e.g. I want to run a windows batch file, say upgrade.bat, which copies a bunch of files from a source directory to the directory that the batch file is in. Problem is, one of the files copied might be a newer version of upgrade.bat, so that the batch file will overwrite itself while its still running.
This seems to result in some unpredictable behavior of batch file execution, so I want to avoid copying over a batch file which is still running. Ideally, I want the existing version of upgrade.bat to run until it is finished, and next time run the new version. Are there any (simple) ways to achieve this ?
#ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL
IF /i NOT "%~dp0"=="%temp%\" (
COPY /y "%~dpnx0" "%temp%\%~nx0" >nul
"%temp%\%~nx0"
)
ECHO Now we run the rest of the original UPGRADE.BAT
This sequence of lines at the start of upgrade.bat should work.
See whether we're running from a copy in %temp%. If not, then copy this file to temp & run it from there.
Hence the batch actually runs from %temp% and the original version may be overwritten.
In order to do that, the following requirements must be satisfied:
The overwrite of the Batch file for the newer version of itself must be the last command of the Batch file, so the next command after the copy must be an exit /B or exit.
Previous commands must be loaded in memory before they are executed. This is easily done by enclosing them in parentheses.
That is:
#echo off
rem Do program business here...
echo Anything
rem Parse/load following commands before execute they:
(
rem Copy many files, probably a newer version of myself
xcopy /Y *.*
rem You may execute other commands here...
echo Files copied!
rem Terminate *this version* of the running Batch file
exit /B
)
You can run the copy as the last operation using the start command to launch it from another terminal. Check this example, specially the last lines.
#echo off
set CUR_FILE=batman.bat
set FOUND_EQUAL="FALSE"
set FROM_DIR=c:\temp\galeria\
SETLOCAL DisableDelayedExpansion
FOR /R %FROM_DIR% %%F IN (*) DO (
SET "p=%%F"
SETLOCAL EnableDelayedExpansion
SET ABC=!p:%FROM_DIR%=!
IF NOT !ABC! == !CUR_FILE! (
echo copying %%F
copy "%%F" .
)
ENDLOCAL
)
echo trying to copy file with the same name [last operation]
start copy "%FROM_DIR%%CUR_FILE%" .
#echo off
cmd /c copy "C:\somepath\upgrade.bat" "%0" & %0
This would start a new cmd process and replace the current batch file with "C:\somepath\upgrade.bat" and restart the batch file
Would it be an option to tag each new version of the batch file with a version suffix and use a second batch file as a launcher?
For example say you are payload batch file is upgrade.bat, subsequent versions will be named as upgrade_001.bat, upgrade_002.bat, upgrade_003.bat .. or upgrade_201305122134 (suffix being yyyymmddHHMM), the new batch file launcher.bat would look for the latest batch upgrade file by looking for the one with the highest suffix and execute it
if NOT "%1"=="RUN" (
copy "%~0" temp_update.cmd
temp_update.cmd RUN
)
Just put this at the top of your cmd file
any name can be used for the temporary file.
Make the batch file copy itself to updateNow.bat and then run updateNow.bat:
So contents of update.bat is:
if %0 == update (
copy update.bat updateNow.bat
updateNow.bat
) else (
copy newUpdate.bat update.bat
)
Related
I have a simple copy from-to script for one of my friends who is missing a file 20 km from my desk.
When testing the script out I am prompted if my file shapes.atc is a file or a folder.
I can tell you that its a file. How can I automatically copy it with my friend needs to just double click the batch to get the file copying job done.
xcopy /s/y J:\"My Name"\"FILES IN TRANSIT"\JOHN20101126\"Missing file"\Shapes.atc C:\"Documents and Settings"\"His name"\"Application Data"\Autodesk\"AutoCAD 2010"\"R18.0"\enu\Support\Shapes.atc
A seemingly undocumented trick is to put a * at the end of the destination - then xcopy will copy as a file, like so
xcopy c:\source\file.txt c:\destination\newfile.txt*
The echo f | xcopy ... trick does not work on localized versions of Windows, where the prompt is different.
Actually xcopy does not ask you if the original file exists, but if you want to put it in a new folder named Shapes.atc, or in the folder Support (which is what you want.
To prevent xcopy from asking this, just tell him the destination folder, so there's no ambiguity:
xcopy /s/y "J:\Old path\Shapes.atc" "C:\Documents and Settings\his name\Support"
If you want to change the filename in destination just use copy (which is more adapted than xcopy when copying files):
copy /y "J:\Old path\Shapes.atc" "C:\Documents and Settings\his name\Support\Shapes-new.atc
The real trick is: Use a Backslash at the end of the target path where to copy the file. The /Y is for overwriting existing files, if you want no warnings.
Example:
xcopy /Y "C:\file\from\here.txt" "C:\file\to\here\"
echo f | xcopy /s/y J:\"My Name"\"FILES IN TRANSIT"\JOHN20101126\"Missing file"\Shapes.atc C:\"Documents and Settings"\"His name"\"Application Data"\Autodesk\"AutoCAD 2010"\"R18.0"\enu\Support\Shapes.atc
Referencing XCopy Force File
For forcing files, we could use pipeline "echo F |":
C:\Trash>xcopy 23.txt 24.txt
Does 24.txt specify a file name
or directory name on the target
(F = file, D = directory)?
