String extraction using left and right boundary in batch - string

I am trying to get a value from a string that has a left boundary of test/time (ms)= and right boundary of , test/status=0.
For example, if I have an input string that looks like:
input="test/ing=123, hello/world=321, test/time (ms)=100, test/status=0"
In Perl, I know I can do something like:
input=~/"test/time (ms)="(.*)", test/status=0"/;
$time=$1;
$time will hold the value that I want to get.
Unfortunately, I can only write the code in Windows Batch or VBScript. Does anyone know how batch can perform the same action as the one in Perl?

Pure batch:
for /f "delims==," %%A in ("%input:*test/time (ms)=%) do echo %%A
The search and replace within the IN clause looks for the first occurance of test/time (ms) and replaces from the beginning of the original string to the end of the search string with nothing. The FOR /F then parses out the 100 using delimiters of = and ,.
The presence of enclosing quotes within the value of %input% causes the IN() clause to look weird with no visible end quote.
It looks better with delayed expansion:
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
for /f "delims==," %%A in ("!input:*test/time (ms)=!") do echo %%A
I prefer to keep enclosing quotes out of my variable values, and explicitly add them to my code as needed. This makes the normal expansion version look more natural (delayed expansion version remains same):
set "input=test/ing=123, hello/world=321, test/time (ms)=100, test/status=0"
for /f "delims==," %%A in ("%input:*test/time (ms)=%") do echo %%A
Batch with help of JScript
If you have my hybrid JScript/batch REPL.BAT utility, then you can use regex to be very specific in your parsing:
call repl ".*test/time \(ms\)=(.*?),.*" $1 sa input
To get the value in a variable:
set "val="
for /f "delims=" %%A in ('repl ".*test/time \(ms\)=(.*?),.*" $1 sa input') do set "val=%%A"
Note that CALL is not needed within IN() clause. It also is not needed when using pipes.

Batch file:
SET input="test/ing=123, hello/world=321, test/time (ms)=100, test/status=0"
FOR %%i IN (%input:, =" "%) DO FOR /F "TOKENS=1,* DELIMS==" %%j IN (%%i) DO IF "%%j" == "test/time (ms)" ECHO %%k
EDIT: explanation
%input:, =" "% returns "test/ing=123" "hello/world=321" "test/time (ms)=100" "test/status=0"
Outer FOR will assign %%i to each string from previous result.
Inner FOR will assign characters left of = to %%j, and right ones to %%k.
Then is just comparing %%j with desired key and showing value if match.

VBScript/RegExp:
>> input="test/ing=123, hello/world=321, test/time (ms)=100, test/status=0"
>> set r = New RegExp
>> r.Pattern = "\(ms\)=(\d+),"
>> WScript.Echo r.Execute(input)(0).Submatches(0)
>>
100

