Searching for files within subdirectories

[Grimbear13]

Sorry, this probably has been answered before but,

I'm trying to take a list of files that are potentially in a file, read the file and then search through a folder and all subdirectories for the files in the list.  I know how to read the list, however I do not know how to make it search all subdirectories without mapping each directory within its own nested for loop.

Also then conversely I want to search all files in the directories and subdirectories and have them checked off against the list to make sure there are not any extra files in the folders.

If someone could show me the command for subdirectory searching or an example of it I could probably figure out how to make both of these processes work.

EDIT:  Something to take into consideration, these folders may have spaces in them and I do not have the power to rename said folders.  They are given to me to check, I'm not sure if this will be an issue when doing a nested for to check through but figured I'd bring it up now as opposed to after I get a potential answer only to have it blow up due to the space int he folder name.

[Grimbear13]

Okay through some reasearch I found out how to use both "tokens=*" which would handle the spaces issue, and then I found the /R switch for the for loop but no matter how I try to use it it's always crashing.  Can someone provide an example similar to this:

Code: [Select]

for /F "tokens=*" %%I in (inlist) do (

for /R "tokens=*" %%J in (*) do (
if %%I==%%J (echo %%I CHECK >> Results.txt)
)

echo %%I MISSING >> Results.txt
)

[BillRichardson]

C:\>dir /s /b *.pdf  >  pdffiles.txt

C:\>


C:\>dir /s *.pdf
 
 Volume Serial Number is F4A3-D6B3

 Directory of C:\bin\doc\gawk\3.1.6\gawk-3.1.6

12/29/2007  02:48 AM         2,058,611 gawk.pdf
               1 File(s)      2,058,611 bytes

 Directory of C:\bin\doc\gawk\UnixV7

07/29/2007  07:07 AM            28,217 awk_V7.1.pdf
07/29/2007  05:41 AM            60,796 awk_V7.pdf
               2 File(s)         89,013 bytes

 Directory of C:\bin\man\pdf

12/28/2007  03:45 PM           315,094 gawk-man.pdf
               1 File(s)        315,094 bytes

 Directory of C:\DELL\Docs\manual

09/10/2007  03:44 PM        13,980,991 eom.pdf
               1 File(s)     13,980,991 bytes
.
.
.

[Grimbear13]

Thanks for the reply, but I'm not looking to see subdirectories.  I need to know how to execute commands through all subdirectories.  dir shows what subdirectories are there, but I need to be able to compare the names of all files in sub directories to the name of the file in the list.

This is the full code that I've worked out thus far

Code: [Select]

::@echo off > debug.txt
color 0A
::The preceding line turns off screen printing and sets the text color to Bright Green.

::Created by Scott Dean

for /F "tokens=*" %%I in (inlist) do (
Call :ResetBool
set filename=%%I

for %%J in (*) do (
set file=%%J
Call :ValidCheck
)
)
Call :Print
Call :MissingCheck
pause
)
GoTo :EOF

:ValidCheck
if %filename%==%file% (Goto :CheckPrint)
GoTo :EOF

:MissingCheck
if %bool%==false (GoTo :MissingPrint)
GoTo :EOF

:CheckPrint
echo %filename% CHECK >> Results.txt
set bool=true
GoTo :EOF

:MissingPrint
echo %filename% MISSING >> Results.txt
GoTo :EOF

:ResetBool
set bool=false
GoTo :EOF

:Print
echo %filename% >> lol.txt
echo %bool% >> rofl.txt
GoTo :EOF
I have one of the files listed in the inlist in the directory and that gives an appropriate response in the Results.txt.  However it seems like nothing after the ValidCheck in the nested loop executes.  I figured it has something to do w/ me sending it to the end of file, but when I remove that it will execute down all of those other regions as well.  I even tried to put new regions within the loops to send it back to specific areas after execution however it bombs before it even does anything if you put regions within the for's.

