Hi,
I am relatively new to batch files and I hope someone can help me please.
I have a folder which contains 10,000 client files. Each client can have 3 or 4 files. The naming convention for the files is as follows
document_1_client_dd123ccc.doc
document_2_client_dd123ccc.doc
document_3_client_dd123ccc.doc
document_1_client_gg333ddd.doc
document_2_client_gg333ddd.doc etc. etc

I need to attach information regarding these files to a database. At present I run a simple batch file which collects the names of the files into a txt file in the folder. The batch file is as follows,

cd\
cd\MyDir\FolderName
DIR /B "%*"*>C:\"MyDir\FolderName\FileNameList.txt"

The FileNameList.txt file contains all the names of the files as follows.
document_1_client_dd123ccc.doc
document_2_client_dd123ccc.doc
document_3_client_dd123ccc.doc
document_1_client_gg333ddd.doc
document_2_client_gg333ddd.doc

I then LINK the table in the database to the FileNameList.txt file and it works fine.

However to improve this and this is where I need help, I want to extract the client identification part of the file names into a second (comma separated) column in the FileNameList.txt file, which should look like this when it finishes,

document_1_client_dd123ccc.doc, dd123ccc
document_2_client_dd123ccc.doc, dd123ccc
document_3_client_dd123ccc.doc, dd123ccc
document_1_client_gg333ddd.doc, gg333ddd
document_2_client_gg333ddd.doc, gg333ddd

Is this possible? I would really appreciate any help anyone can give me.

Many thanks in advance.

Is this batch file of a database?
If a database, a spreadsheet would be more suitable.Hi Geek-9pm,
Thanks for taking the time to respond to me.
No it is not from a database. It is simply a list of all files in a folder EXTERNAL to a database. However I do use it to link into the database. The database has a linked table in it which LINKS to the external txt file. And you are absolutely POSITIVE that all the files you are putting into your File List conform to this file name format?
document_1_client_dd123ccc.docHi Squashman,

Thank you for responding

Yes, each Client will have a maximum of 4 files associated with their client record. THEREFORE the document identifier ( document_1 ) part of the file name will only ever go as high as "document_4" and the client identifier ( client_dd123ccc ) part of the file name will always remain constant for the individual client. The document extension ".doc" likewiase will also remain constant.

Code: [Select]for /F "tokens=1-4 delims=_" %%G in ('dir /a-d /b *.doc') do (
>>filelist.txt echo %%G_%%H_%%I_%%J,%%~nJ
)Hi Squashman
That worked perfectly. Thank you so much. Really appreciated.Code: [Select]@echo off
(
for /f "tokens=2,4 delims=_" %%a in ('dir /a-d /b *.doc') do echo document_%%a_client_%%b.doc, %%b
)>filelist.txt
Quote from: paultomasi on August 19, 2012, 08:57:12 PM

Code: [Select]@echo off
(
for /f "tokens=2,4 delims=_" %%a in ('dir /a-d /b *.doc') do echo document_%%a_client_%%b.doc, %%b
)>filelist.txt