variable in a for loop inside a batch

Question

I will need some help to understand a strange behaviour I want to loop through a directory to find which sub-directories are ending with some specific characters. I wrote this to test:

@ECHO.
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion 
set Dir=C:\test
for /f "tokens=*" %%I in ('dir %Dir% /ad /b') do (
set V1=%%I
set V2=!V1!
set V3=%V1%
set V4=%V1:~-4%
set V5=!V1:~-4!
)
endlocal

The result is:

C:>test


C:>setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

C:>set Dir=C:\test

C:>for /F "tokens=*" %I in ('dir C:\test /ad /b') do (
set V1=%I
 set V2=!V1!
 set V3=
 set V4=~-4
 set V5=!V1:~-4!
)

C:>(
set V1=dir1_011
 set V2=!V1!
 set V3=
 set V4=~-4
 set V5=!V1:~-4!
)

C:>(
set V1=dir1_011 - Copie
 set V2=!V1!
 set V3=
 set V4=~-4
 set V5=!V1:~-4!
)

C:>(
set V1=dir1_011 - Copie (2)
 set V2=!V1!
 set V3=
 set V4=~-4
 set V5=!V1:~-4!
)

C:>(
set V1=dir1_011 - Copie (3)
 set V2=!V1!
 set V3=
 set V4=~-4
 set V5=!V1:~-4!
)

C:>(
set V1=dir1_011 - Copie (4)
 set V2=!V1!
 set V3=
 set V4=~-4
 set V5=!V1:~-4!
)

C:>(
set V1=dir1_011 - Copie (5)
 set V2=!V1!
 set V3=
 set V4=~-4
 set V5=!V1:~-4!
)

C:>(
set V1=dir1_011 - Copie (6)
 set V2=!V1!
 set V3=
 set V4=~-4
 set V5=!V1:~-4!
)

C:>(
set V1=dir1_011 - Copie (7)
 set V2=!V1!
 set V3=
 set V4=~-4
 set V5=!V1:~-4!
)

C:>(
set V1=dir1_011 - xxx
 set V2=!V1!
 set V3=
 set V4=~-4
 set V5=!V1:~-4!
)

C:>endlocal

C:>

I could never get the end of the directory name even if i'm using EnableDelayedExpansion

May be someone has some explanation ?

dbenham · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-05 12:15:05Z

2

Your lines using delayed expansion are working, but you don't have anything in your output to show it. You have ECHO ON, but the line is echoed before the delayed expansion takes place, so you can't see the result. Try adding lines like

echo V1=!V1!
echo V2=!V2!
etc.

within your loop to see the results of your delayed expansion assignments.

Of course the assignments using normal expansion are not working within the loop, which is why delayed expansion was invented.

answered Feb 5, 2014 at 12:15

dbenham

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Comments

foxidrive · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-05 11:35:20Z

1

You have to use variables like !var! and not %var% when inside a loop and when using delayed expansion.

Test this:

@echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion 
set Dir=C:\test
for /f "delims=" %%I in ('dir %Dir% /ad /b') do (
set V1=%%I
set V2=!V1!
echo !v2!
echo !v2:~-4!
)
endlocal
pause

edited Feb 5, 2014 at 11:35

answered Feb 5, 2014 at 11:29

foxidrive

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1 Comment

dbenham Over a year ago

I think the OP already knows about delayed expansion, but doesn't understand why the ECHOed statements do not show the expanded value. See my answer.

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