[SOLVED] Get batch program to process files in subdirectories

Get batch program to process files in subdirectories

I have this simple batch file I'd like to process files in subdirectories. I've played around with the for /R but I can't seem to get it to work. Any help would be very appreciated.

Thank you.

Here is the batch I have

@echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

for %%A in ("*.mkv") do (
    echo file found  %%A

    for /f "tokens=1,2 delims=[im" %%D in ("%%~nA") do set "shortname=%%D[%%E"
    echo short name !shortname! >>J:\list.txt

)

Solution

You misunderstand what the string between =1 and " of the delims option does.

It is not a delimiter-string.

It is a set of characters , each one of which is a delimiter.

SET "delimiterstring=[im"

for %%A in ("*.mkv") do (
    echo file found  %%A

    for /f "tokens=1,2,3 delims=[im" %%D in ("%%~nA") do ECHO 1="%%D" 2="%%E" 3="%%F"
    
    set "shortname=%%~nA"
    SET "endpart=!shortname:*%delimiterstring%=!"
    ECHO lopped shortname="!endpart!"
    call SET "shortname=%%shortname:%delimiterstring%!endpart!=%%"
    echo short name "!shortname!"
)

Note that the for /f…%%D sets tokens 1,2 & 3 for the filename Thunderbolts [imdbid-tt20969586].mkv. The string is interpreted as [stringofdelimiters][stringofdata], repeated. Since '[','i','m' are defined as the delimiter characters, the tokens are generated as 1="Thunderbolts " 2="db" 3="d-tt20969586]"

Note also the Space at the end of the first token. The delims option does not permit a space as a delimiter, other than as the final character of the delims= string.

Your approach would thus also fail if "Thunderbolts " contained '[','i','m'

The remainder indicates one way to process the string. It sets endpart by replacing all characters up to and including delimiterstring with nothing then setsshortname to its initial value with [delimiterstring+endpart] replaced by nothing using the call parsing trick (used thousands of times on SO) to arrange the desired operation.

You should be careful about any "poison" characters (character with a special meaning to cmd such as !%~&^()

Note that you could also change delimiterstring to include the space in the desired position to remove the end-space from "Thunderbolts "