Related

In batch script, split only last string match in a variable

In a batch script, I need to split only the last string match in a variable in a loop until I no longer have the string match.
Input=Level1/Level2/Level3/Level4/LevelN
(where N can be any number)
Output:
Level1/LeveL2/Level3/Level4
Level1/LeveL2/Level3
Level1/Level2
Level1
I have tried the usual "for /f "delims=/"" loops, but they only output each split of the input variable on an individual line. Besides, the value of "N" can vary. So I can't set the number of tokens to a certain value.
Please help.
This site don't works that way. You must post some code and explain the problems you have with it. In this way you can understand the changes made to your own code. If you request us for code, any code, then you could receive one ("any code") like this:
#echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set "Input=Level1/Level2/Level3/Level4/LevelN"
:loop
set "Output="
set "part=%Input:/=" & set "Output=!Output!/!part!" & set "part=%"
set "Input=%Output:~1%"
if "%Input%" equ "~1" goto exitLoop
echo "%Input%"
goto loop
:exitLoop
Here is a nice recursive approach that makes use of the ~ modifiers, assuming that the input string is provided as a quoted ("") command line argument, which does not begin with /, does not contain two consecutive // and none of the characters ", \, *, ?, <, >:
#echo off
rem // Store argument in variable:
set "INPUT=%~1"
if not defined INPUT exit /B
rem /* Precede with `\` and replace each `/` by `\`, so the resulting string appears to
rem be an absolute path, which can be split by `~` modifiers of `for` variables;
rem the inner `for` loop resolves the split path and removes any `\.` suffix: */
for %%I in ("\%INPUT:/=\%") do for %%J in ("%%~pI.") do set "REST=%%~pnxJ"
rem // Revert replacement of every `/` by `\` and remove the previously preceded `\`:
set "REST=%REST:\=/%"
set "REST=%REST:*/=%"
rem // If there is a string left, output it and call this script recursively:
if defined REST (
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
echo(!REST!
endlocal
call "%~f0" "%REST%"
)
A more classical approach, just for fun...
#echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set "Input=Level1/Level2/Level3/Level4/LevelN"
rem Split the string, join it again and store partial results
set "aux="
set "n=0"
for %%a in ("%Input:/=" "%") do (
set "aux=!aux!/%%~a"
set /A n+=1
set "out[!n!]=!aux:~1!"
)
rem Show results in reverse order
set /A n-=1
for /L %%i in (%n%,-1,1) do echo !out[%%i]!
This is easily done with a regex in PowerShell. Since the regex is greedy be default, it will get everything up to the last SOLIDUS and store it in the $1 group.
SET "S=Level1/Level2/Level3/Level4/LevelN"
FOR /F "delims=" %%a IN ('powershell -NoL -NoP "'%S%' -replace '(.*/).*', '$1'"') DO (
SET "RESULT=%%a"
)
ECHO RESULT is set to %RESULT%
Revision:
This outputs all groups and not just the last one.
SET "S=Level1/Level2/Level3/Level4/LevelN"
FOR /F "delims=" %%a IN ('powershell -NoL -NoP -Command ^
"$a = '%S%'.Split('/'); " ^
"for ($i = $a.Count - 2; $i -ge 0; $i--) { $a[0..$i] -join '/' }"') DO (
ECHO %%a
)

