Batch to Print specific lines of text to a file

Question

Let me start off by saying I am very new to this, and what little code I have cobbled together I found on this site.

In the end I need a batch that when ran will grab each folder name in a parent dir. and copy it to a text file named label1, label2, ect.

I started with pulling the lines from a directory list in a text file. I can get it to echo the last line to a file using Seth's code from this post Windows Batch file to echo a specific line number

I made some modifications to try to put it in a loop and now I get nothing out.

If anyone can help me it would be much appreciated. Here is my code so far.

    set /a "x=1"
    set /a "lines=91"
    :while1
        if %x% leq %lines% (
        for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('findstr /n .* "Y:\Test\foldernametest.txt"') do (
      set "FullLine=%%a"
      for /f "tokens=1* delims=:" %%b in ("%%a") do (
        setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
        set "LineData=!FullLine:*:=!"
        if "%%b" equ "%1" echo(!LineData!
        echo title=!linedata! > Lable%x%.dat
        set /a "x= x+1"
        endlocal
        goto :while1
        )
    )

Answer 1

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set /a x=1
set /a lines=91
:while1
    if %x% leq %lines% (
    for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('findstr /n .* "Y:\Test\foldernametest.txt"') do (
    for /f "tokens=1* delims=:" %%b in ("%%a") do (
      if "%%b" equ "%x%" (
        echo(%%c
        echo title=%%c > Lable%x%.dat
        set /a x= x+1
        goto while1
      )
    )
)
endlocal

I'm reasonably sure this will work, as would

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set /a x=1
set /a lines=91
:while1
    if %x% leq %lines% (
    for /f "tokens=1* delims=:" %%a in ('findstr /n .* "Y:\Test\foldernametest.txt"') do if %%a==%x% (
    echo(%%b
    echo title=%%b > Lable%x%.dat
    set /a x= x+1
    goto while1
    )
)
endlocal

The issue with your code is that endlocal terminates a setlocal and all of the environment changes that have taken place since the setlocal are backed out - the environment is restored to what it was when the setlocal was executed.

The consequence is that with your code, you are incrementing x (a grand name for a variable) and then the increment is backed out when the endlocal is executed.

So - put the entire routine in a setlocal/endlocal bracket. This has other advanteages - like if you execute a setlocal immediately after @echo off , then when the routine terminates, the environment is returned to its original state - it does not accumulate changes (normally additions of variables) as more and more batches are run.

Some of the other changes I've made are cosmetic. the quotes in a set /a are superfluous and so is the colon in a goto (with the sole exception of goto :eof )

Another problem you have was %1 (meaning "the first parameter to the routine") where you probably meant "%x%".

In the first code fragment, the output of the findstr is assigned to %%a and the inner for assigns that part of the findstr before the delimiter to %%b and that after to %%c . You evidently want to pick the line %%b equal to %x% so the code makes the comparison and if equal, outputs %%c (rest of line) and title=%%c to the file made from Lable and the line number. (You've spelled label incorrectly); then increments x and tries again.

The second piece of code is a simplification of the first. The line is read from the file and numbered, then split directly on the colon; %%a gets the number, %%b the rest of the line, so if %%a is the same as the number %x% then we want to do something (no quotes required, since %%a is a simple numeric string and x will also be numeric because it's never assigned to a string containing separators or empty ).

The thing-to-be-done is to echo the line from the file (in %%b , bump the line number and start again...