How to get piped input in windows batch file? - batch-file

I want to use command like xxx yyy | deal_everyline.bat, where the command xxx yyy will generate some output. When I use deal_everyline.bat in console, everything runs normally. However, when I test it with cat A.txt | deal_everyline.bat, it only output the first line. What should I do to get all lines?
#echo off
:loop
set input=
set /p input=
if "%input%" neq "" (
echo %input%
goto loop
)

penknife suggests using MORE with FOR /F, but that will corrupt tabs, and it hangs at 64K lines of input. Better to use FINDSTR "^". The odd FOR /F options syntax is a way to disable both the EOL and DELIMS options so that non-blank lines are preserved exactly, as long as they are < ~8191 bytes long.
#echo off
for /f delims^=^ eol^= %%A in ('findstr "^"') do (
echo(%%A
)
The above code will skip empty lines. If you want to preserve them, then use the FINDSTR /N option to prefix each line with the line number followed by a colon, save the value in an environment variable, and then use variable expansion to strip the prefix. Variables must be expanded with delayed expansion within the FOR loop, but delayed expansion cannot be enabled when %%A is expanded, else it will corrupt ! characters. So the delayed expansion is toggled on and off within the loop
#echo off
setlocal disableDelayedExpansion
for /f delims^=^ eol^= %%A in ('findstr /n "^"') do (
set "ln=%%A"
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
set "ln=!ln:*:=!"
echo(!ln!
endlocal
)
If you want to preserve environment variable changes across iterations, then CALL out to a subroutine with delayed expansion constantly off. But beware that normal percent expansion of variables can fail depending on the content. For example unquoted <, >, &, and | will all cause problems.
#echo off
setlocal disableDelayedExpansion
for /f delims^=^ eol^= %%A in ('findstr /n "^"') do (
set "ln=%%A"
call :processLine
)
exit /b
:processLine
set "ln=%ln:*:=%"
echo(%ln%
exit /b

Related

Escaping exclamation marks with delayed expansion

I have a batch file I'm using to search for a piece of text and replace it with another. It works, but what's happening is that when the 'new' file is created, anything after an exclamation mark is deleted.
So original file
Hello! I have some cheese
Just becomes
Hello
Although the text I am trying to replace is fine.
I understand that since I'm using delayed expansion I need to somehow escape the exclamation marks with ^^! but can't figure out where to do this. Adding it at the echo just echoes the ^^! literally.
Any help would be appreciated.
set "rootname=Common Filename"
set "replace="old">"
set "replaced="new">"
set "source="%rootname%_unqiue_suffix.txt""
set "target=Fixed\%SOURCE%"
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
(
for /F "tokens=1* delims=:" %%a in ('findstr /N "^" %source%') do (
set "line=%%b"
if defined line set "line=!line:%replace%=%replaced%!"
echo(!line!
)
) > %target%
endlocal
To avoid loss of exclamation marks, enable delayed expansion only when it is really needed and expand normal % variables and for meta-variables only when delayed expansion is disabled:
#echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions DisableDelayedExpansion
set "rootname=Common Filename"
set "replace="old">"
set "replaced="new">"
set "source=%rootname%_unqiue_suffix.txt"
set "target=Fixed\%source%"
(
for /F "tokens=1* delims=:" %%a in ('findstr /N "^" "%source%"') do (
set "line=%%b"
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
if defined line set "line=!line:%replace%=%replaced%!"
echo(!line!
endlocal
)
) > "%target%"
endlocal
This code still causes trouble in case the variables replace and replaced contain !-signs, because they are percent-expanded.