Thanks,

[BillRichardson]

"I have one of the files listed in the inlist in the directory and that gives an appropriate response in the Results.txt.  However it seems like nothing after the ValidCheck in the nested loop executes.  I figured it has something to do w/ me sending it to the end of file, but when I remove that it will execute down all of those other regions as well.  I even tried to put new regions within the loops to send it back to specific areas after execution however it bombs before it even does anything if you put regions within the for's."

How did you create the inlist.txt   file?   Will  you post a few of the file names that are in the inlist file?

I tried to run your code but I'm not sure what is in the inlist  file?

Thanks

[Grimbear13]

I'm going to attempt to just give the entire package in a .zip.  I have been working out of the New Folder thats within there just to make sure that I can get it to do the primary task first (reading the list and verifying that the names in the list match the names of the files).

[Saving space, attachment deleted by admin]

[BillRichardson]

I'm going to attempt to just give the entire package in a .zip.  I have been working out of the New Folder thats within there just to make sure that I can get it to do the primary task first (reading the list and verifying that the names in the list match the names of the files).

The zip file worked.  And the batch file ran.
Of course, only one file  was found on my machine.

( I don't understand the need for the color change? But it worked. )

Input:

Review>type inlist

Roof.txt
Ceiling.txt
Ground.txt
Floor.txt
Noob.txt
Beginner.txt
Decent Player.txt

Output:

Review>type Results
ts.txt
Roof.txt CHECK
Ceiling.txt MISSING
Ground.txt MISSING
Floor.txt MISSING
Noob.txt MISSING
Beginner.txt MISSING
Roof.txt CHECK
Ceiling.txt MISSING
Ground.txt MISSING
Floor.txt MISSING
Noob.txt MISSING
Beginner.txt MISSING
Roof.txt CHECK
Ceiling.txt MISSING
Ground.txt MISSING
Floor.txt MISSING
Noob.txt MISSING
Beginner.txt MISSING
Roof.txt CHECK
Ceiling.txt MISSING
Ground.txt MISSING
Floor.txt MISSING
Noob.txt MISSING
Beginner.txt MISSING

C:\Documents and Settings\Bill Richardson\Desktop\QA Review\QA Review>

[BillRichardson]

Rem "color 0A"  was REMed out.
Rem "@echo off" was allowed to execute to cut down on volume of output

Code: [Select]

@echo off
rem  color 0A

for /F "tokens=*" %%I in (inlist) do (
Call :ResetBool
set filename=%%I

        for /R %%K in (.) do (
                for %%J in (*) do (
                set file=%%J
                Call :ValidCheck
                echo HAMSTERS!
)
                )
        Call :Print
)
GoTo :EOF

:ValidCheck
if %filename%==%file% (set bool=true)
GOTO :EOF

:Print
if %bool%==true (echo %filename% CHECK >> Results.txt
)else (echo %filename% MISSING >> Results.txt )
GOTO:EOF

:ResetBool
set bool=false
GoTo :EOF

[BillRichardson]

Grim:

Your code works.  The only change was to change the main for loop to local variables with "setlocal enabledelayedexpansion"
( I also placed all your files from the inlist in a subfolder called "trial" ). 

Code: [Select]

@echo off

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /F "delims=" %%i in (inlist.txt) do (
rem Call :ResetBool
set filename=%%i
echo filename=!filename!


        for /R %%K in (.) do (
                for %%J in (*) do (
                set file=%%J
                Call :ValidCheck
                echo HAMSTERS!
)
                )
        Call :Print
)
GoTo :EOF

:ValidCheck
if %filename%==%file% (set bool=true)
GOTO :EOF

:Print
if %bool%==true (echo %filename% CHECK >> Results.txt
)else (echo %filename% MISSING >> Results.txt )
GOTO:EOF

:ResetBool
set bool=false
GoTo :EOF



C:\Review\type results.txt
Roof.txt CHECK
Ceiling.txt CHECK
Ground.txt CHECK
Floor.txt CHECK
Noob.txt CHECK
Beginner.txt CHECK
DecentPlayer.txt CHECK

[Grimbear13]

Okay, when I get some free time at work today hopefully I'll get to play around with it a bit haha.  Yeah I knew the code worked on files in the directory, my issue was getting into subdirectories.  I'll get back to you when I try your solution thanks for all the responses.

