batch-filecmd

Delete Registry Key if empty (One line code)

I'm trying to do a one line batch command that would delete a Key if it's empty. Below are 2 solutions that should work be for some strange reason they don't. 😩

For /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('Reg Query "HKCU\Software\RandomKey" 2^>NUL ^| FindStr /l /i /c:"\\Software\\RandomKey\\"') do (EXIT) ^& Reg Delete "HKCU\Software\RandomKey" /f 1>NUL

For /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('Reg Query "HKCU\Software\RandomKey" 2^>NUL ^| FindStr /l /i /c:"\\Software\\RandomKey\\"') do Set "FSK=1" ^& If Not "%FSK%"=="1" Reg Delete "HKCU\Software\RandomKey" /f 1>NUL
Solution

  • Here's a test:

    @ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL

FOR %%y IN ("RandomKey" "GIGABYTE" "Notepad++" "7-zip") DO (
 ECHO testing "%%~y"
 rem show Reg Query output for demonstration
 Reg Query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\%%~y" 2>&1
 Reg Query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\%%~y" 2>&1|FINDSTR /b /c:"    (Default)">nul&IF NOT ERRORLEVEL 1 ECHO DO whatever
 echo/
) 
GOTO :EOF

    On my system:

    "RandomKey" Doesn't exist; error message redirected to stdout to avoid clutter

"GIGABYTE" Exists, but is not empty (has subkeys)

"Notepad++" Is empty and generates the message

"7-zip" is not empty.

    The findstr command looks for the /c: constant string between quotes (note 4 leading spaces & case-sensitive) at /b the beginning of the line.

    Results on my machine

    testing "RandomKey"
ERROR: The system was unable to find the specified registry key or value.

testing "GIGABYTE"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GIGABYTE\Control Center
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GIGABYTE\DramInfos
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GIGABYTE\GBT_GCC_Lib

testing "Notepad++"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Notepad++
    (Default)    REG_SZ    C:\Program Files\Notepad++

DO whatever

testing "7-zip"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\7-zip
    Path64    REG_SZ    C:\Program Files\7-Zip\
    Path    REG_SZ    C:\Program Files\7-Zip\