Extract lines from text batch file

I need to take a known number of lines from one text doc and put them in another. During or after this process I need to look at certain columns only. My idea:
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
FOR /F "SKIP=21 TOKENS 1,3 DELIMS= " %%B IN (INPUT.TXT) DO ECHO %%B %%C > OUTPUT.TXT
When I try this I just get the last line of the file printed. I eventually want just lines 22-34, 1st and 3rd columns. Please keep simple.
Change your > OUTPUT.TXT to >> OUTPUT.TXT
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set /a counter=32-21
FOR /F "SKIP=21 TOKENS 1,3 DELIMS= " %%B IN (INPUT.TXT) DO (
ECHO %%B %%C
set /a counter=counter-1
if !counter! == 0 (
goto :break
)
)>> OUTPUT.TXT
:break
Like is posted you script will print all lines after 21th.To stop at 34 you'll need a break condition.
And as Kevin pointed you need appending redirection.
It is more efficient to enclose entire construct in parens and redirect only once.
You can intentionally divide by zero and detect when to quit without any need for delayed expansion.
#echo off
setlocal disableDelayedExpansion
set "cnt=13"
>output.txt (
for /f "skip=21 tokens=1,3 delims= " %%B in (input.txt) do (
echo(%%B %%C
set /a "1/(cnt-=1)" 2>nul || goto :break
)
)
:break
Or, if you get my JREPL.BAT regular expression text processing utility, then all you need is the following from the command line:
jrepl "^([^ ]*) [^ ]* ([^ ]*)" "$1 $2" /jmatch /jbegln "skip=(ln<22 || ln>34)" /f input.txt /o output.txt
The above assumes there is exactly one space between tokens. The regular expression can be modified if there may be multiple spaces between tokens.
You must use CALL JREPL if you use the command within a batch script.

I am writing a .bat program to find and replace text in a file without changing its position

I am writing a .bat program that will find and replace text in a file. The problem that I am having is that it is removing blank lines and left justifying the other lines. I need the blank lines to remain and the new text to remain in the same location. Here is what I have wrote, and also the result. Can anybody please help.
program:
#ECHO OFF
cls
cd\
c:
setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion
For /f "tokens=* delims= " %%a in (samplefile.tx) do (
Set str=%%a
set str=!str:day=night!
set str=!str:winter=summer!
echo !str!>>samplefile2.txt)
ENDLOCAL
cls
exit
samle File:
this line is the first line in my file that I am using as an example.This is made up text
the cat in the hat
day
winter
below is the result:
this line is the first line in my file that I am using as an example.This is made up text
the cat in the hat
night
summer
I need the lines, spaces and new text to remain in the same position while making the text replacement. Please help
Your use of "tokens=* delims= " will trim leading spaces. Instead, use "delims=" to preserve leading spaces.
FOR /F always skips empty lines. The trick is to insert something before each line. Typically FIND or FINDSTR is used to insert the line number at the front of each line.
You can use !var:*:=! to delete the the line number prefix from FINDSTR.
Use echo(!str! to prevent ECHO is off message when line is empty
It is more efficient (faster) to redirect only once.
#echo off
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
>samplefile2.txt (
for /f "delims=" %%A in ('findstr /n "^" samplefile.txt') do (
set "str=%%A"
set "str=!str:*:=!"
set "str=!str:day=night!"
set "str=!str:winter=summer!"
echo(!str!
)
)
This still has a potential problem. It will corrupt lines that contain ! when %%A is expanded because of the delayed expansion. The trick is to toggle delayed expansion on and off within the loop.
#echo off
setlocal disableDelayedExpansion
>samplefile2.txt (
for /f "delims=" %%A in ('findstr /n "^" samplefile.txt') do (
set "str=%%A"
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
set "str=!str:*:=!"
set "str=!str:day=night!"
set "str=!str:winter=summer!"
echo(!str!
endlocal
)
)
Or you could forget custom batch entirely and get a much simpler and faster solution using my JREPL.BAT utility that performs regular expression search and replace on text. There are options to specify multiple literal search/replace pairs.
jrepl "day winter" "night summer" /t " " /l /i /f sampleFile.txt /o sampleFile2.txt
I used the /I option to make the search case insensitive. But you can drop that option to make it case sensitive if you prefer. That cannot be done easily using pure batch.
#ECHO Off
SETLOCAL
(
FOR /f "tokens=1*delims=]" %%a IN ('find /n /v "" q27459813.txt') DO (
SET "line=%%b"
IF DEFINED line (CALL :subs) ELSE (ECHO()
)
)>newfile.txt
GOTO :EOF
:subs
SET "line=%line:day=night%"
SET "line=%line:winter=summer%"
ECHO(%line%
GOTO :eof
Thi should work for you. I used a file named q27459813.txt containing your data for my testing.
Produces newfile.txt
Will not work correctly if the datafile lines start ].
Revised to allow leading ]
#ECHO Off
SETLOCAL
(
FOR /f "delims=" %%a IN ('type q27459813.txt^|find /n /v "" ') DO (
SET "line=%%a"
CALL :subs
)
)>newfile.txt
GOTO :EOF
:subs
SET "line=%line:*]=%"
IF NOT DEFINED line ECHO(&GOTO :EOF
SET "line=%line:day=night%"
SET "line=%line:winter=summer%"
ECHO(%line%
GOTO :eof