The color change was because that's my favorite color scheme, and the @echo off was commented out for debugging (as was the random "echo HAMSTERS!" in the one loop there was issues with execution of certain areas so I would put random outputs to make sure they were being executed...that one just got left it  )

Thanks Again hopefully I'll be able to get back with results.

[Grimbear13]

Sorry for the super delayed response, but I just got a chance to try the change you suggested and my code still isn't finding any of the files in the subdirectories.  I tried both my code with your change and your code by itself (which gave a strange error about not being able to find the file at first).  But neither of them correctly reported that the files were there.

Also if you were wondering why there were extra files within the lower subdirectories it's because after I get this first step done I'm going to have it check all file names to what's in the list to ensure there are no extra files either.

Also it error's out on the Decent Players portion because of the space in the name, can you think of a way to remedy this?

[Grimbear13]

Figure I'll post my latest code just to verify.  I broke out the nested loop because I'm trying to get it to terminate once it finds a match to save time.  Else for every object it will loop through the entire package and that will take considerable amounts of time with bigger packages.

Code: [Select]

@echo off
color 0A
::The preceding line turns off screen printing and sets the text color to Bright Green.

::Created by Scott Dean

::Begins to search through the inlist file to get the names of the files.

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /F "tokens=*" %%I in (inlist) do (
::Calls the ResetBool function
Call :ResetBool
::Sets filename equal to the value found from the inlist
set filename=%%I

::Calls the two nested loops.  It is broken out this way because batch files do not
::update variables until a process is terminated(not researched found by trial and error.
::Therefore when if the loops are left to run the variables are never updated and incorrect
::output will be given.
Call :LoopNest
::Calls the Print function based on the bool variable's value will return MISSING or CHECK
Call :Print
)
GoTo :EOF

::This function checks if the filename given from the inlist matches the current file.
:ValidCheck
if %filename%==%file% (set bool=true)
GOTO :EOF

::This function prints whether the file is missing or not.
:Print
if %bool%==true (echo %filename% CHECK >> Results.txt
)else (echo %filename% MISSING >> Results.txt )
GOTO:EOF

::Resets the value of the bool variable to be defaulted to false.
:ResetBool
set bool=false
GoTo :EOF

::Pair of nested for's called from the first for loop.  These go into the subdirectories
::and call the functions ValidCheck and BoolCheck. (May not go into subdirectories as of 02-08-2010)
:LoopNest
for /R %%K in (.) do (
for %%J in (*) do (
set file=%%J
Call :ValidCheck
Call :BoolCheck
if %bool%==true (GOTO :EOF)
)
if %bool%==true (GOTO :EOF)
)
GOTO :EOF

::An attempt to break the loop cycle if the correct value is found, doesn't seem to work.
:BoolCheck
if %bool%==true (GOTO :EOF)

[BC_Programmer]

when you have loops it's not really a good idea to use two colons to indicate a comment.

[Grimbear13]

By loops are you referring to the regions or within the loops?  I don't know standards for batches and I just find it easier to type :: rather than rem.  Also coming from a C (primarily C#) background I'm more comofortable with the :: beacuse its similar to the // comment.  I think the constant spam of rem in the code makes it harder to read.

[BC_Programmer]

:: within the body of the loop can cause problems, since : is really a label delimiter.

the only "legitimate" comment is REM, and really that's just an internal command that does nothing.

[Grimbear13]

the only "legitimate" comment is REM, and really that's just an internal command that does nothing.

Well isn't that what any comment is a line that does nothing?  They're there to put what is going on in the code into "human" language.

But anyways back to my issues w/ the code.  I was having these issues long before I put comments in.  I wrote the entire thing and then went back and commented it because I'm writing these for my job and if I'm either not with the company or not in the same department I want people to be able to use my scripts and understand what they do.

