related

How to set a variable in cmd which is a string from powershell command result?

I want to store the result of powershell command in cmd variable as String : powershell -com "(ls | select -Last 1).FullName". How to do this?
CMD does not have a straightforward way of assigning command output to a variable. If the command produces just a single line you could use a for loop
for /f "delims=" %a in ('some_command /to /run') do #set "var=%a"
However, if the command produces multiple lines that will capture only the last line. A better approach would be redirecting the output of the command to a file and then reading that file into a variable:
set "tempfile=C:\temp\out.txt"
>"%tempfile%" some_command /to /run
set /p var=<"%tempfile%"
del /q "%tempfile%"
If you literally need only the last file in a directory you don't need to run PowerShell, though. That much CMD can do by itself:
for /f "delims=" %f in ('dir /a-d /b') do #set "var=%~ff"
Beware that you need to double the % characters when running this from a batch file.
A FOR loop can provide the path to the file. If the default directory sorting order is not the result needed, specify additional command line switches on the DIR command.
FOR /F "delims=" %F IN ('DIR /B') DO (SET "THE_FILE=%~fF")
ECHO THE_FILE is "%THE_FILE%"
In a .bat file script, double the percent characters on FOR loop variables.
FOR /F "delims=" %%F IN ('DIR /B') DO (SET "THE_FILE=%%~fF")
ECHO THE_FILE is "%THE_FILE%"
The .bat file scripts can also run PowerShell scripts. It is best practice to not use aliases such as ls in scripts.
FOR /F "delims=" %%F IN ('powershell -NoLogo -NoProfile -Command ^
"(Get-ChildItem -File | Select-Object -Last 1).FullName"') DO (SET "THE_FILE=%%~fF")
ECHO THE_FILE is "%THE_FILE%"
The problem with cmd here is that I want to get the full paths for
FOLDERs NOT recursive... this dir /ad /b doesn't give full paths and
this dir /ad /b /s does it recursively... – stakowerflol 2 hours ago
That's not a problem, you can return the full file path without recursing.
If you are changing directory to the path you need to check then it's stored in %CD%
If you need the path to whee the Script itself is it's stored in %~dp0
If you want to provide an argument to specify and arbitrary path and get all of the listings it will be that argument term (EG %~1)
With all three possible options you can do the same thing:
Either
Prepend the provided variable to the output of the chosen directory enumeration method
OR
Use a For loop to get the file names at that path and show the result with the full path.
IE
Jenkins_A_Dir.bat
#(
SETLOCAL
ECHO OFF
SET "_Last="
ECHO.%~1 | FIND /I ":\" > NUL && (
SET "_CheckHere=%~1"
)
IF NOT DEFINED _CheckHere (
SET "_CheckHere=C:\Default\Path\When\No Argument\Specified"
)
)
REM Use a For loop to get everything in one variable
FOR %%A IN (
"%_CheckHere%\*"
) DO (
SET "_Last=%%A"
)
ECHO.Found "%_Last%"
REM Use `FOR /F` with DIR, and append the path to Check:
SET "_Last="
FOR /F "Tokens=*" %%A IN ('
DIR /A-D /B "%_CheckHere%\*"
') DO (
SET "_Last=%_CheckHere%\%%A"
)
ECHO.Found "%_Last%"
Of course you don't NEED to have set a variable such as _CheckHere
Instead, you can just replace all of the instances of %_CheckHere% with `%~1 instead, that would work just fine in the above examples too.
Okay, what if you just wanted to check the location the script was running in.
Then either change the above to use SET "_CheckHere=%~dp0" or Replace %_CheckHere% with %~dp0 throughout.
Okay but what if you don't want to set a variable you want to it to use the current working directory.
When then, even easier:
Jenkins_Current_Dir.bat
#(
SETLOCAL
ECHO OFF
SET "_Last="
)
REM Use a For loop to get everything in one variable
FOR %%A IN (
"*"
) DO (
SET "_Last=%%~fA"
)
ECHO.Found "%_Last%"
REM Use `FOR /F` with DIR, and let it append the current working directory to the path:
SET "_Last="
FOR /F "Tokens=*" %%A IN ('
DIR /A-D /B "*"
') DO (
SET "_Last=%%~fA"
)
ECHO.Found "%_Last%"