Multiple conditions in For loop batch?

I'd like to print each line of 2 separate txt files alternately using a for loop in a batch file, I tried using an AND but was given: "AND was unexpected at this time" in cmd.exe when I ran my batch. Any ideas?
FOR /F "tokens=*" %%F in (!logPath!) AND for /f "tokens=*" %%H in (%%refLogPath) DO (
REM print each line of log file and refLog file sequentially
echo %%F
echo %%H
REM set logLine=%%F
REM check 'each line' of log file against ENG-REF.log
)
There isn't a keyword like AND, normally you couldn't solve this with two FOR loops.
But there is an alternative way to read a file with set /p.
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
<file2.txt (
FOR /F "delims=" %%A in (file1.txt) DO (
set /p lineFromFile2=
echo file1=%%A, file2=!lineFromFile2!
)
)
I believe this is as robust as a batch solution can get.
It handles blank lines in both files
It can read up to approximately 8k bytes on each line
The number of lines in the files does not have to match
A line can begin with any character (avoiding a FOR /F EOL issue)
A line can contain ! without getting corrupted (avoiding a problem of expanding a FOR
variable while delayed expansion is enabled)
Lines can be either Unix or Windows style.
Control characters will not be stripped from end of line
But this solution will get progressively slower as it reads a large file because it must rescan the 2nd file from the beginning for every line.
#echo off
setlocal disableDelayedExpansion
set "file1=file1.txt"
set "file2=file2.txt"
for /f %%N in ('find /c /v "" ^<"%file2%"') do set file2Cnt=%%N
findstr /n "^" "%file1%" >"%file1%.tmp"
findstr /n "^" "%file2%" >"%file2%.tmp"
set "skip=0"
set "skipStr="
for /f "usebackq delims=" %%A in ("%file1%.tmp") do (
set "ln1=%%A"
call :readFile2
set /a "skip+=1"
)
if %file2Cnt% gtr %skip% (
for /f "usebackq skip=%skip% delims=" %%B in ("%file2%.tmp") do (
set "ln2=%%B"
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
set "ln2=!ln2:*:=!"
(echo()
(echo(!ln2!)
)
)
del "%file1%.tmp" 2>nul
del "%file2%.tmp" 2>nul
exit /b
:readFile2
if %skip% gtr 0 set "skipStr=skip=%skip% "
if %file2Cnt% gtr %skip% (
for /f "usebackq %skipStr%delims=" %%B in ("%file2%.tmp") do (
set "ln2=%%B"
goto :break
)
) else set "ln2="
:break
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
set "ln1=!ln1:*:=!"
if defined ln2 set "ln2=!ln2:*:=!"
(echo(!ln1!)
(echo(!ln2!)
exit /b
Much better to use jeb's approach if that solution's limitations are not a concern with your files. It currently has the following limitations that could be removed with fairly minor modifications:
Files must have same number of lines
Files must not have blank lines
File1 must not contain ! character
No line in File1 can start with ;
In addition it has the following limitations when reading File2 that are inherent to the SET /P limitations
Lines must be Windows style, ending in carriageReturn lineFeed
Lines cannot exceed 1021 characters (bytes) excluding the line terminators
Control characters will be stripped off the end of each line
An even better solution would be to use something other than batch. There are many possibilities: VBS, JScript, PowerShell, perl ... the list goes on and on.