[Sidewinder]

As a follower of KISS theory, I humbly submit this little snippet. Only thing I couldn't accomplish was to break going through the directory list once a match was found. Keep in mind, batch code is not a programming language, it's a command language.

Code: [Select]

@echo off
if exist Review.txt del Review.txt
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%i in (inList.txt) do (
  set lit=MISSING
  for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%x in ('dir drive:\path /s /b') do (
    if /i %%i==%%~nx%%~xx set lit=CHECK
  )
  echo %%i - !lit! >> Review.txt
  set lit=MISSING
)
endlocal

Replace drive:\path with the top level directory name you want to start the search.

Good luck. 

Using :: for comments is fine, just don't use them within for loops.

[Grimbear13]

Busy all day didn't get to play with this, thanks for the response though

Code: [Select]

for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%x in ('dir drive:\path /s /b') do (
To get this to run from the current directory would it be:

Code: [Select]

for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%x in ('dir . /s /b') do (?

I need it to run from where I put the batch because each time the path is going to be different and it's pointless to have to change the batch every time it is to be run.

Two side notes:
1) What is KISS theory
2) What kind of issues do the :: cause within a for?

[Salmon Trout]

Two side notes:
1) What is KISS theory
2) What kind of issues do the :: cause within a for?

KISS stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid, and is a humorous way of expressing the view that unnecessary complication is undesirable and attracts problems.

The use of the unsupported, undocumented, deprecated :: double colon as a comment line starter causes problems in a loop or other parenthetical structure because cmd.exe regards a structure of this type...

Code: [Select]

blah blah blah (
    blah blah
    blah blah
    blah blah
    )
...as being all one line. The double colon is a broken label. A label can only occur at the beginning of a line, so its use breaks the parenthetical structure.

[Sidewinder]

I need it to run from where I put the batch because each time the path is going to be different and it's pointless to have to change the batch every time it is to be run.

You could always prompt for the directory to start with:

Code: [Select]

@echo off
if exist Review.txt del Review.txt
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set /p root=Enter Start Directory:
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%i in (inList.txt) do (
  set lit=MISSING
  for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%x in ('dir %root% /s /b') do (
    if /i %%i==%%~nx%%~xx set lit=CHECK
  )
  echo %%i - !lit! >> Review.txt
  set lit=MISSING
)
endlocal


What is KISS theory

Stands for "Keep It Simple Stupid". I keep repeating it to myself everytime I start to write a program or script.

What kind of issues do the :: cause within a for?

It will throw an error. You can have a goto but the :label must be outside the outermost for loop.

Good luck. 

[Grimbear13]

Thanks both of you, the script started off simple enough but then when I started not getting the results I expected I started finding out how the code executes and was breaking it out into the multi-tier program you saw there.

Would the . allow it to run in the present directory?  I could prompt it, but I'm trying to set this up to have a little user input as possible.  For myself it wouldn't be too much of an issue more than an annoyance.  However once other people start using it I can forsee an issue coming up.

And thanks for the indepth explainations of the ::.  Like I said I just don't like the look of rem preceeding every line of comments I think it looks cluttered and I'm beggining to believe I have some kind of Dyslexia or an advanced form of ADD where when reading things like that if it looks to cluttered I'll instantly dismiss it and even if I try to read it I won't comprehend it.

[Salmon Trout]

I need it to run from where I put the batch because each time the path is going to be different and it's pointless to have to change the batch every time it is to be run.

Put it in your Send To folder, (or store it anywhere you like and put a shortcut to it in the Send To folder) and then you can right click a folder and "send it" (i.e. the full drive letter and path in quotes) to the batch. Just add this line to the start of the batch script right after @echo off...

Or store it or a shortcut to it on your desktop and drag and drop a folder onto it for the same effect

Code: [Select]

cd /d %1

[Grimbear13]

Thanks Salmon,

I think my wording was a little peculiar.  I do plan on always copying the batch into where it needs to be run and more than likely the last step in the process will be to delete itself to minimize clean up afterwards so it doesn't get mixed in with the other files.