Batch Trim Lines in Text File after Sub-String - REM Trim with Expansion

I am running Windows 10 Pro using batch files (open to using VBS and PS1 files) and I have a text file automatically exported by software that can look like this:
Sub_Group691_FE7IP11_2017-12-12.sldasm_bin/parts/Loft-Project.sldasm_bin/parts/Loft-Project...
Sub_Group691_FE7IP12_2017-12-12.sldasm_bin/parts/Loft-Project.sldasm_bin/parts/Loft-Project...
Sub_Group691_FE7IP13_2017-12-12.sldasm_bin/parts/Loft-Project.sldasm_bin/parts/Loft-Project...
Each line continues specifying sub-parts after the "..." and could contain "poison" characters. The Sub_Group part is pulled from the filename and can also contain "poison" characters.
What I am looking to do is export just the filename which is right at the beginning of each line, up to and including the first file extension, in this case ".sldasm." Everything to the right of the first instance of .sldasm should be trimmed.
What I have cobbled together so far from research on Stackoverflow is:
#ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
SET "inputfile=C:\Scratch\ASMExport.txt"
SET "outputfile=C:\Scratch\InputFiles.txt"
(
FOR /f "usebackqdelims=" %%a IN ("%inputfile%") DO (
SET "currentline=%%a"
ECHO("!currentline:.sldasm=.sldasm & rem "!"
)
)>"%outputfile%"
GOTO :EOF
My problem lies with the "rem" line, which does not seem to work as intended either because of being within a FOR loop or because of needing to enable delayed expansion. It seems to be parsing the "& rem" as text, which looks to be because of the way delayed expansion works. What I get from the above lines is:
SubGroup691_FE7IP11_2017-12-12.sldasm" & rem "/bin/parts/Loft-Project.sldasm" & rem ""
SubGroup691_FE7IP12_2017-12-12.sldasm" & rem "/bin/parts/Loft-Project.sldasm" & rem ""
SubGroup691_FE7IP13_2017-12-12.sldasm" & rem "/bin/parts/Loft-Project.sldasm" & rem ""
I can use this same line outside the loop and without ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION like this:
#ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL
SET "inputstring=Sub_Group691_FE7IP11_2017-12-12.sldasm_bin/parts/Loft-Project.sldasm_bin/parts/Loft-Project"
SET "outputstring=%inputstring:.sldasm=.sldasm & rem "%"
echo %outputstring%
The output to that would give me what I am looking for:
Sub_Group691_FE7IP11_2017-12-12.sldasm
In searching, I am beginning to think that rem cannot be used in this way, and I must move to a token delimiter loop using a bogus delimiter.
I would be content in getting this to work and not worrying about "poison" characters in the filename by being diligent about naming files correctly.
Thank you for your help!
The & rem approach to truncate strings to the right cannot work with delayed expansion (!), it relies on normal/immediate expansion (%). This is because immediate expansion is done before commands (like rem) are recognised, but delayed expansion happens afterwards, so the rem command is never executed.
However, you could in the loop replace every .sldasm by a forbidden character like | and then split the string by a for /F loop, like this:
#echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions DisableDelayedExpansion
set "InputFile=C:\Scratch\ASMExport.txt"
set "OutputFile=C:\Scratch\InputFiles.txt"
set "Extension=.sdlasm"
> "%OutputFile%" (
for /F usebackq^ delims^=^ eol^= %%A in ("%InputFile%") do (
set "CurrentLine=%%A"
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set "CurrentLine=!CurrentLine:%Extension%=|!"
for /F "delims=|" %%B in ("!CurrentLine!") do (
endlocal
echo(%%B
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
)
endlocal
)
)
endlocal
exit /B
Delayed expansion is toggled so that no for variables become expanded when it is enabled, in order to avoid loss of or problems with exclamation marks.
#ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL
SET "sourcedir=U:\sourcedir"
SET "filename1=%sourcedir%\q47788829.txt"
FOR /f "usebackqtokens=1delims=/" %%a IN ("%filename1%") DO (
FOR /f "tokens=1*delims=." %%b IN ("%%a") DO (
FOR /f "tokens=1*delims=_" %%d IN ("%%c") DO (
ECHO %%%%-a=%%~a %%%%-b=%%~b %%%%-c=%%~c %%%%-d=%%~d %%%%-e=%%~e ^<^<
)
)
)
GOTO :EOF
You would need to change the setting of sourcedir to suit your circumstances.
I used a file named q47788829.txt containing your data for my testing.
You should be able to assemble your required report data from the elements %%a..%%e displayed. All a matter of using tokens and delims constructively.
If your input is the text that you wrote, with the same structure, I think this batch should work and extract the names that you want quickly.
CODE:
#echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set "inputFile=input.txt"
set "outputFile=result.txt"
for /f "delims=/ tokens=1" %%A in (%inputFile%) do (
set "tempFileName=%%A"
echo !tempFileName:~0,-4!>> %outputFile%
)
You only had to adjust the variables 'inputFile' and 'outputFile' to your needs.