C:\Trash>echo F | xcopy 23.txt 24.txt
Does 24.txt specify a file name
or directory name on the target
(F = file, D = directory)? F
C:23.txt
1 File(s) copied
For forcing a folder, we could use /i parameter for xcopy or using a backslash() at the end of the destination folder.
The /i switch might be what your after.
From xcopy /?
/I If destination does not exist and copying more than one file,
assumes that destination must be a directory.
Well, for the task as asked by just me the perhaps best solution would be the following command according to the incomplete advice of Andy Morris:
xcopy "J:\My Name\FILES IN TRANSIT\JOHN20101126\Missing file\Shapes.atc" "C:\Documents and Settings\His name\Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2010\R18.0\enu\Support\" /Q /R /S /Y
This works for this simple file copying task because of
specifying just the destination directory instead of destination file and
ending destination directory with a backslash which is very important as otherwise XCOPY would even with /I prompt for file or directory on copying just a single file.
The other parameters not related to the question are:
/Q ... quiet
/Y ... yes (OS language independent) on overwrite existing file
/R ... overwrite also read-only, hidden and system file
/S ... from specified directory and all subdirectories.
Well, I don't know if /S is really needed here because it is unclear if just J:\My Name\FILES IN TRANSIT\JOHN20101126\Missing file\Shapes.atc should be copied or all Shapes.atc found anywhere in directory tree of J:\My Name\FILES IN TRANSIT\JOHN20101126\Missing file.
The explanation for the parameters can be read by opening a command prompt window and running from within this window xcopy /? to get output the help for XCOPY.
But none of the provided solutions worked for a file copying task on which a single file should be copied into same directory as source file, but with a different file name because of current date and time is inserted in file name before file extension.
The source file can have hidden or system attribute set which excludes the usage of COPY command.
The batch file for creating the time stamped file should work also on Windows XP which excludes ROBOCOPY because by default not available on Windows XP.
The batch file should work with any file including non typical files like .gitconfig or .htaccess which are files without a file extension starting with a point to hide them on *nix systems. Windows command processor interprets such files as files with no file name and having just a file extension because of the rule that everything after last point is the extension of the file and everything before last point is the file name.
For a complete task description and the final, fully commented solution see the post Create a backup copy of files in UltraEdit forum.
Patrick's, Interociter Operator's and CharlesB's solutions do not work because using /Y does not avoid the file or directory prompt if the destination file does not already exist.
Andy Morris' and grenix's solutions can't be used for the single file copying task as destination must be the name of destination file and not the name of destination directory. The destination directory is the same as the source directory, but name of destination file is different to name of source file.
DosMan's and Govert's solutions simply don't work for files starting with a point and not having a file extension.
For example the command
xcopy C:\Temp\.gitconfig C:\Temp\.gitconfig_2016-03-07_15-30-00* /C /H /K /Q /R /V /Y
results in following error message on execution:
English: Could not expand second file name so as to match first.
German: Zweiter Dateiname konnte nicht so erweitert werden, dass er zum ersten passt.
And finally Denis Ivin's solution has the restriction that the operating system language dependent character for an automatic answering of the file OR directory prompt must be known.
So I thought about methods to get F for File on English Windows or D for Datei on German Windows or ? for ... on ... Windows automatically.
And it is indeed possible to determine the language dependent character for an automatic answering of the prompt.
A hack is used to get the language dependent letter from prompt text without really copying any file.
Command XCOPY is used to start copying the batch file itself to folder for temporary files with file extension being TMP for destination file. This results in a prompt by XCOPY if there is not already a file with that name in temporary files folder which is very unlikely.
The handler of device NUL is used as an input handler for XCOPY resulting in breaking the copying process after the prompt was output by XCOPY two times.
This output is processed in a FOR loop which is exited on first line starting with an opening parenthesis. This is the line on which second character defines the letter to use for specifying that destination is a file.
Here is a batch file using XCOPY with the code to determine the required letter for an automatic answering of the file or directory prompt to create a time stamped copy of a single file in same directory as the source file even if source file is a hidden or system file and even if the source file starts with a point and does not have a file extension.
#echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions DisableDelayedExpansion
rem Batch file must be started or called with name of a single file.
if "%~1" == "" exit /B
for /F "delims=*?" %%I in ("#%~1#") do if not "%%I" == "#%~1#" exit /B
if not exist "%~1" exit /B
if exist "%~1\" exit /B
rem Determine the character needed for answering prompt of
rem XCOPY for destination being a file and not a directory.
del /F "%TEMP%\%~n0.tmp" 2>nul
for /F %%I in ('%SystemRoot%\System32\xcopy.exe "%~f0" "%TEMP%\%~n0.tmp" ^<nul') do (
set "PromptAnswer=%%I"
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
if "!PromptAnswer:~0,1!" == "(" set "PromptAnswer=!PromptAnswer:~1,1!" & goto CopyFile
endlocal
)
echo ERROR: Failed to determine letter for answering prompt of XCOPY.
exit /B
:CopyFile
endlocal & set "PromptAnswer=%PromptAnswer%"
rem This is a workaround for files starting with a point and having no
rem file extension like many hidden files on *nix copied to Windows.
