Parsing text file in windows command file with findstr - batch-file

I am writing bat-file to use several executable files (tools that I cannot change) sequentially.
Firs of the tool receive two file names and produce txt file.
Example 1:
Best score for a1_score.txt: 5712
Best score for a2_score.txt: 14696
Example 2:
Best score for data\a1_score.txt: 3023
Best score for data\a2_score.txt: 451
Example 3:
Best score for D:\tmp\a1_score.txt: 234
Best score for D:\tmp\a2_score.txt: 1062
Strings are different because of including full file path. But, fortunately names of file ("a1_score.txt " and "a2_score.txt") will not be changed.
I need two numbers to call next tool, so I tried to write script … but I'm not familiar with the command language and examples I have found in the Internet are not so useful.
Please, help ne to complete the following code:
if exist scores.dat goto scores
echo Cannot read scores
goto BADEND
:scores
for /f "delims=" %%a in ('findstr /c:a1_score.txt /c:a2_score.txt "scores.dat"') do (
set str=%%a
:: some code to create a1_score and a2_score with corresponding values
)
echo %a1_score%
echo %a2_score%
:: some other code
goto END
:BADEND
echo Process was not completed due to errors
:END
pause

Next code snippet could help:
#ECHO OFF >NUL
SETLOCAL enableextensions enabledelayedexpansion
set "scores_dat=%~dp0files\scores32003340.dat" :: my filename value for debugging
if exist "%scores_dat%" goto scores
echo Cannot read scores
goto BADEND
:scores
for /f "tokens=1,2,* delims=:" %%a in ('
findstr /R "a[12]_score.txt" "%scores_dat%"
') do (
if "%%c"=="" (
set str=%%a
set /A "!str:~-12,8!=%%b"
) else (
set str=%%b
set /A "!str:~-12,8!=%%c"
)
)
set a|find /I "score"
echo(%a1_score%
echo(%a2_score%
:: some other code
goto END
:BADEND
echo Process was not completed due to errors
:END
Resources (required reading):
(command reference) An A-Z Index of the Windows CMD command line
(additional particularities) Windows CMD Shell Command Line Syntax
(%~G etc. special page) Command Line arguments (Parameters)
(special page) EnableDelayedExpansion
(for special page) FOR loop summary: all variants

Related

Batch Recursive For Loop and non-ASCII characters in Folder Namers

This is my continuing attempt to build a filename format verification batch routine (batch variable exclamation points used in dir | findstr)
Here's where I'm at:
echo off
REM Ensure filenames are of the format ALBUM - TITLE
chcp 1254>nul
setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion
set /p CUTOFFDATE=Enter the Date of the Last Cleanup (yyyymmdd):
for /r "\\kodi-pc\g\itunes\iTunes Media\Podcasts\American Civil War\" %%i in (*.mp3) do (
set "FILENAME=%%~nxi"
set "FILEDATE=%%~ti"
call set "TITLE=%%FILENAME:* - = - %%"
call:SETALBUM
call set "FILEDATE=%%FILEDATE:~6,4%%%%FILEDATE:~0,2%%%%FILEDATE:~3,2%%"
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
if !FILEDATE! GTR !CUTOFFDATE! (
echo ~ALBUM~TITLE~FILENAME~ ~!ALBUM!~!TITLE!~!FILENAME!
)
endlocal
)
pause
exit /b
:SETALBUM
call set "ALBUM=%%FILENAME:%TITLE%=%%"
exit /b
Works great except where folder names contain non-ASCII characters (», ’, etc.). My effort has been to recognize bangs (!) but that accomplished I now have these other problems.
The foldername 'American Civil War' is merely a sample placeholder for this forum. In reality I loop through many hundreds of foldernames.
Thx.