[Salmon Trout]

the last step in the process will be to delete itself

To make a batch file delete itself

Code: [Select]

del "%~dpnx0"

[Grimbear13]

I have made them delete themselves before.  What I need to make it do is not require any inputs or altering.  To just be able to be dropped in a directory with the inlist that will be created and run, checking all files in the directories and sub directories.

[Grimbear13]

My theory of the 'dir .' works for what I need it.  Thank you all.  However I just noticed when you output the lit variable you used !lit!.  Can you explian why you would use the ! instead of the %'s?

[Grimbear13]

New issue thanks to the code provided by Sidewinder I was able to modify it slightly to execute the way I wanted.  Then I wrote the second half of it to do the inverse and check all files within the directory next to the list in order to see if there are any extra files.  When I had it running as it's own batch it performed exactly as I wanted it to, however now when it's under the first section so they run in sequence it seem to print lit2 for the first 3 lines of the output.

Also it is printing the names of the folders, is there a way to get it to bypass folder names?  The folder names aren't going to be listed in the document ever, and will be checked in a different process.

Code: [Select]

@echo off
@color 0A

if exist !MissingFiles.txt del !MissingFiles.txt

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%i in (inList) do (
  set lit=MISSING

  for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%x in ('dir . /s /b') do (
    if %%i==%%~nx%%~xx set lit=CHECK
  )

  echo %%i - !lit! >> !MissingFiles.txt
  set lit=MISSING
)

if exist !ExtraFiles.txt del !ExtraFiles.txt

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%j in ('dir . /s /b') do (
  set lit2=EXTRA

  for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%y in (inList) do (
    if %%y==%%~nj%%~xj set lit2=CHECK
  )
  echo %%~nj%%~xj - !lit2! >> !ExtraFiles.txt
  set lit2=EXTRA
)
endlocal
Also I need this to be case sensitive, thats why I removed the /i in the if.

Thank You everyone for your help, not only is it forwarding this project.  But it is also expanding my knowledge of how to these work and how to write them.

[Grimbear13]

I'm going to post this in a new topic as well, but I was hoping that some of you whom helped me previously would be able to because it applies to this project of mine.  This is the current version of the batch I was writing.  However when it's parsing through either the file names or the inlist if the file name has a space in it it is breaking it down into multiple objects, using hte " " as a delim.  In a for loop is there a way to make it delim at the end of a line as opposed to any white space?

Code: [Select]

@echo off
@color 0A

if exist !MissingFiles.txt del !MissingFiles.txt

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%i in (inList) do (
  set lit=MISSING

  for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%x in ('dir . /s /b') do (
    if %%i==%%~nx%%~xx set lit=CHECK
  )

  echo %%i - !lit! >> !MissingFiles.txt
  set lit=MISSING
)

if exist !ExtraFiles.txt del !ExtraFiles.txt

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%j in ('dir . /s /b') do (
  set lit2=EXTRA

  for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%y in (inList) do (
    if %%y==%%~nj%%~xj set lit2=CHECK
  )
  echo %%~nj%%~xj - !lit2! >> !temp.txt
  set lit2=EXTRA
)

find "." !temp.txt | find /i /v ".doc" | find /i /v ".xls" | find /i /v ".rtf" | find /i /v "MissingFiles.txt" >> !ExtraFiles.txt

del !temp.txt

endlocal

[ALAN_BR]

Can you explian why you would use the ! instead of the %'s?

When subject to "setlocal enabledelayedexpansion" then ! is similar to %,
with the exception that within brackets then % uses the value preceding the opening bracket.
Try :-

Code: [Select]

@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set var=3
(
set var=4
echo %var% !var!
)
pause

Alan

[Grimbear13]

I'm sorry I got caught up in work yesterday and a collegue pointed out a possible issue.  It wasn't the spaces in the code that were causing the issue.  Whomever was naming the files that I was running this against was using an irregular dash.  Even when copying the name directly it wasn't finding it.  Thank You to everyone who replied.

I thought that this script worked with spaces and I even checked it against an older job I did and it worked.