if "%~n1" == "" (
set "FileNameWithPath=%~dpx1"
set "FileExtension="
) else (
set "FileNameWithPath=%~dpn1"
set "FileExtension=%~x1"
)
rem Get local date and time in region and language independent format YYYYMMDDHHmmss
rem and reformat the local date and time to format YYYY-MM-DD_HH-mm-ss.
for /F "tokens=2 delims==." %%I in ('%SystemRoot%\System32\wbem\wmic.exe OS get LocalDateTime /format:value') do set "LocalDateTime=%%I"
set "LocalDateTime=%LocalDateTime:~0,4%-%LocalDateTime:~4,2%-%LocalDateTime:~6,2%_%LocalDateTime:~8,2%-%LocalDateTime:~10,2%-%LocalDateTime:~12,2%"
rem Do the copy with showing what is copied and with printing success or
rem an error message if copying fails for example on sharing violation.
echo Copy "%~f1" to "%FileNameWithPath%_%LocalDateTime%%FileExtension%"
for /F %%I in ('echo %PromptAnswer% ^| %SystemRoot%\System32\xcopy.exe "%~f1" "%FileNameWithPath%_%LocalDateTime%%FileExtension%" /C /H /K /Q /R /V /Y') do set "FilesCopied=%%I"
if "%FilesCopied%" == "1" (echo Success) else echo ERROR: Copying failed, see error message above.
This batch code was tested on German Windows XP SP3 x86 and English Windows 7 SP1 x64.
See the post Create a backup copy of files in UltraEdit forum for a similar, fully commented batch file explaining all parts of the 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.
del /?
echo /?
exit /?
for /?
goto /?
if /?
rem /?
set /?
setlocal /?
wmic OS get /?
xcopy /?
Further the Microsoft article about Using command redirection operators should be read, too.
The trick of appending "*" can be made to work when the new extension is shorter. You need to pad the new extension with blanks, which can only be done by enclosing the destination file name in quotes. For example:
xcopy foo.shtml "foo.html *"
This will copy and rename without prompting.
"That's not a bug, it's a feature!" (I once saw a VW Beetle in the Microsoft parking lot with the vanity plate "FEATURE".) These semantics for rename go all the way back to when I wrote DOS v.1. Characters in the new name are substituted one by one for characters in the old name, unless a wildcard character (? or *) is present in the new name. Without adding the blank(s) to the new name, remaining characters are copied from the old name.
xcopy /s/y J:\"My Name"\"FILES IN TRANSIT"\JOHN20101126\"Missing file"\Shapes.atc C:\"Documents and Settings"\"His name"\"Application Data"\Autodesk\"AutoCAD 2010"\"R18.0"\enu\Support\*.*"
..should do it.
Good idea to do an:
IF NOT EXIST "C:\Documents and Settings\His name\Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2010\R18.0\enu\Support\Shapes.atc" ECHO/ && ECHO/ && ECHO * * * * * COPY FAILED - Call JustME at 555-555-1212 && ECHO/ && pause
(assuming you've done a rename of previous version to .old)
XCOPY /Z <----- restartable mode - good for large files.
The virtual parent trick
Assuming you have your source and destination file in
%SRC_FILENAME% and %DST_FILENAME%
you could use a 2 step method:
#REM on my win 7 system mkdir creates all parent directories also
mkdir "%DST_FILENAME%\.."
xcopy "%SRC_FILENAME% "%DST_FILENAME%\.."
this would be resolved to e.g
mkdir "c:\destination\b\c\file.txt\.."
#REM The special trick here is that mkdir can create the parent
#REM directory of a "virtual" directory (c:\destination\b\c\file.txt\) that
#REM doesn't even need to exist.
#REM So the directory "c:\destination\b\c" is created here.
#REM mkdir "c:\destination\b\c\dummystring\.." would have the same effect
xcopy "c:\source\b\c\file.txt" "c:\destination\b\c\file.txt\.."
#REM xcopy computes the real location of "c:\destination\b\c\file.txt\.."
#REM which is the now existing directory "c:\destination\b\c"
#REM (the parent directory of the "virtual" directory c:\destination\b\c\file.txt\).
I came to the idea when I stumbled over some really wild ../..-constructs in the command lines generated from a build process.
I had exactly the same problem, where is wanted to copy a file into an external hard drive for backup purposes.
If I wanted to copy a complete folder, then COPY was quite happy to create the destination folder and populate it with all the files.
However, I wanted to copy a file once a day and add today's date to the file.
COPY was happy to copy the file and rename it in the new format, but only as long as the destination folder already existed.
my copy command looked like this:
COPY C:\SRCFOLDER\MYFILE.doc D:\DESTFOLDER\MYFILE_YYYYMMDD.doc
Like you, I looked around for alternative switches or other copy type commands, but nothing really worked like I wanted it to.
Then I thought about splitting out the two different requirements by simply adding a make directory ( MD or MKDIR ) command before the copy command.
So now i have
MKDIR D:\DESTFOLDER
COPY C:\SRCFOLDER\MYFILE.doc D:\DESTFOLDER\MYFILE_YYYYMMDD.doc
If the destination folder does NOT exist, then it creates it.
If the destination folder DOES exist, then it generates an error message.. BUT, this does not stop the batch file from continuing on to the copy command.
