I need help making a batch file in ms dos to do certain commands like:
Request from you to first press any key
List the contents of the C:\WINDOWS directory
Create a subdirectory on one of your local drives. Use your initials to name the subdirectory.
Copy all the text files from C:\WINDOWS directory into the new subdirectory.
Print one of the text files copied to your new subdirectory.
for 5. I think I need to make a call to a command to print
You need to create a .bat file that has the following text:
a)Request from you to first press any key
pause
b) List the contents of the C:\WINDOWS directory
dir c:\windows
c) Create a subdirectory on one of your local drives. Use your initials to name the subdirectory.
md c:\ro
d) Copy all the text files from C:\WINDOWS directory into the new subdirectory.
copy c:\windows\*.txt c:\ro
Regarding printing files I'm not sure, if I remember correctly the simplest way is something like:
type file.txt > LPT1
To create a .bat file, you should type in:
copy con filename.bat
... print the relevant lines above
When finished press Ctrl-Z and Enter.
So, all in all, you should type in:
copy con filename.bat
pause
dir c:\windows
md c:\ro
copy c:\windows\*.txt c:\ro
type file.txt > LPT1
And then Ctrl-Z and Enter.
Update: If you don't want the commands to be printed to the user, you can add another line before pause that will contain #echo off.
Check out Rob van der Woude's Scripting Pages, specifically the Batch Files section. He has an excellent reference with lots of tips and tricks that will help with most of these tasks.
Command line help is your friend here for most of this. You will need to have input parameters specified for a number of the things you;re asking for, though.
As a quick search, try this article.
Related
I came across a way to convert my .bat with dependencies on tool to an .exe file. However when I try using the script and run the .exe created, I always getting an error. Seems I modified the script incorrectly.
Anyone can help, please?
Here's the code with my modifications:
#ECHO OFF
ECHO Make EXE From BAT
ECHO Written by: Jason Faulkner
ECHO SysadminGeek.com
ECHO.
ECHO.
REM Usage:
MakeExeFromBat BatFileToConvert -bat MyProgram.bat
REM
REM Required Parameters:
BatFileToConvert -save MyProgram
REM Source batch file to use to produce the output Exe file.
REM
REM Optional Parameters:
IncludeFile -include Tool.exe
REM Additional files to include in the Exe file.
REM You can include external tools used by the batch file so they are available on the executing machine.
SETLOCAL
REM Configuration (no quotes needed):
SET PathTo7Zip=C:\Desktop\
REM ---- Do not modify anything below this line ----
SET OutputFile="%~n1.exe"
SET SourceFiles="%TEMP%\MakeEXE_files.txt"
SET Config="%TEMP%\MakeEXE_config.txt"
SET Source7ZFile="%Temp%\MakeEXE.7z"
REM Remove existing files
IF EXIST %OutputFile% DEL %OutputFile%
REM Build source archive
ECHO "%~dpnx1" > %SourceFiles%
:AddInclude
IF {%2}=={} GOTO EndInclude
ECHO "%~dpnx2" >> %SourceFiles%
SHIFT /2
GOTO AddInclude
:EndInclude
"%PathTo7Zip%\7za.exe" a %Source7ZFile% #%SourceFiles%
REM Build config file
ECHO ;!#Install#!UTF-8! > %Config%
ECHO RunProgram="%~nx1" >> %Config%
ECHO ;!#InstallEnd#! >> %Config%
REM Build EXE
COPY /B "%PathTo7Zip%\7zsd.sfx" + %Config% + %Source7ZFile% %OutputFile%
REM Clean up
IF EXIST %SourceFiles% DEL %SourceFiles%
IF EXIST %Config% DEL %Config%
IF EXIST %Source7ZFile% DEL %Source7ZFile%
ENDLOCAL
This doesn't really convert a bat file to an exe. It just creates a selfextracting archive (exe) which contains the bat file. On execution it extracts the file to a temporary folder and runs it from there. You can even extract the bat from the exe just by using 7zip/rar/winzip or any other archiver.
