Windows batch script loop files in directory

Anything that you type into a DOS prompt on a Windows machine can be used in a bat file to quickly do something that you would otherwise have to repeat many times over. To create a bat file just make a file and give it the extension "bat". If you run a DOS prompt and navigate to the directory that the bat file exists in you can type the name of the file to get it to do certain actions. If you called your file "action. Starting with a simple example, if you want to print the contents of a file to screen then you need the type command, followed by the file.

However, this puts a lot of rubbish on the screen. If you wanted to create a backup of that file then you would write the following. This takes the contents of one file and puts it in another.

To loop through every file in a directory you need to use the following line. Doing the same thing with a VB Script file is an entirely different thing. Its DateDiff function lets you determine the difference in time between two date stamps in day, hours, minutes or seconds.

It's a breeze! If you do intend to take up VB Scripting then a good approach would be to learn the basics, then come here with specific questions rather than empty-handed. Office Office Exchange Server. Not an IT pro? Resources for IT Professionals. Sign in. United States English. Ask a question. Quick access. Search related threads. Remove From My Forums. Answered by:. Archived Forums. The Official Scripting Guys Forum! If your answer is "yes," you know what to do.

There does not exist while and do while loops as in other programming languages. Here, the list is the values for which for loop will be executed. Here in this program, we have 1, 2 and 3 in the list.

So, for every element of the list the for loop will be executed and following output is generated. In batch file programming, for loop can also be implemented through a range of values.