I originally posted this as part two in a two part problem but it seems that noone was up to the challenge so I am re-posting this all by itself also because I have changed it just a bit. I am told this is possible but you tell me.... anyone willing to step up to the plate?

within a text file there is a date stamp that I would like to use in a filename. I would like the batch file to open the file (there will be more than one in the directory), find the date stamp (always in the same place) CONVERT the date stamp into a different format and then rename the file with that text. Here is the example:

The File name is alarmlog_01.log thru alarmlog_12.log

First two lines of the first text file(alarmlog_01.log):
INLS_LOS Version 0.38
Fri 31-Mar-2006 14:08:10 System 1 Startup

What I need to happen is:
1- rename the file to 060331_140810_Alarmlog.log
2- check the next file and rename it as well using the date stamp in that file
3- repeat the process until all files have been done
4- if any on the files have the same date stamp, append the second one with an "_A" or "_1" or what ever.

Can you do that?? Super Duper Thanks in Advanced.does the line "system 1 startup" always occur in the line with the date stamp, does it also occur elsewhere in the file"System 1 Startup" always appears on the second line at the end in the same exact location in each file as shown below. "System 1 Startup" ONLY occurs one time during each file. I have included and example of the first few lines from a typical log file.


INLS_CF Version 0.38
Sat 22-Apr-2006 13:55:17 System 1 Startup
Sat 22-Apr-2006 13:55:17 Vessel Configuration changed from -1 to 0
Sat 22-Apr-2006 13:55:19 NMS1: MASTER
Sat 22-Apr-2006 13:55:19 Position: Manual Mode
Sat 22-Apr-2006 13:56:11 Heading: Manual Mode
Sat 22-Apr-2006 13:56:13 Thruster Bow T1: OFF
Sat 22-Apr-2006 13:58:22 Thruster Port Main: OFF
Sat 22-Apr-2006 13:58:54 Thruster Stbd Main: OFF
Sat 22-Apr-2006 14:03:14 Gyro 1: ONLINE


Thanks[size=9]this works in windows xp CMD, i suppose it should work in win2000

you need two batch files

name the 1st file renlog.bat it should contain the following line

@for %%x in (*.log) do call fixx %%x

name the 2nd batch file fixx.bat, its contents should be as follows

@echo off
find /i "system 1 startup" %1|find /i "system">$$$1.bat
echo set date=%%1>Sat.bat
echo set time=%%2>>Sat.bat
echo set dd=%%date:~0,2%%>>Sat.bat
echo set mm=%%date:~3,3%%>>Sat.bat
echo set yy=%%date:~9,2%%>>Sat.bat
echo if %%mm%%#==Jan# set mm=01>>Sat.bat
echo if %%mm%%#==Feb# set mm=02>>Sat.bat
echo if %%mm%%#==Mar# set mm=03>>Sat.bat
echo if %%mm%%#==Apr# set mm=04>>Sat.bat
echo if %%mm%%#==May# set mm=05>>Sat.bat
echo if %%mm%%#==Jun# set mm=06>>Sat.bat
echo if %%mm%%#==Jul# set mm=07>>Sat.bat
echo if %%mm%%#==Aug# set mm=08>>Sat.bat
echo if %%mm%%#==SEP# set mm=09>>Sat.bat
echo if %%mm%%#==Oct# set mm=10>>Sat.bat
echo if %%mm%%#==Nov# set mm=11>>Sat.bat
echo if %%mm%%#==Dec# set mm=12>>Sat.bat
echo set date=%%yy%%%%mm%%%%dd%%>>Sat.bat
echo set hh=%%time:~0,2%%>>sat.bat
echo set mm=%%time:~3,2%%>>sat.bat
echo set ss=%%time:~6,2%%>>sat.bat
echo set time=%%hh%%%%mm%%%%ss%%>>sat.bat
echo set name=%%date%%_%%time%%_Alarmlog.log>>sat.bat
echo if exist %%name%% set name=%%date%%_%%time%%_Alarmlog_1.log>>sat.bat
echo if exist %%name%% set name=%%date%%_%%time%%_Alarmlog_2.log>>sat.bat
echo if exist %%name%% set name=%%date%%_%%time%%_Alarmlog_3.log>>sat.bat
echo if exist %%name%% set name=%%date%%_%%time%%_Alarmlog_4.log>>sat.bat
echo if exist %%name%% set name=%%date%%_%%time%%_Alarmlog_5.log>>sat.bat
echo if exist %%name%% set name=%%date%%_%%time%%_Alarmlog_6.log>>sat.bat
echo if exist %%name%% set name=%%date%%_%%time%%_Alarmlog_7.log>>sat.bat
echo if exist %%name%% set name=%%date%%_%%time%%_Alarmlog_8.log>>sat.bat
echo if exist %%name%% set name=%%date%%_%%time%%_Alarmlog_9.log>>sat.bat
echo ren %1 %%name%%>>sat.bat
echo set yy=>>sat.bat
echo set mm=>>sat.bat
echo set dd=>>sat.bat
echo set hh=>>sat.bat
echo set ss=>>sat.bat
copy Sat.bat Sun.bat>nul
copy Sat.bat Mon.bat>nul
copy Sat.bat Tue.bat>nul
copy Sat.bat Wed.bat>nul
copy Sat.bat Thu.bat>nul
copy Sat.bat Fri.bat>nul
call $$$1.bat
del $$$1.bat
del .bat

place both files in the directory containing the files to be renamed and run renlog.bat

Please post back to tell whether it works[/size]ok I ran it and here is what happened. additionally I did a before and after dir so you could SEE that it seemed to create a few extra files.I have a few additional facts to add they may or may not mean anything, but here they are:

1st - i lied (fibbed actually) about the file names, they are actually AlarmLog_001 (one more leading 0 than I had originally said) but i renamed them for my test.