If you want to convert a bat to an exe for real you should use one of the tools from the web (like this one: http://www.f2ko.de/index.php?lang=en) or concider using a simple script language like AutoIt.
If you pick the second, you can simply execute your bat code with Run("put your bat code in here") and you can compile your script to a "real" exe file.
For an alternative approach, you can basically do the same thing as described in the accepted answer (making a 7z-SFX) with WinRAR. That way, you can also do it with a GUI, and I will try to add some more useful information.
Actually, you can also use the latter approach to generate portable applications and it also works with "converting" every runnable (or openable) file into an .exe.
If you need that "portability hack", you should unpack your .exe or .msi installer with Universal Extractor. Details can be found in this Article, Step 1 to 4. Newer Versions of 7zip or WinRAR also come with comparable features.
Now you add all needed files to the archive. In the easiest case, this is just your .bat script or whatever file you want to "convert" into an .exe applivation. (Step 5 here)
Steps 6 and 7 are just some Settings for the SFX-Archive, 8 is the interesting one, as you select what you actually want to run there. Input the name of your (.bat-)file.
Step 9 lets you select where to unpack to - you do this setting manually and programmatically in the MakeExeFromBat.bat-script.
After this process you created a Portable App in SFX archiever form, enjoy
The word "converting" was put into quotation marks, because running that .exe actually works like this:
The contents of the (SFX-)EXE file are extracted from the "archive part" to a directory as the specified temp directory.
( The config file generated by the script is read. )
The file, that was previously contained in the EXE file and then extracted, is now executed in a new window.
a) This file could besides a .bat be anything - as e.g. an image, a MP3 or a video
b) or also a Python Script (of course your OS needs to know how to deal with that file.
Once finished, the temp files are removed.
You can also derive some limitations from that. If you have a .bat that needs the content of the working directory, you will have a problem. (Say, a batch that renames all files in the current dir from 1 to n.) In some cases that can be dealt with by adding all needed files to the archive too. On Windows Vista and all newer OSes, you might encounter a message box after the script is run. After selecting ‘This program installed correctly’, the message box will not be displayed in the future for this file. Because the EXE file launches in a new window, the typical way of logging output (using the > char) will not work as expected. In order to log the output, you would need to handle this natively in your source script.
All references were already linked, but once again: Big credit goes to Jason Faulkner for providing the Article and 7zip-Approach, binbert for the WinRAR-SFX Solution (which is as hinted much more versatile -> portability) and some credit to creative8 for finding the two and the article comparing them.
Actually, I was develping another solution using AutoHotkey. In my case, I just want to be able to add my .bat to the windows start menu - but the options are not limited to that.
The script itself is just a oneliner and .AHK is easily converted to .exe (I used v1.1.33.09):
run % SubStr(A_ScriptName, 1, -4) ;// run also has the option to run your file minimized or hidden, see the source 2 below
Source 2
What it does is taking its own name, removing the .ahk or .exe respectively (the last 4 characters, hence -4) and running excactly that. Usage could not be easier: you have a runme.bat, so you rename the program I provide to runme.bat.exe. Say you want the .exe to open an image.png - guess what, rename it to image.png.exe. You get the gist - that's it. It dynamically checks its name to find what to run. In my opinion, this is not much less mighty than "unpacking the .bat and then run it", but (again imho) it is much more elegant.
Use it as you wish, I should probably start a public github page or so.
I am writing a batch file on my Windows 8.1 machine. In one section of my batch file I need to start a command prompt in the "current working directory".
So far, this is what my batch file looks like:
#echo OFF
set WORKING=%cwd%
start cmd.exe /K pushd %WORKING%
exit
Let's say the batch file is located in the folder C:\Temp\Utilities. If I open an explorer window and double click the batch file to run it everything works great. A new command prompt is created in the directory C:\Temp\Utilities. However, if I right-click the batch file and select Run as administrator the working directory is no longer the location of the batch file, it's C:\Windows\System32.