Update file in each subdirectory with a specific name

I have a batch-file which pulls a file from a url using powershell and then outputs/updates the file in a specific directory. But I have many of these directories, the only thing that changes about the path is numbers between \command\ and \setup\. How would I get it to put the file in every folder automatically?
Essentially I would like to output the downloaded text file in each of the install subdirectories of that path.
Also how could I make it happen silently?
#echo off
echo !!! PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE AND UPDATE!!!
pause
powershell -Command "Invoke-WebRequest http://example.com/log/read.txt" -OutFile C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\base\command\234235234\setup\install\read.txt 2>NUL >NUL
echo !!! DONE NOW !!!
echo !!! YOU CAN RE-OPEN NOW !!!
for /d /r "dirname" %%a in (*) do if /i "%%~nxa"=="install" echo %%a
may be useful to you.
Your requirement is unclear. Do you want to copy the file to the install subdirectories of ...\234235234\.. only, or of ...\*\... ?
Replace dirname with the name of the starting directory, be it ...\234235234\.. or C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\base\command and the command I have shown will report all of the install directories contained under dirname. All you need then do is to change the echo to an appropriate copy command - see copy /? from the prompt. You can suppress copy's responses by appending >nul 2>nul (suppress messages and suppress error messages)
for /d /r with * as the list element will process a list of all subdirectories starting at the nominated directory. The if command selects only the leaf directories that match install in either case (/i)
Since
for /d /r ...
does nor detect hidden directories, another approach is
for /f "delims=" %%a in ('dir /s /b /ad "dirname" ') do if /i "%%~nxa"=="sub1" echo %%a
Which in this case should be
for /f "delims=" %%a in ('dir /s /b /ad "C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\base\command" ') do if /i "%%~nxa"=="sub1" echo %%a
The dir command produces a list in /b basic (name-only) form, /s including subdirectories, /ad of directories only (names with the directory attribute set). This list is processed line-by-line by for /f without delimiters so the entire line (including spaces, if any) is assigned to %%a and displayed.

How to use xcopy to add the date in the destination file?

This is my current code
xcopy "C:\Users\Asus\Desktop\Test\Test.MDB" "C:\Users\Asus\Google Drive\" /Y /H /E /F /I
exit
I need the code to do something like:
xcopy "C:\Users\Asus\Desktop\Test\Test.MDB" "C:\Users\Asus\Google Drive\Test (4-21-18).MDB" /Y /H /E /F /I
exit
I need to back up the files every 2 weeks in the task scheduler and I need the script to automatically add the date of the back-up. Also, I have looked at the list of commands (e.g. /Y /H /E) and I cannot find one that describes non-overwriting in the destination folder. I need the back-ups to pile up and not get deleted every time the code runs.
You can add %date%
If you want to create folders with the date and put the file in it,
use like this to join the date to a foldername (D:\myFolder15-04-2020):
xcopy /y /q /s "c:\myFolder\*" "D:\myFolder"%date%"\"
or a folder name with just the date: (D:\15-05-2020)
xcopy /y /q /s "c:\myFolder\*" "D:\"%date%"\"
If you want to put the files in the same folder and change the file name use:
xcopy /y /q /s "c:\myFolder\*" "D:\myFolder\"%date%".MDB*"
The trick is:
"\" at the end of the command means a folder name
"*" at the end of the command means a file name
You can do this. Maybe exist better solutions but it will be working and Additionally, this is an approach for more than one file.
XCOPY /Y /H /E /F /I C:\Users\Asus\Desktop\Test\*.MDB
rem get date, make if file name friendly
FOR /F "tokens=1-4 delims=/ " %%i in ('date/t') do set d=%%i-%%j-%%k-%%l
set MDB=*.%d%.MDB
ren *.MDB %mdb%
move C:\Users\Asus\Desktop\Test\*.MDB C:\Users\Asus\Google Drive\Test\
Hope this help.
You can create a bat file, get the current date in a variable and have this variable as part of the file name.
This bat file works:
for /f "skip=1" %%x in ('wmic os get localdatetime') do if not defined MyDate
set MyDate=%%x
set today=%MyDate:~4,2%-%MyDate:~6,2%-%MyDate:~2,2%
mkdir "C:\Users\Asus\Google Drive\Test (%today%).MDB"
xcopy "C:\Users\Asus\Desktop\Test\Test.MDB" "C:\Users\Asus\Google Drive\Test (%today%).MDB" /Y /H /E /F /I
exit
This code first saves the current date in "MyDate" variable.
Then the desired date format is saved in "today" variable.
Finally the content of the "today" variable is used as part of the file name that is passed in "xcopy" as an argument.
Mkdir makes sure that the directory is first created before xcopy is used.
This prevents the xcopy question <F = file, D= directory>? that pops out.
If a path refers to a file or directory that does not exist, xcopy considers it reasonable to first ask you what it is. Alternatively you could add a '\' in the end of the directory path to indicate that it is a directory.
It works! "echo F|" to auto confirm that you copy a file in the cmd prompt.
call set currentDate=%date:/=-%
call set currentDate=%currentDate:~-10%
echo F|xcopy "C:\Users\Asus\Desktop\Test\Test.MDB" "C:\Users\Asus\Google Drive\Test (%currentDate%).MDB" /Y /H /E /F
exit