The error message says:
A subdirectory or file D:\DESTFOLDER already exists
As i said, the error message doesn't stop the batch file working and it is a really simple fix to the problem.
Hope that this helps.
So I have the batch file below.
#ECHO OFF
FOR %%I IN (.) DO SET FolderName=%%~nxI
MKDIR "C:\%FolderName%"
for %%i in (%*) do (
move "%%~i" "C:\%FolderName%"
)
So when I drag and drop multiple files into the batch file, it will take the name of the folder that holds the files that I drag and drop and make a new folder at C:\ with the same name and then move the files into the new folder at C:\
Example: The folder that holds the files that I want to move is name Shop. Then the folder Shop is located at
...\ground\bell\tower\Shop
Using the batch file will make a new folder name Shop at C:\
Example
C:\Shop
The batch files works when I drag and drop about 100 files at once. The problem is that when I drag and drop 300 files at once, it returns the Error that says "The filename or extension is too long". I am able to move the files manually so I know that it can not be cause by a filename being too long.
Then I made a new batch file thinking maybe it is a problem with the move command or my for loop. So I wrote the batch file below.
#echo off
FOR %%I IN (.) DO SET FolderName=%%~nxI
MKDIR "C:\%FolderName%"
MOVE "%cd%\*.*" "C:\%FolderName%"
Now the second batch file above works just about the same as the first batch file. Just that with the second batch file, I only need to drag and drop one file from the folder that I want to move and it will move all the files in the first folder to a new folder at C:\ even if the first folder had 1000 files.
My question is why does the first batch file fail if I drag and drop too many files at once. Using the second batch file work, so it can not be because of the move command or is it? Since I am moving all the files from one folder to the other, the second batch file fits my need and was wondering if there will be any problems with the second batch file or a better way of doing this.
When you Drag-n-Drop Files on you Bat File, your Bat is actually called as if you would have called it in your command prompt. So if you drag three files on your Bat i.e.
Testfile.txt
Testfile.md
Testfile.jpg
Then actually your Bat is called like this:
C:\MyBatch.BAT Testfile.txt Testfile.md Testfile.jpg
If you call more it is obviously something like:
C:\MyBatch.BAT Testfile.txt Testfile.md Testfile.jpg Testfile01.txt Testfile01.md Testfile01.jpg Testfile02.txt Testfile02.md Testfile02.jpg Testfile03.txt Testfile03.md Testfile03.jpg Testfile04.txt Testfile04.md Testfile04.jpg Testfile05.txt Testfile05.md Testfile05.jpg etc...
Ah, can you read the rest of the line? Ok, this is not as long as 1000 Files but get the point what the difference is in your scripts. Your command line buffer will not be able to capture that much input.
Actually the size of how many characters you can enter in you command prompt varies a bit from system to system, but there was something like 8k in winXP, i reckon it is still the same.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/830473 <-- that could help more concerning max.
And since the length of your command prompt is so "short" you have to find different methods for longer file trails - as you did - you could also overcome this, if you output the files you want to copy in a text file and then use that as input for your copy bat.
dir /b >filelist.txt
so now that you have this file list, then you just read the text file line by line:
for /f "delims=" %%i in (filelist.txt) do echo D|xcopy "C:\FolderName\%%i" "c:\temp\%%i" /i /z /y
so this will actually read your file list.txt and will (for each filename in list) press D key and pipes it to the XCopy command.
So piping a filelist to your command is a much better way, where actually in your case, if you really want the whole dir and not just a selection, copying directories is faster than copying file by file.
Hope you Question is answered.
If I am not mistaken, you are trying to create a folder with the parent folder as name. So before you ask again the same question in another post, I will code what you are seeking.
#echo off
setlocal
set "destination=c:\destination"
for %%i in (%~1) do set "parent=%%~pi" &goto:next
:next
for %%i in ("%parent:~0,-1%") do set "parent=%%~nxi"
for %%i in (%*) do (
echo:
if not exist %destination%\%parent%\nul ( mkdir "%destination%\%parent%" )
move "%%~i" "%destination%%parent%"
)
In addition, a command with many arguments is not a problem in the previous code.
