CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windowscmdwildcard
user1508893
user1508893

Reputation: 9783

wild card (asterisk) in Windows batch

I have this command in my windows's script (.cmd file):

CALL mv *.exe foo.exe

The wildcard character doesn't seem to be be interpreted as a wildcard at all, because the when the script is executed, it throws an error about not finding a file with name *.exe (literally *.exe). There is a .exe file in the current directory, by the way.

So how should I rewrite this command? Thanks

Upvotes: 6

Views: 10042

Answers (2)

Robert P
Robert P

Reputation: 15968

In windows, you don't need to use 'call' unless calling another batch script. You also probably want to use the 'move' command instead; this will interpolate the * correctly in windows.

For example, if you use a script that has:

move *.exe foo.exe

in it, you get an outcome like this:

C:\dev\example>dir /B
a.exe
mymove.cmd

C:\dev\example>mymove

C:\dev\example>move *.exe foo.exe
C:\dev\example\a.exe
        1 file(s) moved.

C:\dev\example>dir /B
foo.exe
mymove.cmd

C:\dev\example>

Giving exactly the behavior you're looking for!

Upvotes: 2

Anton Kovalenko
Anton Kovalenko

Reputation: 21507

If mv is available, maybe you have sh.exe or bash.exe nearby. Then it's easy:

sh.exe -c "mv *.exe foo.exe"

CMD interpreter doesn't expand wildcards, unlike unix shells: commands do (or don't do) it by themselves. Maybe builtin ren command will expand wildcard, but I'm unsure.

Upvotes: 2

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