CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windowsbatch-filecmd
srh
srh

Reputation: 1661

Why I cannot copy with a variable name in windows batch file

I have a c:\test directory which has a text file var_list.txt with these 3 lines:

abc
xyz
def

I have a C:\test\source directory which has a text file source_file.txt.

I have a C:\test\target directory which is empty.

I want to write a windows batch file which do these tasks:

  1. read var_list.txt line by line in a variable
  2. for each line copy the source_file.txt from C:\test\source directory to C:\test\target directory with the file name also having the variable line appended to it in its name

So when I run this windows batch file, I want it to create these 3 files:

  1. target_file_abc.txt
  2. target_file_xyz.txt
  3. target_file_def.txt

So I create a windows batch file create_target_files.bat in c:\test directory with these contents:

@echo off
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in (var_list.txt) do (
  echo line=%%a
  copy /Y /V C:\test\source\source_file.txt C:\test\target\target_file_%a%.txt
)
pause

When I run it I get this output:

line=abc
1 file(s) copied.
line=xyz
1 file(s) copied.
line=def
1 file(s) copied.
Press any key to continue . . .

But in C:\test\target directory only 1 file target_file_.txt is created. Why 3 files are not created with variable names?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 592

Answers (2)

Hackoo
Hackoo

Reputation: 18827

You can do something like that :

@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('Type "C:\test\var_list.txt"') do (
    Set "line=%%a"
    echo !line!
    Copy /y /v "C:\test\source\source_file.txt" "C:\test\target\target_file_!line!.txt"
)
pause & exit

For more information how and when to use Enabledelayedexpansion

Upvotes: 0

A Cat Named Tiger
A Cat Named Tiger

Reputation: 403

There is a small mistake in your code.

copy /Y /V C:\test\source\source_file.txt C:\test\target\target_file_%a%.txt

In this line of code, you are using %a% instead of %%a.

Since you did not assign the variable, %a% would give you a blank string.

Therefore, all copied files are named target_file_.txt and they are overwritten by the last file.

Upvotes: 1

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