Windows batch script help to check the last line of a file

Question

I have several hundred files, most of which contain an " exit " at the end (end line). Not all files have this " exit " at the end. How can I check the contents of the last line of files and then delete it if it is " exit "?

Answer 1

 @echo off setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion rem "I have a few hundred files" for %%a in (*.*) do ( rem "most of which contains 'exit' at the end line." set "lastLine=" (for /F "usebackq delims=" %%b in ("%%a") do ( if not defined lastLine ( set "lastLine=%%b" ) else ( echo(!lastLine! set "lastLine=%%b" ) )) > "%%~Na.tmp" rem "Not all of the files have this 'exit' at the end." rem "How can I check the content of last line of the files" if "!lastLine!" equ "exit" ( rem "and then remove it if it 'exit'?" move /Y "%%~Na.tmp" "%%a" ) else ( del "%%~Na.tmp" ) ) 

Answer 2

Borrowing code from @npocmaka and using GNUsed, then it should be pretty reliable and keep blank lines and work with long file names, etc. It processes the entire directory tree. It is not verified.

 @echo off setlocal enabledelayedexpansion for /f "delims=" %%Z in ('dir /s /b /a-d') do ( for /f "delims=" %%a in ('type "%%Z"') do set "last_line=%%a" echo !last_line! | find /i "exit" >nul && ( sed $d "%%Z" > "%%Z.tmp" move /y "%%Z.tmp" "%%Z" >nul ) ) endlocal 

Answer 3

I wrote the hybrid JScript / batch utility REPL.BAT, which makes this task extremely simple and very fast. The utility reads stdin, searches for and replaces regular expressions, and writes the output to the stout file.

Utility is a script that works in any modern version of Windows, starting with XP, and does not require the installation of any third-party tools.

The next batch of scripts processes all the files in the given path and deletes the last line of each file only if it is the word exit without any other characters. I use parameter I to make the search case insensitive. Option M also required to allow multiple line searches. Regular regex can be easily cleaned as needed. For example, you can also match and delete the last line if it contains EXIT with a space.

 @echo off for %%F in (\somePath\*) do ( type "%%F"|repl "^exit\r?\n?(?!\S|\s)" "" im >"%%F.new" move /y "%%F.new" "%%F" >nul ) 

The REPL.BAT file should either be in your current folder (the folder from which you are working), or better yet, in one of your PATH folders.

Here is the REPL.BAT script. I found it incredibly useful for such a small script. Full documentation is built into the script.