Similarly, if I create a shortcut to the batch file in a different folder (for example. C:\Temp) and repeat the two steps above the results are the same. If I double click the shortcut and run it as a normal user the working directory is what I would expect. (Note, the working directory for the shortcut it's whatever is set for "Start in" of the shortcut properties, not the location of the batch file.) If I right click the shortcut and run it as administrator I again get a command prompt opened to the folder C:\Windows\System32.
I assume this is a "bug" or "feature" (if you want to call it that) in Windows 8.1 and it probably happens because execution environments for programs run as administrator are forced to run in the System32 folder? (I remember with Windows 7 this did not happen so it must be a new feature to Windows 8.)
I found one way to fix the issue and stop the command prompt from starting in C:\Windows\System32. I did this by modifying the following line in the batch file:
set WORKING=%~dp0
Doing it this way sets the working directory to the location of the batch file. With this change, no matter how I run the batch file or the shortcut (administrator or normal) the working directory ends up being the same, C:\Temp\Utilities.
The problem with this solution is I don't want the working directory to always be the location of the batch file. If the batch file is run directly then it's okay but if I run it from a shortcut I need the working directory to be whatever is set in the "Start in" property of that shortcut. For example, if the batch file is located in the folder D:\Temp\Utilities this is what I need to happen regardless of whether I run as administrator or not:
Shortcut Location Start In Property Command Prompt Working Directory
-------------------- ------------------- ------------------------------------------
C:\Temp <undefined> D:\Temp\Utilities
C:\Data\bin C:\Data\bin C:\Data\bin
C:\Data\bin D:\Temp\Utilities D:\Temp\Utilities
What this means is I can't always use %~dp0 to set the working directory in my batch file. What I need is some way for the batch file to know if it was run either directly or by a shortcut. If the batch file is run directly then the working directory is easy to get, it's just the value of %cwd%. If the batch file is run by using a shortcut, I don't know how to get the "Start in" property inside the batch file.
Does anyone know how I can do these two things inside my batch file:
1. Check whether it was run directly or by a shortcut.
2. If run by a shortcut, get the "Start in" property of the shortcut that started it.
Thank you,
Orangu
UPDATE
I found sort-of a "hackish" way to fix the issue. For the shortcut I edited the "Target" field and changed it to the following:
cmd.exe /k pushd "C:\Temp" && "D:\Temp\Utilities\batchfile.bat"
Now the working directory can be obtained by calling %CD% in the batch file and this works for both administrator and normal users. It does not, however, work for the case when I run the batch file directly. I still need to use %~dp0 in that case.
I don't like this solution, however, because it requires me to manually change all shortcuts I make and it also makes the icon look like a cmd prompt icon rather than a batch file.
Have you already considered to not use shortcuts at all?
You could e.g. create a batchfile_exec.bat containing your call
REM optionally do
REM cd /D working_directory
REM if you want to force a special working directory
D:\Temp\Utilities\batchfile.bat
and replace all the shortcuts with batchfile_exec.bat. If you double-click batchfile_exec.bat, the working directory will be the one containing batchfile_exec.bat.
I personally don't like Windows shortcuts that much, because they are hard to handle within a revision control system. As you also noticed, it is very time consuming if you want to modify a lot of them.
By the way: If batchfile.bat was designed/written to be always run from the direcory where it is located, you might also consider to modify batchfile.bat to force that behaviour:
setlocal
cd /D %0\..
REM your original content
endlocal
In %0 the path to the batchfile is stored.
The trick is to assume that %0 is a directory and then to change one level lower based on that directory. With /D also the drive letter is changed correctly.
The cd command doesn't care if %0 is really a directory. In fact %d doesn't even have to exist (%0\dummy\..\.. would also work).
The setlocal command is to have the working directory being restored when batchfile.bat has finished (this would be good if batchfile.bat was called form another batch file).