For example: Write a batch file with the following code
#echo off
setlocal
set "destination=c:\destination"
for %%i in (%~1) do set "parent=%%~pi" &goto:next
:next
for %%i in ("%parent:~0,-1%") do set "parent=%%~nxi"
for %%i in (%*) do (
echo:
if not exist %destination%\%parent%\nul (echo mkdir "%destination%\%parent%")
echo move "%%~i" "%destination%%parent%"
)
call it test-move.bat and put the following long command-line of 250 parameters in cmd:
test-move.bat TestFile001.txt TestFile002.txt TestFile003.txt TestFile004.txt TestFile005.txt TestFile006.txt TestFile007.txt TestFile008.txt TestFile009.txt TestFile010.txt TestFile011.txt TestFile012.txt TestFile013.txt TestFile014.txt TestFile015.txt TestFile016.txt TestFile017.txt TestFile018.txt TestFile019.txt TestFile020.txt TestFile021.txt TestFile022.txt TestFile023.txt TestFile024.txt TestFile025.txt TestFile026.txt TestFile027.txt TestFile028.txt TestFile029.txt TestFile030.txt TestFile031.txt TestFile032.txt TestFile033.txt TestFile034.txt TestFile035.txt TestFile036.txt TestFile037.txt TestFile038.txt TestFile039.txt TestFile040.txt TestFile041.txt TestFile042.txt TestFile043.txt TestFile044.txt TestFile045.txt TestFile046.txt TestFile047.txt TestFile048.txt TestFile049.txt TestFile050.txt TestFile051.txt TestFile052.txt TestFile053.txt TestFile054.txt TestFile055.txt TestFile056.txt TestFile057.txt TestFile058.txt TestFile059.txt TestFile060.txt TestFile061.txt TestFile062.txt TestFile063.txt TestFile064.txt TestFile065.txt TestFile066.txt TestFile067.txt TestFile068.txt TestFile069.txt TestFile070.txt TestFile071.txt TestFile072.txt TestFile073.txt TestFile074.txt TestFile075.txt TestFile076.txt TestFile077.txt TestFile078.txt TestFile079.txt TestFile080.txt TestFile081.txt TestFile082.txt TestFile083.txt TestFile084.txt TestFile085.txt TestFile086.txt TestFile087.txt TestFile088.txt TestFile089.txt TestFile090.txt TestFile091.txt TestFile092.txt TestFile093.txt TestFile094.txt TestFile095.txt TestFile096.txt TestFile097.txt TestFile098.txt TestFile099.txt TestFile100.txt TestFile101.txt TestFile102.txt TestFile103.txt TestFile104.txt TestFile105.txt TestFile106.txt TestFile107.txt TestFile108.txt TestFile109.txt TestFile110.txt TestFile111.txt TestFile112.txt TestFile113.txt TestFile114.txt TestFile115.txt TestFile116.txt TestFile117.txt TestFile118.txt TestFile119.txt TestFile120.txt TestFile121.txt TestFile122.txt TestFile123.txt TestFile124.txt TestFile125.txt TestFile126.txt TestFile127.txt TestFile128.txt TestFile129.txt TestFile130.txt TestFile131.txt TestFile132.txt TestFile133.txt TestFile134.txt TestFile135.txt TestFile136.txt TestFile137.txt TestFile138.txt TestFile139.txt TestFile140.txt TestFile141.txt TestFile142.txt TestFile143.txt TestFile144.txt TestFile145.txt TestFile146.txt TestFile147.txt TestFile148.txt TestFile149.txt TestFile150.txt TestFile151.txt TestFile152.txt TestFile153.txt TestFile154.txt TestFile155.txt TestFile156.txt TestFile157.txt TestFile158.txt TestFile159.txt TestFile160.txt TestFile161.txt TestFile162.txt TestFile163.txt TestFile164.txt TestFile165.txt TestFile166.txt TestFile167.txt TestFile168.txt TestFile169.txt TestFile170.txt TestFile171.txt TestFile172.txt TestFile173.txt TestFile174.txt TestFile175.txt TestFile176.txt TestFile177.txt TestFile178.txt TestFile179.txt TestFile180.txt TestFile181.txt TestFile182.txt TestFile183.txt TestFile184.txt TestFile185.txt TestFile186.txt TestFile187.txt TestFile188.txt TestFile189.txt TestFile190.txt TestFile191.txt TestFile192.txt TestFile193.txt TestFile194.txt TestFile195.txt TestFile196.txt TestFile197.txt TestFile198.txt TestFile199.txt TestFile200.txt TestFile201.txt TestFile202.txt TestFile203.txt TestFile204.txt TestFile205.txt TestFile206.txt TestFile207.txt TestFile208.txt TestFile209.txt TestFile210.txt TestFile211.txt TestFile212.txt TestFile213.txt TestFile214.txt TestFile215.txt TestFile216.txt TestFile217.txt TestFile218.txt TestFile219.txt TestFile220.txt TestFile221.txt TestFile222.txt TestFile223.txt TestFile224.txt TestFile225.txt TestFile226.txt TestFile227.txt TestFile228.txt TestFile229.txt TestFile230.txt TestFile231.txt TestFile232.txt TestFile233.txt TestFile234.txt TestFile235.txt TestFile236.txt TestFile237.txt TestFile238.txt TestFile239.txt TestFile240.txt TestFile241.txt TestFile242.txt TestFile243.txt TestFile244.txt TestFile245.txt TestFile246.txt TestFile247.txt TestFile248.txt TestFile249.txt TestFile250.txt
My predicament today is that i don't know how to create a temporary bat file ( cause cmd opens a million windows every once in a while, Idk why?) If anybody could help i would be very grateful.
cmd opens a million windows because you have a batch file called cmd, or something along those lines.
dir c:\cmd.* /s /a
and see what it turns up.
I'm not entirely clear about what you want to accomplish, but I assume you'll want all these windows to open at once.
Here's a skeleton that might get you started:
#ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
REM The third number is how many temp bat files will be created.
FOR /L %%i IN (1,1,10) DO (
SET TMPFILE=%TEMP%\!RANDOM!!RANDOM!!RANDOM!.cmd
ECHO !TMPFILE!
REM Put the stuff you want in the temp file here.
REM Echo it and append (>>) to the temp file.
#ECHO ECHO Temp batch file '%%~0' > "!TMPFILE!"