Versioning up existing files using batch

#echo off
:prep
cls
for /f "tokens=2-4 delims=/ " %%a in ('date /t') do (set mydate=%%c-%%a-%%b)
:for /l %A in (1,1,100) do copy "C:\some folder\file.ext" "C:\some folder\file-%%A.ext"
set choice=
:: test to see if directory exists
if EXIST "../delivery_%mydate%.txt" (
goto overwrite
) else (
goto start
)
:overwrite
echo.
echo delivery note already exists - continue?
set /p choice='y / n ?'
if '%choice%'=='' ECHO "%choice%" is not valid please try again
if '%choice%'=='y' goto start
if '%choice%'=='n' goto end
echo.
:start
echo.
for /l %A in (1,1,100) do copy "C:\some folder\delivery_%mydate%.ext" "C:\some folder\delivery_%mydate%.ext"
echo Choose the following:
echo 1. Directories
echo 2. Files
echo 3. quit
echo.
set /p choice=
if '%choice%'=='1' goto directory
if '%choice%'=='2' goto file
if '%choice%'=='3' goto end
cls
ECHO "%choice%" is not valid please try again
goto start
:directory
dir /ad /on /b > ../delivery_%mydate%.txt
echo.
goto checksuccess
:file
dir /a-d /on /b > ../delivery_%mydate%.txt
echo.
goto checksuccess
:checksuccess
I need to add a line of code to this batch file I have created above. I need this code to save an existing file to a higher version without deleting the previous one. This will also need to be embedded into the code I created. For example it will start saving them like: filev001, filev002, etc.
1. Some general advice for writing batch files
A list of commands is output on executing in a command prompt window help. It is advisable to use in batch files for environment variables and labels not a string which is also a command. It is possible, but not advisable.
start is a command to start an application in a separate process. So it is better to use for example Begin instead of start as label.
choice is a command for a choice which is better for single character choices than using set /P. So it is better to use for example UserChoice instead of just choice as environment variable name.
It is better to use echo/ instead echo. to output an empty line. The reason is explained by DosTips forum topic ECHO. FAILS to give text or blank line - Instead use ECHO/.
Environment variable names and labels are easier to read on using CamelCase and can be more easily searched case-sensitive and if necessary replaced in a batch file than a name/label which can exist as word also in comments and in strings output with echo.
The answer on question Why is no string output with 'echo %var%' after using 'set var = text' on command line? explains in detail why the usage of the syntax set "Variable=string value" is recommended in batch files on assigning a string to an environment variable.
The directory separator on Windows is the backslash character \. The slash character / is the directory separator on Unix/Linux/Mac. On Windows / is used for options/parameters. The Windows kernel functions support also directory and file paths with / as directory separator by automatically correcting them to \ internally in path. But it is nevertheless recommended to use in a batch file \ in paths.
rem is the command for a comment in a batch file. :: is an invalid label and not really a comment. Lines with a label at begin are ignored for command execution. But a label cannot be used in a command block. For that reason it is recommended to use command rem because :: in a command block results often in unexpected behavior on execution of the batch file.
2. Get current date in a specific format
Let us look on the command line:
for /f "tokens=2-4 delims=/ " %%a in ('date /t') do (set mydate=%%c-%%a-%%b)
date /t is a command which for executes in a background command process with the command line cmd.exe /C date /t for capturing the output of this command process written to standard output handle STDOUT and process the captured output line by line.
Can this be optimized?
Yes, because on running in a command prompt window set /? and reading the output help from first to last page it can be read that there is the environment variable DATE which expands to current date. So there is no need to run the command date to get current date as string.
The command date with option /t outputs the current date in the format defined for the used user account in Windows Region and Language settings. In your case it looks like the region dependent date format is MM/dd/yyyy with the weekday abbreviation at beginning (with no comma) before the date. The date format on my computer is just dd.MM.yyyy without weekday. The environment variable DATE is in same region dependent format as output of command date /t.
So the region dependent date in format ddd, MM/dd/yyyy could be also modified to yyyy-MM-dd using the command line:
for /F "tokens=2-4 delims=/, " %%a in ("%DATE%") do set "MyDate=%%c-%%a-%%b"
It is also possible to use string substitution:
set "MyDate=%DATE:~-4%-%DATE:~-10,2%-%DATE:~-7,2%"
String substitution is also explained by help output on running set /? and read the answer on
What does %date:~-4,4%%date:~-10,2%%date:~-7,2%_%time:~0,2%%time:~3,2% mean?
But if yyyy-MM-dd is the wanted date format for current date independent on region settings of the used user account is advisable to use the command lines
for /F "tokens=2 delims==." %%I in ('%SystemRoot%\System32\wbem\wmic.exe OS GET LocalDateTime /VALUE') do set "MyDate=%%I"
set "MyDate=%MyDate:~0,4%-%MyDate:~4,2%-%MyDate:~6,2%"
This region independent solution is really much slower than the above command lines. It is explained in detail by the answer on Why does %date% produce a different result in batch file executed as scheduled task? But it has the big advantage of being region independent.
3. Prompting user for a single character choice
The usage of set /P variable=prompt is not recommended for a single character choice because
the user can just hit RETURN or ENTER without entering anything at all resulting in variable keeping its current value or still not being defined if not defined before set /P command line;
the user can make a typing mistake and presses for example Shift+2 instead of just 2 resulting (on German keyboard) to enter " as string which most batch files using set /P breaks because of a syntax error on next command line evaluating the user input;
the user can enter anything instead of one of the characters asked for including strings which on next command line results in deletion of files and folders.
The solution is using the command choice if that is possible (depends on Windows version). choice waits for the key press of a character specified in the command options and immediately continues after one of these keys is pressed. And choice exits with the index of the pressed character in list as specified in batch file. This exit code is assigned to ERRORLEVEL which can be evaluated next also within a command block without using delayed expansion or used directly in a single goto instruction.
4. Rewritten batch file
Here is the rewritten batch file:
#echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions DisableDelayedExpansion
rem set "Folder=C:\some folder"
set "Folder=F:\Temp\Test"
:Prepare
cls
rem Get current date region independent in format yyyy-MM-dd.
for /F "tokens=2 delims==." %%I in ('%SystemRoot%\System32\wbem\wmic.exe OS GET LocalDateTime /VALUE') do set "MyDate=%%I"
set "MyDate=%MyDate:~0,4%-%MyDate:~4,2%-%MyDate:~6,2%"
set "FileNumber=0"
for %%I in ("%Folder%\file-*.ext") do call :GetFileNumber "%%~nI"
goto IncrementNumber
rem Subroutine to find out highest file number without using delayed
rem environment variable expansion for number range 0 to 2147483647.
rem Numbers starting with 0 are interpreted as octal number in number
rem comparison which makes it necessary to remove leading 0 from the
rem number string get from file name starting with 5 characters.
:GetFileNumber
set "Number=%~1"
set "Number=%Number:~5%
:RemoveLeadingZero
if "%Number%" == "" goto :EOF
if "%Number:~0,1%" == "0" set "Number=%Number:~1%" & goto RemoveLeadingZero
if %Number% GTR %FileNumber% set "FileNumber=%Number%"
goto :EOF
rem Make sure the file number has at least 3 digits.
:IncrementNumber
set /A FileNumber+=1
if %FileNumber% GEQ 100 goto ExistDelivery
set "FileNumber=00%FileNumber%"
set "FileNumber=%FileNumber:~-3%"
rem Test to see if file exists already.
:ExistDelivery
if not exist "..\delivery_%MyDate%.txt" goto Begin
echo/
%SystemRoot%\System32\choice.exe /C YN /N /M "Delivery note already exists, continue (Y/N)? "
if errorlevel 2 goto :EOF
:Begin
set "FileName=file-%FileNumber%.ext"
copy "%Folder%\file.ext" "%Folder%\%FileName%" >nul
echo/
echo Choose the following:
echo/
echo 1. Directories
echo 2. Files
echo 3. Quit
echo/
%SystemRoot%\System32\choice.exe /C 123 /N /M "Your choice? "
if errorlevel 3 goto :EOF
if errorlevel 2 goto GetFileList
dir * /AD /ON /B >"..\delivery_%MyDate%.txt"
echo/
goto CheckSuccess
:GetFileList
dir * /A-D /ON /B >"..\delivery_%MyDate%.txt"
echo/
:CheckSuccess
rem More commands.
endlocal
It was not really clear for me what the entire batch code is for at all.
It would have been also easier to write the determination of highest number in a file name on knowing the possible number range like 001 to 100. So I wrote a general solution for 001, 002, ..., 099, 100, 101, ..., 1000, ..., 2147483647.
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 /?
cls /?
copy /?
dir /?
echo /?
endlocal /?
for /?
goto /?
if /?
rem /?
set /?
setlocal /?
wmic /?
wmic os /?
wmic os get /?
wmic os get localdatetime /?
See also answer on Single line with multiple commands using Windows batch file for an explanation of & operator and read the Microsoft article about Using command redirection operators.