DOS batch FOR loop with FIND.exe is stripping out blank lines?

This DOS batch script is stripping out the blank lines and not showing the blank lines in the file even though I am using the TYPE.exe command to convert the file to make sure the file is ASCII so that the FIND command is compatible with the file. Can anyone tell me how to make this script include blank lines?
#ECHO off
FOR /F "USEBACKQ tokens=*" %%A IN (`TYPE.exe "build.properties" ^| FIND.exe /V ""`) DO (
ECHO --%%A--
)
pause
That is the designed behavior of FOR /F - it never returns blank lines. The work around is to use FIND or FINDSTR to prefix the line with the line number. If you can guarantee no lines start with the line number delimiter, then you simply set the appropriate delimiter and keep tokens 1* but use only the 2nd token.
::preserve blank lines using FIND, assume no line starts with ]
::long lines are truncated
for /f "tokens=1* delims=]" %%A in ('type "file.txt" ^| find /n /v ""') do echo %%B
::preserve blank lines using FINDSTR, assume no line starts with :
::long lines > 8191 bytes are lost
for /f "tokens=1* delims=:" %%A in ('type "file.txt" ^| findstr /n "^"') do echo %%B
::FINDSTR variant that preserves long lines
type "file.txt" > "file.txt.tmp"
for /f "tokens=1* delims=:" %%A in ('findstr /n "^" "file.txt.tmp"') do echo %%B
del "file.txt.tmp"
I prefer FINDSTR - it is more reliable. For example, FIND can truncate long lines - FINDSTR does not as long as it reads directly from a file. FINDSTR does drop long lines when reading from stdin via pipe or redirection.
If the file may contain lines that start with the delimiter, then you need to preserve the entire line with the line number prefix, and then use search and replace to remove the line prefix. You probably want delayed expansion off when transferring the %%A to an environment variable, otherwise any ! will be corrupted. But later within the loop you need delayed expansion to do the search and replace.
::preserve blank lines using FIND, even if a line may start with ]
::long lines are truncated
for /f "delims=" %%A in ('type "file.txt" ^| find /n /v ""') do (
set "ln=%%A"
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
set "ln=!ln:*]=!"
echo(!ln!
endlocal
)
::preserve blank lines using FINDSTR, even if a line may start with :
::long lines >8191 bytes are truncated
for /f "delims=*" %%A in ('type "file.txt" ^| findstr /n "^"') do (
set "ln=%%A"
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
set "ln=!ln:*:=!"
echo(!ln!
endlocal
)
::FINDSTR variant that preserves long lines
type "file.txt" >"file.txt.tmp"
for /f "delims=*" %%A in ('findstr /n "^" "file.txt.tmp"') do (
set "ln=%%A"
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
set "ln=!ln:*:=!"
echo(!ln!
endlocal
)
del "file.txt.tmp"
If you don't need to worry about converting the file to ASCII, then it is more efficient to drop the pipe and let FIND or FINDSTR open the file specified as an argument, or via redirection.
There is another work around that completely bypasses FOR /F during the read process. It looks odd, but it is more efficient. There are no restrictions with using delayed expansion, but unfortunately it has other limitations.
1) lines must be terminated by <CR><LF> (this will not be a problem if you do the TYPE file conversion)
2) lines must be <= 1021 bytes long (disregarding the <CR><LF>)
3) any trailing control characters are stripped from each line.
4) it must read from a file - you can't use a pipe. So in your case you will need to use a temp file to do your to ASCII conversion.
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
type "file.txt">"file.txt.tmp"
for /f %%N in ('find /c /v "" ^<"file.txt.tmp"') do set cnt=%%N
<"file.txt.tmp" (
for /l %%N in (1 1 %cnt%) do(
set "ln="
set /p "ln="
echo(!ln!
)
)
del "file.txt.tmp"