I noticed that the endlocal command is not really necessary in this context since it is applied implicitly when batchfile.bat finishes.
I am completely new to this, but I am trying to create a .bat file that will allow me to rename a pair of files within a designated folder and move them into a subfolder. The part I am having trouble with is that I am wanting a prompt to come up to identify/select the files to be renamed and moved.
Example file names are:
A1234, A1235, A1236, B1234, B1235, B1236, etc.
Is there a way to bring up a prompt that allows the user to type the shared name (ex 1234)of the files and rename and move both files to the designated subfolder?
Any and all help would be appreciated!
Suggested approach
for part of problem
part I am having trouble with is that I am wanting a prompt to come
up to identify/select the files to be renamed and moved. Is there a
way to bring up a prompt that allows the user to type the shared name
(ex 1234)of the files and rename and move both files to the designated
subfolder?
Do a search operation using wildcard, like "?1234" for the case highlighted above ( should be made generalized for all acceptable and expected patterns "*1234*" is the generic most )
Now do a RENAME inside a For loop on the results obtained by search.
As you suggest you are a newbie with Batch, following tutorials will help you build your file. Look for elements like Variables, For Loop
Batch Tutorial
Here you go
#echo off
set /p file=Please type shared name:
for %%a in (C:\Folder\?%file%.*) do (
move "%%a" subdir
ren "subdir\%%a" newname.*
)
Im writing a batch file for work. basically my command right now navigates to a file path, then prints out the contents of the folder with the dir command.
Without giving the specifics away of what i am trying to print out here is the code im using
CD C:\Some folder\some folder2\some folder 3\some folder 4
DIR
now in "some folder4" there are 3 files. If i use the code
CD C:\Some folder\some folder2\some folder 3
DIR
It prints out fine that there is a folder "some folder4" in "Some Folder3", but as soon as i change the directory into the "some folder4" folder it says file not found instead of showing me the 3 files that are in it.
Any advice as to what would be causing this
I think we need more specifics of what you're doing here (you're going to have to give away a bit more), but one thing you should definitely look at is the for /d command instead of DIR.
You know you can use a filespec with the DIR (or for) command right? Changing the directory isn't really the best choice - especially since drive and relative paths are assumptions. [cd h:\test\ doesn't switch drive if you're on c:\, but dir h:\test\ will work no matter what drive you're on]
If your folders have spaces in them, it could be you need to escape the folder name with quotes (cd "some folder4").
MY QUESTION:
I have the same situation as Rishi. I have a number of versions of the same song by the same artist that appear on different CD's. If I use the batch command as written, will DOS overwrite songs with the same name, even if the file size is different for each unique file?
PREVIOUS QUESTION: DOS command to move all files in subdirectories one level up
REFERENCE Rishi asked the question on Jan 15th:
"I have a folder with a lot of sub folders with one or more files in each. I am trying to write a batch file that moves all those files to C:\songs (for example).
C:>FOR /R C:\Test %i IN (*) DO MOVE %i C:\Songs
The folders Test and songs exist, but I get an error saying
%i was unexpected at this time.
What am I doing wrong?"
ANSWER WAS
"FOR /R %i IN (C:\Test*) DO MOVE "%i" C:\Songs
In a batch file, it has to be %%i. Weird quirk of batch."
Within a given folder there can only be one version of a file with a given name. When executed within a batch, the MOVE command will automatically overwrite any pre-existing file of the same name. So the answer to your question is - YES, a file with the same name will be over-written, even if it has a different file size. (Note - if you are using Windows XP then you are not using DOS)
You can prevent a batch move from overwriting an existing file by piping N to MOVE with the -y option:
echo n | move /-y "%%~i" "C:\songs\"
If you want to copy and preserve both versions into the same folder, then at least one version will have to be renamed. You will have to decide what kind of naming scheme you want to use before you can begin coming up with a solution.