How to choose one of multiple actions based on file extension, in batch

I'm an amateur on the usage of the FOR command. I need a batch file that will run one of 5 file conversion tools based on a file's extension. I want to drop a file onto the batch file icon and have it converted.
Since my list is huge, I can't use nested IF's.
What I've tried so far:
#ECHO OFF
SET cadfile=.dwg .dxf .dwf
SET gsfile=.ps .eps .epi .epsp
SET xxxxxx=.xx .xx and goes on
FOR %%~x1 in (%cadfile%) do (
Do some action
FOR %%~x1 in (%gsfile%) do (
Do some other action
)
)
The %%~x1 variable is used for file extension of file, which dragged and dropped over the batch file.
(edited to make more clear)
FOR %%a in (%cadfile%) do (
if /i "%~x1"=="%%a" some_action "%~1"
)
... and follow the bouncing ball for the rest of the utilities/lists
I think this will work for you. It looks through all your groups of extensions in a single For loop and when the matching extension is found, calls a label where you can do the conversion and any related tasks. You'll need to finish the "groupN" variables and labels.
#echo off
SETLOCAL EnableDelayedExpansion
set file="%1"
set ext=%~x1
:: Set the 5 groups of extensions that have different converters
set group1=.dwg, .dxf, .dwf
set group2=.ps, .eps, .epi, .epsp
For %%A in (1 2 3 4 5) do (
set groupnum=group%%A
call set thisgroup=%%!groupnum!%%
:: Look for extension in this group
echo.!thisgroup!|findstr /i /C:"%ext%" >nul 2>&1
if not errorlevel 1 call :group%%A
:: else go loop next group
)
echo Extension not found in any group &pause &goto end
:group1
echo group1 file to convert is %file%
goto end
:group2
echo group2 file to convert is %file%
goto end
:end
pause
exit
The following method allows you to easily add and modify your list of extensions/applications. Please note that you just need to edit the values placed inside the first FOR command; the rest of the program is the solution you don't need to care of...
#echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
rem Define the list of extensions per application:
rem (this is the only part that you must edit)
for %%a in ("cadfile=.dwg .dxf .dwf"
"gsfile=.ps .eps .epi .epsp"
"xxxxxx=.xx .xx1 .xx2") do (
rem The rest of the code is commented just to be clear,
rem but you may omit the reading of this part if you wish
rem Separate application from its extensions
rem and create a vector called "ext" with an element for each pair
for /F "tokens=1,2 delims==" %%b in (%%a) do (
rem For example: %%b=cadfile, %%c=.dwg .dxf .dwf
for %%d in (%%c) do set "ext[%%d]=%%b"
rem For example: set "ext[.dwg]=cadfile", set "ext[.dxf]=cadfile", set "ext[.dwf]=cadfile"
rem In the next line: set "ext[.ps]=gsfile", set "ext[.eps]=gsfile", etc...
)
)
rem Now process the extension of the file given in the parameter:
if defined ext[%~x1] goto !ext[%~x1]!
echo There is no registered conversion tool for %~x1 extension
goto :EOF
:cadfile
echo Execute cadfile on %1 file
rem cadfile %1
goto :EOF
:gsfile
echo Execute gsfile on %1 file
rem gsfile %1
goto :EOF
etc...
If each conversion tool is executed in the same way and don't require additional parameters (just the filename), then you may omit the individual sections and directly execute the conversion tools this way:
if defined ext[%~x1] !ext[%~x1]! %1
For further explanations on array concept, see this post.

How do I exclude specific file names from an MS DOS dir list?