I wrote a very simple program that may serve as replacement for FIND and FINDSTR commands when they are used for this purpose. My program is called PIPE.COM and it just insert a blank space in empty lines, so all the lines may be directly processed by FOR command with no further adjustments (as long as the inserted space don't cares). Here it is:
#ECHO off
if not exist pipe.com call :DefinePipe
FOR /F "USEBACKQ delims=" %%A IN (`pipe ^< "build.properties"`) DO (
ECHO(--%%A--
)
pause
goto :EOF
:DefinePipe
setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion
set pipe=´)€ì!Í!ŠÐŠà€Ä!€ü.t2€ü+u!:æu8²A€ê!´#€ì!Í!².€ê!´#€ì!Í!²+€ê!´#€ì!Í!Šò€Æ!´,€ì!Í!"Àu°´LÍ!ëÒ
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
echo !pipe!>pipe.com
exit /B
EDIT: Addendum as answer to new comment
The code at :DefinePipe subroutine create a 88 bytes program called pipe.com, that basically do a process equivalent to this pseudo-Batch code:
set "space= "
set line=
:nextChar
rem Read just ONE character
set /PC char=
if %char% neq %NewLine% (
rem Join new char to current line
set line=%line%%char%
) else (
rem End of line detected
if defined line (
rem Show current line
echo %line%
set line=
) else (
rem Empty line: change it by one space
echo %space%
)
)
goto nextChar
This way, empty lines in the input file are changed by lines with one space, so FOR /F command not longer omit they. This works "as long as the inserted space don't cares" as I said in my answer.
Note that the pipe.com program does not work in 64-bits Windows versions.
Antonio
Output lines including blank lines
Here's a method I developed for my own use.
Save the code as a batch file say, SHOWALL.BAT and pass the source file as a command line parameter.
Output can be redirected or piped.
#echo off
for /f "tokens=1,* delims=]" %%a in ('find /n /v "" ^< "%~1"') do echo.%%ba
exit /b
EXAMPLES:
showall source.txt
showall source.txt >destination.txt
showall source.txt | FIND "string"
An oddity is the inclusion of the '^<' (redirection) as opposed to just doing the following:
for /f "tokens=1,* delims=]" %%a in ('find /n /v "" "%~1"') do echo.%%ba
By omitting the redirection, a leading blank line is output.
Thanks to dbenham, this works, although it is slightly different than his suggestion:
::preserve blank lines using FIND, no limitations
for /f "USEBACKQ delims=" %%A in (`type "file.properties" ^| find /V /N ""`) do (
set "ln=%%A"
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
set "ln=!ln:*]=!"
echo(!ln!
endlocal
)
As mentioned in this answer to the above question, it doesn't seem that lines are skipped by default using for /f in (at least) Windows XP (Community - Please update this answer by testing the below batch commands on your version & service pack of Windows).
EDIT: Per Jeb's comment below, it seems that the ping command, in at least Windows XP, is
causing for /f to produce <CR>'s instead of blank lines (If someone knows specifically why, would
appreciate it if they could update this answer or comment).
As a workaround, it seems that the second default delimited token (<space> / %%b in the example)
returns as blank, which worked for my situation of eliminating the blank lines by way of an "parent"
if conditional on the second token at the start of the for /f, like this:
for /f "tokens=1,2*" %%a in ('ping -n 1 google.com') do (
if not "x%%b"=="x" (
{do things with non-blank lines}
)
)
Using the below code:
#echo off
systeminfo | findstr /b /c:"OS Name" /c:"OS Version"
echo.&echo.
ping -n 1 google.com
echo.&echo.
for /f %%a in ('ping -n 1 google.com') do ( echo "%%a" )
echo.&echo.&echo --------------&echo.&echo.
find /?
echo.&echo.
for /f %%a in ('find /?') do ( echo "%%a" )
echo.&echo.
pause
.... the following is what I see on Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 2008, being the only three versions & service packs of Windows I have ready access to:

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