2nd - there are other files in the directory, i removed them from the directory for my test. they will be there eventually called DataServer_001 thru DataServer_XXX. no action is required for these files.

3rd - after carefull review I noted that there are two spaces between the year and the hour and then again between the second and the System 1 Startup...I however eliminated that space for my test and it did not help.

Fri 31-Mar-2006 16:57:52 System 1 Startup

4th - some of the files have a variation after the INLS_ ....some will be CF and some will be LOS. However, each will be in a seperate directory....there will not be CF & LOS files in the same directory. If that will matter we can just MAKE a seperate routine for each and execute one based upon a known trigger

INLS_CF Version 0.38

== thisbegins my dos session==

C:\xx>dir
Volume in drive C is WT07_MCC
Volume Serial Number is 4CA5-9F13

Directory of C:\xx

05/05/2006 01:58 PM .
05/05/2006 01:58 PM ..
01/02/2002 07:10 AM 9,814 AlarmLog_00.log
01/01/2002 03:07 PM 1,694 AlarmLog_01.log
01/05/2002 06:20 PM 252,694 AlarmLog_02.log
04/27/2006 12:09 PM 65,546 AlarmLog_03.log
05/05/2006 01:53 PM 2,126 fixx.bat
05/05/2006 01:53 PM 109 RENLOG.BAT
6 File(s) 331,983 bytes
2 Dir(s) 15,076,622,336 bytes free

C:\xx>renlog

C:\xx>call fixx AlarmLog_00.log
#==Jan# was unexpected at this time.

C:\xx>dir
Volume in drive C is WT07_MCC
Volume Serial Number is 4CA5-9F13

Directory of C:\xx

05/05/2006 01:59 PM .
05/05/2006 01:59 PM ..
05/05/2006 01:59 PM 45 $$$1.bat
01/02/2002 07:10 AM 9,814 AlarmLog_00.log
01/01/2002 03:07 PM 1,694 AlarmLog_01.log
01/05/2002 06:20 PM 252,694 AlarmLog_02.log
04/27/2006 12:09 PM 65,546 AlarmLog_03.log
05/05/2006 01:53 PM 2,126 fixx.bat
05/05/2006 01:59 PM 1,148 Fri.bat
05/05/2006 01:59 PM 1,148 Mon.bat
05/05/2006 01:53 PM 109 RENLOG.BAT
05/05/2006 01:59 PM 1,148 Sat.bat
05/05/2006 01:59 PM 1,148 Sun.bat
05/05/2006 01:59 PM 1,148 Thu.bat
05/05/2006 01:59 PM 1,148 Tue.bat
05/05/2006 01:59 PM 1,148 Wed.bat
14 File(s) 340,064 bytes
2 Dir(s) 15,076,433,920 bytes free

C:\xx>

== this ends my dos session ==do not modify contents of any of the files
the code depends on the date, time and "system 1 startup" being where they originally are. Without spaces seperating them, the batch will not work. the renaming of files as you have done is needed. the batch will only process files with .log extension

however if this does not solve the problem
it would be because CMD in win 2000 lacks some of the features present in XP
in XP it is possible to get selected characters from a given environmental variable into a new environmental variable.
for eg. set mm=%date:~0,2% would define "mm"" as containing first 2 characters of dateI am using windows XP but it is intended to go on windows 2000.

but let me get this straight...

I am supposed to rename the files only and do not bother anything inside of them. I did this and it did not help.

i tested it on xp and on 2000

i could just zip the whole directory and attach or send it to you. If you would be willing to look at it.fine, send it to meIt is not impossible..you are working in XP i suppose (from the threads) and there are plenty of better scripting tools out there that you can use..i am sure you are not restricted to using them , right? or are you only allowed to use plain batch programming only?
It is much easier to do it in say perl or python (or other scripting languages)
here's one in python..not the best , but it does do what you want, though you should tailor it to your needs if you want to use it.

import os,time
dir_where_file_is = os.path.join("C:\\","directory")
os.chdir(dir_where_file_is)
renamed = "_Alarmlog.log"
for fi in os.listdir(dir_where_file_is):
f = open(fi).readlines()[1].split(' ') #get the second line where it shows "System 1 Startup"
thedate = f[1] #assume same file structures
thetime = f[3] #assume same file structures
year,mth,day = time.strptime(thedate,"%d-%b-%Y")[0:3]
if mth in range(1,9):
mth = "0" + str(mth)
formatteddate = "%s%s%s" % (str(year)[-2:],mth,day)
formatedtime = ''.join(thetime.split(":"))
os.rename(fi,formatteddate + "_" + formatedtime + renamed )i would not know how to modify anything in pyhton...do i have to install additional software on the computers? the basic idea for me is that I have about 35 computers running windows 2000, they are running and allen bradley software that creats a continous log file of events & alarms. I am restricted to a memory stick...I cannot install any sotware on the host computers...i have been using a batch file because that is where I began when all i wanted to do was to copy the alarm files off of the computer, now that i am renaming and quite a few other things maybe i should look elsewhere?

what does anyone think about that?Quote

i would not know how to modify anything in pyhton...do i have to install additional software on the computers? the basic idea for me is that I have about 35 computers running windows 2000, they are running and allen bradley software that creats a continous log file of events & alarms. I am restricted to a memory stick...I cannot install any sotware on the host computers...i have been using a batch file because that is where I began when all i wanted to do was to copy the alarm files off of the computer, now that i am renaming and quite a few other things maybe i should look elsewhere?

what does anyone think about that?