I am creating an MS DOS batch script that needs to list every .bat file in the current directory, but not show autoexec.bat or other utilities or systems .bat files that shouldn't be run by the user.
I currently have DIR "*.bat" /B /P
This lists all .bat files appropriately, but it shows autoexec.bat. How would I exclude that from the list? Also slightly important, how could I chop off the file extensions and show more than the 7-characters DOS limits files to?
Constraints: I am not able to use a DOS version above WinME. That is the version I am using.
Thanks for any help.
EDIT:
There is plenty of information on the internet about doing this, but it is all in the windows command processor, not MS DOS. Please understand that DOS and the Command Prompt are not the same thing.
#echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
rem Add more names separated with slashes here:
set exclude=/autoexec/
for %%a in (*.bat) do (
if "!exclude:/%%~Na/=!" equ "%exclude%" (
echo %%~Na
)
)
EDIT: Some explanations added
Batch file processing is slow, so you should use techniques that allows a Batch file to run faster. For example:
Try to use the minimum lines/commands to achieve a certain result. Try to avoid external commands (*.exe files) like find, findstr, fc, etc. specially if they work on small amounts of data; use if command instead.
Use for %%a in (*.bat)... instead of for /F %%a in ('dir /B *.bat').... The second method requires to execute cmd.exe and store its output in a file before for command can process its lines.
Avoid pipes and use redirections instead. A pipe require the execution of two copies of cmd.exe to process the command at each side of the pipe.
A simple way to check if a variable contain a given string is trying to delete the string from the variable: if the result is different then the string exists in the variable: if "!variable:%string%=!" neq "%variable%" echo The string is in the variable.
Previous method may also be used to check if a variable have anyone of a list of values: set list=one two three, if "!list:%variable%=!" neq "%list%" echo The variable have one value from the list. If the values of the list may have spaces, they must be separated by another delimiter.
EDIT: New version added as answer to new comments
The easiest way to pause one page at a time is to use more filter this way:
theBatchFile | more
However, the program must reorder the output in order to show it in columns. The new version below achieve both things, so it does not require more filter; you just need to set the desired number of columns and rows per page.
#echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
rem Add more names separated with slashes here:
set exclude=/autoexec/
rem Set the first two next variables as desired:
set /A columns=5, rows=41, wide=(80-columns)/columns, col=0, row=0
rem Create filling spaces to align columns
set spaces=
for /L %%a in (1,1,%wide%) do set spaces= !spaces!
set line=
for %%a in (*.bat) do (
if "!exclude:/%%~Na/=!" equ "%exclude%" (
rem If this column is less than the limit...
set /A col+=1
if !col! lss %columns% (
rem ... add it to current line
set name=%%~Na%spaces%
set "line=!line!!name:~0,%wide%! "
) else (
rem ... show current line and reset it
set name=%%~Na
echo !line!!name:~0,%wide%!
set line=
set /a col=0, row+=1
rem If this row is equal to the limit...
if !row! equ %rows% (
rem ...do a pause and reset row
pause
set row=0
)
)
)
)
rem Show last line, if any
if defined line echo %line%
Antonio
attrib +h autoexec.bat
should hide autoexec.bat and it should thus not appear in the list
DIR "*.bat" /B /P | find /v "autoexec" | for %i in (*.bat) do #echo %~ni
Using for to process each file name individually:
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /f %%i in ('dir "*.bat" /b') do (
set system=0
if "%%i"=="autoexec.bat" set system=1
if "%%i"=="somesystem.bat" set system=1
if !system!==0 echo %%i
)
Another method without variables:
for /f %%i in ('dir "*.bat" /b') do call :test %%i
goto continue
:test
if "%1"=="autoexec.bat" goto :eof
if "%1"=="somesystem.bat" goto :eof
echo %1
goto :eof
:continue
For both, you can add new filenames to exclude from the list.