REM Delete the temp file when it's finished.
#ECHO DEL /Q "%%~0" >> "!TMPFILE!"
REM Invoke the temp file in a new window.
START "" cmd /k "!TMPFILE!"
)
You may or may not wish to delete the file from within itself. You'll probably want to delete it somehow, but only after the temp script has finished running.
I have a SQL loader command which I am calling from a batch script. The data filename is not constant. We have a timestamp appended to it each time the file is generated and populated. So my batch file gets this data file in a variable Fname.
SET Fname=dir C:\Temp\TEST_*.dat /b
Now, when the Sqlldr commmand runs from the batch file
sqlldr USERID=xyz/xyz#db CONTROL='C:\Temp\TEST.ctl' LOG='C:\Temp\TEST.log' DATA= %Fname%
I get the error
LRM-00112: multiple values not allowed for parameter 'data'
I cannot enclose the variable Fname in single quotes. That does not work.
I checked How can I use a variable in batch script at sqlldr?
If I use the method specified in the discussion above and include it in the ctl file as infile %Fname% I still get the error as the variable Fname appears as dir C:\Temp\TEST_*.dat /b and I get error saying file not found.
How do I resolve this?
The simple solution below executes the command always with first TEST_*.dat file found in folder C:\Temp.
#echo off
for %%F in ("C:\Temp\TEST_*.dat") do (
sqlldr USERID=xyz/xyz#db CONTROL='C:\Temp\TEST.ctl' LOG='C:\Temp\TEST.log' "DATA=%%F"
goto AfterLoop
)
:AfterLoop
A perhaps better solution is executing the command always with newest TEST_*.dat file found in folder C:\Temp according to last modification date.
#echo off
for /F "delims=" %%F in ('dir "C:\Temp\TEST_*.dat" /B /O-D /TW 2^>nul') do (
sqlldr USERID=xyz/xyz#db CONTROL='C:\Temp\TEST.ctl' LOG='C:\Temp\TEST.log' "DATA=%%F"
goto AfterLoop
)
:AfterLoop
It would be possible to assign the name of the found file to an environment variable inside the FOR loop and run the command below AfterLoop. But this requires additional code to check if at least 1 file was found in the folder.
Those batch code snippets were developed using the help information output by running in a command prompt window for /? and dir /?.
2^>nul is redirecting the error output of command dir to device NUL if no file is found in folder to suppress the unwanted error message for this special use case.
My last hint:
In batch files always specify applications to run with full path and file extension (in double quotes if space in path/file name) to avoid being dependent on directories in environment variable PATH, except this is not possible as storage location of application executable is not known on batch execution.
I used the for loop code
#echo off
for %%F in ("C:\Temp\TEST_*.dat") do (
sqlldr USERID=xyz/xyz#db CONTROL='C:\Temp\TEST.ctl' LOG='C:\Temp\TEST.log' "DATA=%%F"
goto AfterLoop
)
:AfterLoop
and this worked.
I do not have the problem of multiple files as after I load it everytime, I move the file to a different folder. So at any given point I expect only one file.
I have a simple copy from-to script for one of my friends who is missing a file 20 km from my desk.
When testing the script out I am prompted if my file shapes.atc is a file or a folder.
I can tell you that its a file. How can I automatically copy it with my friend needs to just double click the batch to get the file copying job done.
xcopy /s/y J:\"My Name"\"FILES IN TRANSIT"\JOHN20101126\"Missing file"\Shapes.atc C:\"Documents and Settings"\"His name"\"Application Data"\Autodesk\"AutoCAD 2010"\"R18.0"\enu\Support\Shapes.atc
A seemingly undocumented trick is to put a * at the end of the destination - then xcopy will copy as a file, like so
xcopy c:\source\file.txt c:\destination\newfile.txt*
The echo f | xcopy ... trick does not work on localized versions of Windows, where the prompt is different.
Actually xcopy does not ask you if the original file exists, but if you want to put it in a new folder named Shapes.atc, or in the folder Support (which is what you want.
To prevent xcopy from asking this, just tell him the destination folder, so there's no ambiguity:
xcopy /s/y "J:\Old path\Shapes.atc" "C:\Documents and Settings\his name\Support"
If you want to change the filename in destination just use copy (which is more adapted than xcopy when copying files):
copy /y "J:\Old path\Shapes.atc" "C:\Documents and Settings\his name\Support\Shapes-new.atc
The real trick is: Use a Backslash at the end of the target path where to copy the file. The /Y is for overwriting existing files, if you want no warnings.
Example:
xcopy /Y "C:\file\from\here.txt" "C:\file\to\here\"
echo f | xcopy /s/y J:\"My Name"\"FILES IN TRANSIT"\JOHN20101126\"Missing file"\Shapes.atc C:\"Documents and Settings"\"His name"\"Application Data"\Autodesk\"AutoCAD 2010"\"R18.0"\enu\Support\Shapes.atc
Referencing XCopy Force File
For forcing files, we could use pipeline "echo F |":
C:\Trash>xcopy 23.txt 24.txt
Does 24.txt specify a file name
or directory name on the target
(F = file, D = directory)?