Parsing sets of variables from a string in a bat file

I have a situation where I'm trying to keep a static list of related items in a string and parse them out as sets in a bat file.
SET RootPath=C:\Users\woodh\test\
SET FromPath=StuffFrom\
SET ToPath=StuffTo\
SET CTLNames='text1.txt,red_text1:text2.txt,white_text2:text3.txt,blue_text3:'
With CTLNames containing pairs of entries to be parsed and consumed in the job.
I did the following
:Step20
rem -----------------------------------------------------------------
rem loop thru all files in the control list processing each pair at a time
rem -----------------------------------------------------------------
FOR /F "delims=:" %%f IN (%CTLNames%) DO (
IF NOT "%%f" == "" (
CALL:BreakEntry "%%f"
)
)
:Finish
rem ----------------------------------------------------------------
rem -- Finish
rem ----------------------------------------------------------------
goto end
:BreakEntry
rem -----------------------------------------------------------------
rem loop thru all files in the control list processing each entry one at a time
rem -----------------------------------------------------------------
Set EntryLine=%~1
IF NOT "%EntryLine%" == "" (
ECHO %EntryLine%
FOR /F "tokens=1,2 delims=," %%a IN ("%EntryLine%") DO (
ECHO %%a
ECHO %%b
CALL:MoveThisFile %%a, %%b
)
)
goto:eof
But It's only processing the first pair of names and not continuing through the rest of the list.
Your question is confusing. You didn't explained what exactly is the purpose of your code nor the expected output, so we can only guess. So I guess that you have a series of pairs of values separated by colon, and that each pair of values is separated by comma. This way, the problem with your code is that for /F command does not iterate over several values when just one string is processed: the string is divided accordingly to "tokens and delims" options and the command is executed just one time. You need to use a different method to process all substring in the string.
This is the way I would do it:
#echo off
setlocal
SET "CTLNames=text1.txt,red_text1:text2.txt,white_text2:text3.txt,blue_text3:"
for %%f in ("%CTLNames::=" "%") do (
for /F "tokens=1,2 delims=," %%a in (%%f) do (
echo %%a
echo %%b
echo CALL :MoveThisFile %%a, %%b
)
)
I suggest you to remove the #echo off line and execute the program, so you may review what exactly is executed.
The reason why it doesn't work as expected (it only prints the 1st pair), is because for /f works on lines; CTLNames only consists of a line so a single iteration is needed.
The confusing part is that it still printed the 1st pair...that is because it actually did the split (on the 1st :) but by default for only cares about the 1st token (before the delim) and drops the rest. You can convince yourself by changing the line to:
FOR /F "tokens=* delims=:" %%f IN (%CTLNames%) DO (
you'll see that the value of %%f (because we instructed it to take all the tokens into account) is the whole line.
The reason why I asked if the COLON(:) is mandatory as a separator between pairs, is because you can also iterate over a non numeric list - no /f flag, but here you can't specify the delimiter so you must use a regular one: SPACE( ), COMMA(,), SEMICOLON(;), TAB, and maybe others (anyway COLON is not one of them) - so this loop:
for %%f in (text1.txt:red_text1 text2.txt:white_text2 text3.txt:blue_text3;) do (
echo %%f
)
- note that I used 3 separators: TAB, SPACE and SEMICOLON in the for loop (not sure how visible it is) -
would yield:
text1.txt:red_text1
text2.txt:white_text2
text3.txt:blue_text3
Or you could use regular separators everywhere, and give up at the pair concept altogether, but I don't know if this is what you want.
I wasn't able to solve the problem using COLON as a separator from a single for loop, but I was able to find a way. Here's your script (slightly modified):
#ECHO OFF
rem ECHO %CTLNames%
CALL :Step20 "%CTLNames%"
GOTO :eof
:Step20
rem -----------------------------------------------------------------
rem loop thru all files in the control list processing each pair at a time
rem -----------------------------------------------------------------
IF "" == "%~1" GOTO :eof
FOR /F "tokens=1* delims=:" %%f IN ("%~1") DO (
rem echo f: %%f
CALL :BreakEntry "%%f"
CALL :Step20 "%%g%
)
GOTO :eof
:BreakEntry
rem -----------------------------------------------------------------
rem loop thru all files in the control list processing each entry one at a time
rem -----------------------------------------------------------------
Set EntryLine=%~1
ECHO %EntryLine%
FOR /F "tokens=1,2 delims=," %%a IN ("%EntryLine%") DO (
ECHO %%a
ECHO %%b
rem CALL :MoveThisFile %%a, %%b
)
GOTO :eof
The main thing is (besides other small changes) that Step20 is a recursive function (label), and it uses the for loop to split the line, it processes the 1st token, then it calls itself on the remaining tokens (until there are no more left).
Note: the single quotes surrounding CTLNames should be removed.