CMD.EXE batch script to display last 10 lines from a txt file

Any ideas how to echo or type the last 10 lines of a txt file?
I'm running a server change log script to prompt admins to state what they're doing, so we can track changes. I'm trying to get the script to show the last 10 entries or so to give an idea of what's been happening recently. I've found a script that deals with the last line, as shown below, but can't figure out what to change in it to display the last 10 lines.
Script:
#echo off
setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion
for /f "tokens=* delims= " %%a in (c:\log09.txt) do (
set var=%%a
)
echo !var!
Example of log file:
06/02/2009, 12:22,Remote=Workstation-9,Local=,
mdb,bouncing box after updates,CAS-08754,
=================
07/02/2009, 2:38,Remote=,Local=SERVER1,
mdb,just finished ghosting c drive,CAS-08776,
=================
07/02/2009, 3:09,Remote=,Local=SERVER1,
mdb,audit of server,CAS-08776,
Any thoughts?
The script works great, just need it to pipe more lines to the screen.
Hopefully this will save Joel's eyes :)
#echo OFF
:: Get the number of lines in the file
set LINES=0
for /f "delims==" %%I in (data.txt) do (
set /a LINES=LINES+1
)
:: Print the last 10 lines (suggestion to use more courtsey of dmityugov)
set /a LINES=LINES-10
more +%LINES% < data.txt
This answer combines the best features of already existing answers, and adds a few twists.
The solution is a simple batch implementation of the tail command.
The first argument is the file name (possibly with path information - be sure to enclose in quotes if any portion of path contains spaces or other problematic characters).
The second argument is the number of lines to print.
Finally any of the standard MORE options can be appended: /E /C /P /S /Tn. (See MORE /? for more information).
Additionally the /N (no pause) option can be specified to cause the output to be printed continuosly without pausing.
The solution first uses FIND to quickly count the number of lines. The file is passed in via redirected input instead of using a filename argument in order to eliminate the printout of the filename in the FIND output.
The number of lines to skip is computed with SET /A, but then it resets the number to 0 if it is less than 0.
Finally uses MORE to print out the desired lines after skipping the unwanted lines. MORE will pause after each screen's worth of lines unless the output is redirected to a file or piped to another command. The /N option avoids the pauses by piping the MORE output to FINDSTR with a regex that matches all lines. It is important to use FINDSTR instead of FIND because FIND can truncate long lines.
:: tail.bat File Num [/N|/E|/C|/P|/S|/Tn]...
::
:: Prints the last Num lines of text file File.
::
:: The output will pause after filling the screen unless the /N option
:: is specified
::
:: The standard MORE options /E /C /P /S /Tn can be specified.
:: See MORE /? for more information
::
#echo OFF
setlocal
set file=%1
set "cnt=%~2"
shift /1
shift /1
set "options="
set "noPause="
:parseOptions
if "%~1" neq "" (
if /i "%~1" equ "/N" (set noPause=^| findstr "^") else set options=%options% %~1
shift /1
goto :parseOptions
)
for /f %%N in ('find /c /v "" ^<%file%') do set skip=%%N
set /a "skip-=%cnt%"
if %skip% lss 0 set skip=0
more +%skip% %options% %file% %noPause%
You should probably just find a good implementation of tail. But if you really really insist on using CMD batch files and want to run on any NT machine unmolested, this will work:
#echo off
setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion
for /f "tokens=* delims= " %%a in (c:\tmp\foo.txt) do (
set var9=!var8!
set var8=!var7!
set var7=!var6!
set var6=!var5!
set var5=!var4!
set var4=!var3!
set var3=!var2!
set var2=!var1!
set var1=!var!
set var=%%a
)
echo !var9!
echo !var8!
echo !var7!
echo !var6!
echo !var5!
echo !var4!
echo !var3!
echo !var2!
echo !var1!
echo !var!
There are several windows implementations of the tail command. It should be exactly what you want.
This one sounds particularly good:
http://malektips.com/xp_dos_0001.html
They range from real-time monitoring to the last x lines of the file.
Edit: I noticed that the included link is to a package It should work, but here are some more versions:
http://www.lostinthebox.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3801
http://sourceforge.net/projects/tailforwin32
If file is too large it can take too long to get count of lines
another way is to use find and pass it a nowhere string
$find /v /c "%%$%!" yourtextfile.txt
this would result an output like this
$---------- yourtextfile.txt: 140
then you can parse output using for like this
$for /f "tokens=3" %i in ('find /v /c "%%$%!" tt.txt') do set countoflines=%i
then you can substract ten lines from the total lines
After trying all of the answers I found on this page none of them worked on my file with 15539 lines.
However I found the answer here to work great. Copied into this post for convenience.
#echo off
for /f %%i in ('find /v /c "" ^< C:\path\to\textfile.txt') do set /a lines=%%i
set /a startLine=%lines% - 10
more /e +%startLine% C:\path\to\textfile.txt
This code will print the last 10 lines in the "C:\path\to\textfile.txt" file.
Credit goes to OP #Peter Mortensen
using a single powershell command:
powershell -nologo "& "Get-Content -Path c:\logFile.log -Tail 10"
applies to powershell 3.0 and newer
I agree with "You should use TAIL" answer. But it does not come by default on Windows. I suggest you download the "Windows 2003 Resource Kit" It works on XP/W2003 and more.
If you don't want to install on your server, you can install the resource kit on another machine and copy only TAIL.EXE to your server. Usage is sooooo much easier.
C:\> TAIL -10 myfile.txt
Here's a utility written in pure batch that can show a lines of file within a given range.To show the last lines use (here the script is named tailhead.bat):
call tailhead.bat -file "file.txt" -begin -10
Any ideas how to echo or type the last
10 lines of a txt file?
The following 3-liner script will list the last n lines from input file. n and file name/path are passed as input arguments.
# Script last.txt
var str file, content ; var int n, count
cat $file > $content ; set count = { len -e $content } - $n
stex -e ("["+makestr(int($count))) $content
The script is in biterscripting. To use, download biterscripting from http://www.biterscripting.com , save this script as C:\Scripts\last.txt, start biterscripting, enter the following command.
script last.txt file("c:\log09.txt") n(10)
The above will list last 10 lines from file c:\log09.txt. To list last 20 lines from the same file, use the following command.
script last.txt file("c:\log09.txt") n(20)
To list last 30 lines from a different file C:\folder1\somefile.log, use the following command.
script last.txt file("C:\folder1\somefile.log") n(30)
I wrote the script in a fairly generic way, so it can be used in various ways. Feel free to translate into another scripting/batch language.

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