C:\Trash>echo F | xcopy 23.txt 24.txt
Does 24.txt specify a file name
or directory name on the target
(F = file, D = directory)? F
C:23.txt
1 File(s) copied
For forcing a folder, we could use /i parameter for xcopy or using a backslash() at the end of the destination folder.
The /i switch might be what your after.
From xcopy /?
/I If destination does not exist and copying more than one file,
assumes that destination must be a directory.
Well, for the task as asked by just me the perhaps best solution would be the following command according to the incomplete advice of Andy Morris:
xcopy "J:\My Name\FILES IN TRANSIT\JOHN20101126\Missing file\Shapes.atc" "C:\Documents and Settings\His name\Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2010\R18.0\enu\Support\" /Q /R /S /Y
This works for this simple file copying task because of
specifying just the destination directory instead of destination file and
ending destination directory with a backslash which is very important as otherwise XCOPY would even with /I prompt for file or directory on copying just a single file.
The other parameters not related to the question are:
/Q ... quiet
/Y ... yes (OS language independent) on overwrite existing file
/R ... overwrite also read-only, hidden and system file
/S ... from specified directory and all subdirectories.
Well, I don't know if /S is really needed here because it is unclear if just J:\My Name\FILES IN TRANSIT\JOHN20101126\Missing file\Shapes.atc should be copied or all Shapes.atc found anywhere in directory tree of J:\My Name\FILES IN TRANSIT\JOHN20101126\Missing file.
The explanation for the parameters can be read by opening a command prompt window and running from within this window xcopy /? to get output the help for XCOPY.
But none of the provided solutions worked for a file copying task on which a single file should be copied into same directory as source file, but with a different file name because of current date and time is inserted in file name before file extension.
The source file can have hidden or system attribute set which excludes the usage of COPY command.
The batch file for creating the time stamped file should work also on Windows XP which excludes ROBOCOPY because by default not available on Windows XP.
The batch file should work with any file including non typical files like .gitconfig or .htaccess which are files without a file extension starting with a point to hide them on *nix systems. Windows command processor interprets such files as files with no file name and having just a file extension because of the rule that everything after last point is the extension of the file and everything before last point is the file name.
For a complete task description and the final, fully commented solution see the post Create a backup copy of files in UltraEdit forum.
Patrick's, Interociter Operator's and CharlesB's solutions do not work because using /Y does not avoid the file or directory prompt if the destination file does not already exist.
Andy Morris' and grenix's solutions can't be used for the single file copying task as destination must be the name of destination file and not the name of destination directory. The destination directory is the same as the source directory, but name of destination file is different to name of source file.
DosMan's and Govert's solutions simply don't work for files starting with a point and not having a file extension.
For example the command
xcopy C:\Temp\.gitconfig C:\Temp\.gitconfig_2016-03-07_15-30-00* /C /H /K /Q /R /V /Y
results in following error message on execution:
English: Could not expand second file name so as to match first.
German: Zweiter Dateiname konnte nicht so erweitert werden, dass er zum ersten passt.
And finally Denis Ivin's solution has the restriction that the operating system language dependent character for an automatic answering of the file OR directory prompt must be known.
So I thought about methods to get F for File on English Windows or D for Datei on German Windows or ? for ... on ... Windows automatically.
And it is indeed possible to determine the language dependent character for an automatic answering of the prompt.
A hack is used to get the language dependent letter from prompt text without really copying any file.
Command XCOPY is used to start copying the batch file itself to folder for temporary files with file extension being TMP for destination file. This results in a prompt by XCOPY if there is not already a file with that name in temporary files folder which is very unlikely.
The handler of device NUL is used as an input handler for XCOPY resulting in breaking the copying process after the prompt was output by XCOPY two times.
This output is processed in a FOR loop which is exited on first line starting with an opening parenthesis. This is the line on which second character defines the letter to use for specifying that destination is a file.
Here is a batch file using XCOPY with the code to determine the required letter for an automatic answering of the file or directory prompt to create a time stamped copy of a single file in same directory as the source file even if source file is a hidden or system file and even if the source file starts with a point and does not have a file extension.
#echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions DisableDelayedExpansion
rem Batch file must be started or called with name of a single file.
if "%~1" == "" exit /B
for /F "delims=*?" %%I in ("#%~1#") do if not "%%I" == "#%~1#" exit /B
if not exist "%~1" exit /B
if exist "%~1\" exit /B
rem Determine the character needed for answering prompt of
rem XCOPY for destination being a file and not a directory.
del /F "%TEMP%\%~n0.tmp" 2>nul
for /F %%I in ('%SystemRoot%\System32\xcopy.exe "%~f0" "%TEMP%\%~n0.tmp" ^<nul') do (
set "PromptAnswer=%%I"
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
if "!PromptAnswer:~0,1!" == "(" set "PromptAnswer=!PromptAnswer:~1,1!" & goto CopyFile
endlocal
)
echo ERROR: Failed to determine letter for answering prompt of XCOPY.
exit /B
:CopyFile
endlocal & set "PromptAnswer=%PromptAnswer%"
rem This is a workaround for files starting with a point and having no
rem file extension like many hidden files on *nix copied to Windows.
if "%~n1" == "" (
set "FileNameWithPath=%~dpx1"
set "FileExtension="
) else (
set "FileNameWithPath=%~dpn1"
set "FileExtension=%~x1"
)
rem Get local date and time in region and language independent format YYYYMMDDHHmmss
rem and reformat the local date and time to format YYYY-MM-DD_HH-mm-ss.