BATCH - Working with string(< , >) instead of redirection

The last word in every texts in testing.txt is "< /a>", I echo out the the word and it seems to be no problem, but when I echo out in the for loop, cmd gave me this error : "The system cannot find the file specified."
I know the problem is on the "<" and ">" sign, it stands for redirection, that's how the error created. How am I going to make cmd think I'm working with a string instead of redirection?
#echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set "remove_char=< /a>"
echo !remove_char!
for /f "skip=2 tokens=6*" %%a in (testing.txt) do (
set "string=%%a %%b"
set string=!string:%remove_char%=!
echo !string!
)
pause >nul
If you want to use < and > symbols as variables you have to change them to ^< or ^>
Otherwise they will be treated as Input or Output!
Maybe you can replace this line
set string=!string:%remove_char%=!
with
for %%i in (!remove_char!) do (set string=!string:%%i=!)

separating variable with a symbol into different parts

using batch, i want to be able to separate a variable into two or three parts, when there is a symbol dividing them. for example if i have the string which looks like this:
var1;var2;
how can i get var1 to become variable and var2 to become a different one.
Thanks in Advance
The best way to split a variable into an array (or as close to an array as Windows batch can imitate) is to put the variable's value into a format that can be understood by a for loop. for without any switches will split a line word-by-word, splitting at csv-type delimiters (comma, space, tab or semicolon).
This is more appropriate than for /f, which loops line-by-line rather than word-by-word, and it allows splitting a string of an unknown number of elements.
Here's basically how splitting with a for loop works.
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set idx=0
for %%I in ("%var:;=","%") do (
set "var[!idx!]=%%~I"
set /a "idx+=1"
)
The important part is the substitution of ; into "," in %var%, and enclosing the whole thing in quotation marks. Indeed, this is the most graceful method of splitting the %PATH% environment variable for example.
Here's a more complete demonstration, calling a subroutine to split a variable.
#echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set string=one;two;three;four;five;
:: Uncomment this line to split %PATH%
:: set string=%PATH%
call :split "%string%" ";" array
:: Loop through the resulting array
for /L %%I in (0, 1, %array.ubound%) do (
echo array[%%I] = !array[%%I]!
)
:: end main script
goto :EOF
:: split subroutine
:split <string_to_split> <split_delimiter> <array_to_populate>
:: populates <array_to_populate>
:: creates arrayname.length (number of elements in array)
:: creates arrayname.ubound (upper index of array)
set "_data=%~1"
:: replace delimiter with " " and enclose in quotes
set _data="!_data:%~2=" "!"
:: remove empty "" (comment this out if you need to keep empty elements)
set "_data=%_data:""=%"
:: initialize array.length=0, array.ubound=-1
set /a "%~3.length=0, %~3.ubound=-1"
for %%I in (%_data%) do (
set "%~3[!%~3.length!]=%%~I"
set /a "%~3.length+=1, %~3.ubound+=1"
)
goto :EOF
Here's the output of the above script:
C:\Users\me\Desktop>test.bat
array[0] = one
array[1] = two
array[2] = three
array[3] = four
array[4] = five
Just for fun, try un-commenting the set string=%PATH% line and let the good times roll.
Tokens=1,2 does create the two for loop variables %%i and %%j& splits string in two parts, separated by the delimiter ;:
#echo off &setlocal
set "string=var1;var2;"
for /f "tokens=1,2 delims=;" %%i in ("%string%") do set "variable1=%%i" &set "variable2=%%j"
echo variable1: %variable1%
echo variable2: %variable2%
endlocal
pause
For a more "dynamic" method use this:
#echo off &setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set "string=var1;var2;"
set /a count=0
for %%i in (%string%) do (
set /a count+=1
set "variable!count!=%%i"
)
echo found %count% variables
for /l %%i in (1,1,%count%) do (
echo variable%%i: !variable%%i!
)
endlocal
If you got only "one" appears, change the line
for /L %%I in (0, 1, %array.ubound%) do (
by
for /L %%I in (0, 1, !array.ubound!) do (

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