how do i search for a file and when found set the file path to a variable in a batch script

I am trying to create a batch file that will run and open a Powershell script to then run.
this is what i have so far
#echo off
for /r C:\folder %%a in (*) do if "%%~nxa"=="2WNRN4VMS2.txt" set p=%%~dpnxa
if defined p (
echo %p%
) else (
echo File not found
Pause
)
Powershell.exe -Command "& '%p%'"
exit
That is very simple using command DIR for searching for the file recursively in folder C:\folder and all its subfolders and command FOR for assigning the drive and path of found file to an environment variable:
#echo off
for /F "delims=" %%I in ('dir /A-D /B /S "C:\folder\2WNRN4VMS2.txt" 2^>nul') do set "FilePath=%%~dpI" & goto FoundFile
echo File not found
pause
goto :EOF
:FoundFile
Powershell.exe -Command "& '%FilePath%'"
Please note that the string assigned to environment variable FilePath ends with a backslash. Use in PowerShell command line %FilePath:~0,-1% if the path of the file should be passed without a backslash at end.
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.
dir /?
echo /?
for /?
goto /?
pause /?
set /?

Using output from a PowerShell command in a windows batch file

I have a path in variable (script parameter) %2.
I need to do the following:
Extract the leaf (last folder from the path) to a variable.
Run the following command: robocopy %2 \\somepath\%leaf
I was told this could be done in PowerShell (cause I've tried going with batch file alone and failed miserably) Here's a pseudocode representation of what I'd like to achieve:
set leaf = powershell -command (split-path %2 -leaf)
robocopy %2 \\somepath\%leaf
Any idea how to write this correctly?
Thank you.
Whenever you want to set a batch variable to the output of a command, use for /f. Here's an example:
#echo off
setlocal
set "psCommand=powershell -command "(split-path '%~2' -leaf)""
for /f "delims=" %%I in ('%psCommand%') do set "leaf=%%I"
echo %leaf%
But this is a terribly inefficient way to retrieve the last folder of a path. Instead of invoking PowerShell, what you should do is this:
#echo off
setlocal
for %%I in ("%~2") do set "leaf=%%~nxI"
echo %leaf%
The %%~dpnxI notation gets
d = drive
p = path
n = name
x = extension
It's traditionally intended for files, rather than directories; but it works just as well for directories anyway. See the last couple of pages of for /? in a console window for complete details.
FOR %%a IN ("%~2") DO FOR %%b IN ("%%~dpa.") DO ECHO %%~nxb
Batch one-liner. Take the parameter (second parameter here), remove any quotes and re-apply them. Select the drive and path, add '.' then select the name and extension of the result making leaf required.
Obviously, if you require this in a variable,
FOR %%a IN ("%~2") DO FOR %%b IN ("%%~dpa.") DO set "leaf=%%~nxb"