for /F "tokens=2 delims==." %%I in ('%SystemRoot%\System32\wbem\wmic.exe OS get LocalDateTime /format:value') do set "LocalDateTime=%%I"
set "LocalDateTime=%LocalDateTime:~0,4%-%LocalDateTime:~4,2%-%LocalDateTime:~6,2%_%LocalDateTime:~8,2%-%LocalDateTime:~10,2%-%LocalDateTime:~12,2%"
rem Do the copy with showing what is copied and with printing success or
rem an error message if copying fails for example on sharing violation.
echo Copy "%~f1" to "%FileNameWithPath%_%LocalDateTime%%FileExtension%"
for /F %%I in ('echo %PromptAnswer% ^| %SystemRoot%\System32\xcopy.exe "%~f1" "%FileNameWithPath%_%LocalDateTime%%FileExtension%" /C /H /K /Q /R /V /Y') do set "FilesCopied=%%I"
if "%FilesCopied%" == "1" (echo Success) else echo ERROR: Copying failed, see error message above.
This batch code was tested on German Windows XP SP3 x86 and English Windows 7 SP1 x64.
See the post Create a backup copy of files in UltraEdit forum for a similar, fully commented batch file explaining all parts of the 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.
del /?
echo /?
exit /?
for /?
goto /?
if /?
rem /?
set /?
setlocal /?
wmic OS get /?
xcopy /?
Further the Microsoft article about Using command redirection operators should be read, too.
The trick of appending "*" can be made to work when the new extension is shorter. You need to pad the new extension with blanks, which can only be done by enclosing the destination file name in quotes. For example:
xcopy foo.shtml "foo.html *"
This will copy and rename without prompting.
"That's not a bug, it's a feature!" (I once saw a VW Beetle in the Microsoft parking lot with the vanity plate "FEATURE".) These semantics for rename go all the way back to when I wrote DOS v.1. Characters in the new name are substituted one by one for characters in the old name, unless a wildcard character (? or *) is present in the new name. Without adding the blank(s) to the new name, remaining characters are copied from the old name.
xcopy /s/y J:\"My Name"\"FILES IN TRANSIT"\JOHN20101126\"Missing file"\Shapes.atc C:\"Documents and Settings"\"His name"\"Application Data"\Autodesk\"AutoCAD 2010"\"R18.0"\enu\Support\*.*"
..should do it.
Good idea to do an:
IF NOT EXIST "C:\Documents and Settings\His name\Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2010\R18.0\enu\Support\Shapes.atc" ECHO/ && ECHO/ && ECHO * * * * * COPY FAILED - Call JustME at 555-555-1212 && ECHO/ && pause
(assuming you've done a rename of previous version to .old)
XCOPY /Z <----- restartable mode - good for large files.
The virtual parent trick
Assuming you have your source and destination file in
%SRC_FILENAME% and %DST_FILENAME%
you could use a 2 step method:
#REM on my win 7 system mkdir creates all parent directories also
mkdir "%DST_FILENAME%\.."
xcopy "%SRC_FILENAME% "%DST_FILENAME%\.."
this would be resolved to e.g
mkdir "c:\destination\b\c\file.txt\.."
#REM The special trick here is that mkdir can create the parent
#REM directory of a "virtual" directory (c:\destination\b\c\file.txt\) that
#REM doesn't even need to exist.
#REM So the directory "c:\destination\b\c" is created here.
#REM mkdir "c:\destination\b\c\dummystring\.." would have the same effect
xcopy "c:\source\b\c\file.txt" "c:\destination\b\c\file.txt\.."
#REM xcopy computes the real location of "c:\destination\b\c\file.txt\.."
#REM which is the now existing directory "c:\destination\b\c"
#REM (the parent directory of the "virtual" directory c:\destination\b\c\file.txt\).
I came to the idea when I stumbled over some really wild ../..-constructs in the command lines generated from a build process.
I had exactly the same problem, where is wanted to copy a file into an external hard drive for backup purposes.
If I wanted to copy a complete folder, then COPY was quite happy to create the destination folder and populate it with all the files.
However, I wanted to copy a file once a day and add today's date to the file.
COPY was happy to copy the file and rename it in the new format, but only as long as the destination folder already existed.
my copy command looked like this:
COPY C:\SRCFOLDER\MYFILE.doc D:\DESTFOLDER\MYFILE_YYYYMMDD.doc
Like you, I looked around for alternative switches or other copy type commands, but nothing really worked like I wanted it to.
Then I thought about splitting out the two different requirements by simply adding a make directory ( MD or MKDIR ) command before the copy command.
So now i have
MKDIR D:\DESTFOLDER
COPY C:\SRCFOLDER\MYFILE.doc D:\DESTFOLDER\MYFILE_YYYYMMDD.doc
If the destination folder does NOT exist, then it creates it.
If the destination folder DOES exist, then it generates an error message.. BUT, this does not stop the batch file from continuing on to the copy command.
The error message says:
A subdirectory or file D:\DESTFOLDER already exists
As i said, the error message doesn't stop the batch file working and it is a really simple fix to the problem.
Hope that this helps.