text editing batch file ignors newlines and rows starting with ";"

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Hi all,

I am trying to script a batch for windows to edit a text file in the next manner:

add "Value=2" at the end of a "[Server]" header, and if "Value=*" exists, replace it with the mentioned above.
so that a file that looks like this:
-----------file.txt----------
;comment
;comment

[User]
Bla=a

[Server]
bla=a
Value=1
bla2=b
-----------------------------
will turn out like this:
-----------file.txt----------
;comment
;comment

[User]
bla=a

[Server]
bla=a
bla2=b
Value=2
----------------------------

so far I have gotten close, with:

Quote:

@echo off
SETLOCAL=ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION

for /f %%a in (file.txt) do (
if NOT %%a!==!Value=1 echo %%a >> file.txt.tmp
if %%a==[Server] echo .Value=2 >> file.txt.tmp
if %%a=="" echo.)
del file.txt
rename file.txt.tmp file.txt

that's not really good enough because it only ignores "Value=1" and not all lines starting with "Value=" and it inserts "Value=2" right beneath "[Server]" which is not what I wanted, but the 2 main problems I have are:

1. it, for some reason, ignores the comment lines starting with ";"
2. it ignores newlines, and huddles it all together. (the last line i've written doesn't work to solve that problem... :\)

seems like a pretty simple task, but it's my first text editing batch ever. any scripting masters kind enough to offer some assistance?

thx,
Ron.

Posted 27-Jan-13 0:14am

Ron Anoshi

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Richard MacCutchan · Answer 1 · 2013-01-27T00:59:00

Solution 1

Try this, it's far from perfect but seems to do most of what you want.

@echo off
SETLOCAL=ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION

set val2="N"
for /f "eol=^" %%a in (file.txt) do (
if NOT %%a!==!Value=1 echo %%a >> file.txt.tmp
if %%a==[Server] set val2="Y"
if %%a=="" echo. >> file.txt.tmp
)
if %val2% == "Y" echo Value=2 >> file.txt.tmp
del file.txt
rename file.txt.tmp file.txt

The "eol=^" stops the parser from treating comment lines (i.e. those beginning with a semi-colon) as blanks. I think the line if %%a=="" echo. >> file.txt.tmp is redundant as the file parser does not return items in blank or comment lines.

Posted 27-Jan-13 0:59am

Richard MacCutchan

Comments

Ron Anoshi 27-Jan-13 7:23am

thanks for the reply.

1. "eol=^" did some good, but some comment rows have a space right after the ";" (I should have been more specific), so now i get something like:
-------file.txt-------
;
;
;comment
----------------------

2. the line is redundant. as i said, it was an attempt to insert a newline which doesn't work. it didn't work in your example either :(

Richard MacCutchan 27-Jan-13 7:37am

1. This is the result that I got with my script (no extra comment lines):


;comment 
;comment 
[User] 
Bla=a 
[Server] 
bla=a 
bla2=b 
Value=2

2. There is no way to identify blank lines as the parser does not return anything for them. You would need to use some other variable (as I have done with val2) to identify when to add them.

Ron Anoshi 27-Jan-13 7:56am

1. your result is correct, but what do you do with a line like:
; comment
(with a space)? that's what i meant...

2. ok, so here's an idea - blank lines come only before a [] header. any ideas on how to identify something of the kind "[Headed]" and how to insert a blank line before it?

much thanks anyway,
ron.

Richard MacCutchan 27-Jan-13 9:05am

1. Add the text delims=^ to the options string in the FOR command so it returns the entire line as the token.

2. I have not managed to figure this one as it would need some way of checking for a substring.

Ron Anoshi 30-Jan-13 3:06am

ok, I eventually wrote it in cpp, because it turns out there's an easy library for that stuff (it's an .ini file), but it was a good tryout and thanks for your help!

ron.

Richard MacCutchan 30-Jan-13 3:31am

I was going to suggest that, but I thought you may have had a specific reason why you had to use the command processor. Anyway, it was a useful exercise for me.