 @if (@X)==(@Y) @end /* Harmless hybrid line that begins a JScript comment ::************ Documentation *********** ::: :::REPL Search Replace [Options [SourceVar]] :::REPL /? ::: ::: Performs a global search and replace operation on each line of input from ::: stdin and prints the result to stdout. ::: ::: Each parameter may be optionally enclosed by double quotes. The double ::: quotes are not considered part of the argument. The quotes are required ::: if the parameter contains a batch token delimiter like space, tab, comma, ::: semicolon. The quotes should also be used if the argument contains a ::: batch special character like &, |, etc. so that the special character ::: does not need to be escaped with ^. ::: ::: If called with a single argument of /? then prints help documentation ::: to stdout. ::: ::: Search - By default this is a case sensitive JScript (ECMA) regular ::: expression expressed as a string. ::: ::: JScript regex syntax documentation is available at ::: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ae5bf541(v=vs.80).aspx ::: ::: Replace - By default this is the string to be used as a replacement for ::: each found search expression. Full support is provided for ::: substituion patterns available to the JScript replace method. ::: A $ literal can be escaped as $$. An empty replacement string ::: must be represented as "". ::: ::: Replace substitution pattern syntax is documented at ::: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/efy6s3e6(v=vs.80).aspx ::: ::: Options - An optional string of characters used to alter the behavior ::: of REPL. The option characters are case insensitive, and may ::: appear in any order. ::: ::: I - Makes the search case-insensitive. ::: ::: L - The Search is treated as a string literal instead of a ::: regular expression. Also, all $ found in Replace are ::: treated as $ literals. ::: ::: B - The Search must match the beginning of a line. ::: Mostly used with literal searches. ::: ::: E - The Search must match the end of a line. ::: Mostly used with literal searches. ::: ::: V - Search and Replace represent the name of environment ::: variables that contain the respective values. An undefined ::: variable is treated as an empty string. ::: ::: M - Multi-line mode. The entire contents of stdin is read and ::: processed in one pass instead of line by line. ^ anchors ::: the beginning of a line and $ anchors the end of a line. ::: ::: X - Enables extended substitution pattern syntax with support ::: for the following escape sequences: ::: ::: \\ - Backslash ::: \b - Backspace ::: \f - Formfeed ::: \n - Newline ::: \r - Carriage Return ::: \t - Horizontal Tab ::: \v - Vertical Tab ::: \xnn - Ascii (Latin 1) character expressed as 2 hex digits ::: \unnnn - Unicode character expressed as 4 hex digits ::: ::: Escape sequences are supported even when the L option is used. ::: ::: S - The source is read from an environment variable instead of ::: from stdin. The name of the source environment variable is ::: specified in the next argument after the option string. ::: ::************ Batch portion *********** @echo off if .%2 equ . ( if "%~1" equ "/?" ( findstr "^:::" "%~f0" | cscript //E:JScript //nologo "%~f0" "^:::" "" exit /b 0 ) else ( call :err "Insufficient arguments" exit /b 1 ) ) echo(%~3|findstr /i "[^SMILEBVX]" >nul && ( call :err "Invalid option(s)" exit /b 1 ) cscript //E:JScript //nologo "%~f0" %* exit /b 0 :err >&2 echo ERROR: %~1. Use REPL /? to get help. exit /b ************* JScript portion **********/ var env=WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell").Environment("Process"); var args=WScript.Arguments; var search=args.Item(0); var replace=args.Item(1); var options="g"; if (args.length>2) { options+=args.Item(2).toLowerCase(); } var multi=(options.indexOf("m")>=0); var srcVar=(options.indexOf("s")>=0); if (srcVar) { options=options.replace(/s/g,""); } if (options.indexOf("v")>=0) { options=options.replace(/v/g,""); search=env(search); replace=env(replace); } if (options.indexOf("l")>=0) { options=options.replace(/l/g,""); search=search.replace(/([.^$*+?()[{\\|])/g,"\\$1"); replace=replace.replace(/\$/g,"$$$$"); } if (options.indexOf("b")>=0) { options=options.replace(/b/g,""); search="^"+search } if (options.indexOf("e")>=0) { options=options.replace(/e/g,""); search=search+"$" } if (options.indexOf("x")>=0) { options=options.replace(/x/g,""); replace=replace.replace(/\\\\/g,"\\B"); replace=replace.replace(/\\b/g,"\b"); replace=replace.replace(/\\f/g,"\f"); replace=replace.replace(/\\n/g,"\n"); replace=replace.replace(/\\r/g,"\r"); replace=replace.replace(/\\t/g,"\t"); replace=replace.replace(/\\v/g,"\v"); replace=replace.replace(/\\x[0-9a-fA-F]{2}|\\u[0-9a-fA-F]{4}/g, function($0,$1,$2){ return String.fromCharCode(parseInt("0x"+$0.substring(2))); } ); replace=replace.replace(/\\B/g,"\\"); } var search=new RegExp(search,options); if (srcVar) { WScript.Stdout.Write(env(args.Item(3)).replace(search,replace)); } else { while (!WScript.StdIn.AtEndOfStream) { if (multi) { WScript.Stdout.Write(WScript.StdIn.ReadAll().replace(search,replace)); } else { WScript.Stdout.WriteLine(WScript.StdIn.ReadLine().replace(search,replace)); } } } 

Answer 4

  setlocal enabledelayedexpansion for /f "delims=" %%Z in ('dir /s /b /ad .') do ( for /f "delims=" %%a in (%%Z) do set last_line=%%a echo !last_line! | find "exit" && del /f /q %%Z ) endlocal 

edit (foxidrive reads more carefully than me):

  @echo off setlocal enabledelayedexpansion for /f "delims=" %%Z in ('dir /s /b /a-d') do ( set /a counter=1 set "yes=no" for /f "usebackq delims=" %%a in ("%%Z") do set last_line=%%a&& set /a counter=counter+1 echo !last_line! | find /I "exit" >nul&& set "yes=yes" if "!yes!" equ "yes" ( break >"%%Z.tmp" for /f "usebackq delims=" %%a in ("%%Z") do ( set /a counter=counter-1 if "!counter!" neq "1" ( endlocal echo %%a | find "ECHO is off.">nul&&echo\>>"%%Z.tmp" echo %%a | find "ECHO is off.">nul||echo %%a>>"%%Z.tmp" ) ) echo "Exit" found in at the end of --%%Z-- copy /y "%%Z.tmp" "%%Z" >nul ) ) endlocal 

change : work and improve a little. Can't handle empty lines, but now it's better.

Answer 5

for sed "only":

 for %i in (*) do @sed -i"%~i.bak" "$ {s/exit/exit/i;/exit/d}" "%~i"