Batch / Find And Edit Lines in TXT file

Question

I want to create a batch while which finds specific lines in a batch file and are able to edit these lines.

Example:

//TXT FILE//

ex1
ex2
ex3
ex4

i want to let the batch file find 'ex3' and edit this to 'ex5' to let it look like this:

ex1
ex2
ex5
ex4

Solution 1

On a native Windows install, you can either use batch(cmd.exe) or vbscript without the need to get external tools. Here's an example in vbscript:

Set objFS = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
strFile = "c:\test\file.txt"
Set objFile = objFS.OpenTextFile(strFile)
Do Until objFile.AtEndOfStream
    strLine = objFile.ReadLine
    If InStr(strLine,"ex3")> 0 Then
        strLine = Replace(strLine,"ex3","ex5")
    End If 
    WScript.Echo strLine
Loop    

Save as myreplace.vbs and on the command line:

c:\test> cscript /nologo myreplace.vbs  > newfile
c:\test> ren newfile file.txt

Solution 2

There is no search and replace function or stream editing at the command line in XP or 2k3 (dont know about vista or beyond). So, you'll need to use a script like the one Ghostdog posted, or a search and replace capable tool like sed.

There is more than one way to do it, as this script shows:

@echo off
    SETLOCAL=ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION

    rename text.file text.tmp
    for /f %%a in (text.tmp) do (
        set foo=%%a
        if !foo!==ex3 set foo=ex5
        echo !foo! >> text.file) 
del text.tmp

Solution 3

ghostdog74's example provided the core of what I needed, since I've never written any vbs before and needed to do that. It's not perfect, but I fleshed out the example into a full script in case anyone finds it useful.

'ReplaceText.vbs

Option Explicit

Const ForAppending = 8
Const TristateFalse = 0 ' the value for ASCII
Const Overwrite = True

Const WindowsFolder = 0
Const SystemFolder = 1
Const TemporaryFolder = 2

Dim FileSystem
Dim Filename, OldText, NewText
Dim OriginalFile, TempFile, Line
Dim TempFilename

If WScript.Arguments.Count = 3 Then
    Filename = WScript.Arguments.Item(0)
    OldText = WScript.Arguments.Item(1)
    NewText = WScript.Arguments.Item(2)
Else
    Wscript.Echo "Usage: ReplaceText.vbs <Filename> <OldText> <NewText>"
    Wscript.Quit
End If

Set FileSystem = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Dim tempFolder: tempFolder = FileSystem.GetSpecialFolder(TemporaryFolder)
TempFilename = FileSystem.GetTempName

If FileSystem.FileExists(TempFilename) Then
    FileSystem.DeleteFile TempFilename
End If

Set TempFile = FileSystem.CreateTextFile(TempFilename, Overwrite, TristateFalse)
Set OriginalFile = FileSystem.OpenTextFile(Filename)

Do Until OriginalFile.AtEndOfStream
    Line = OriginalFile.ReadLine

    If InStr(Line, OldText) > 0 Then
        Line = Replace(Line, OldText, NewText)
    End If 

    TempFile.WriteLine(Line)
Loop

OriginalFile.Close
TempFile.Close

FileSystem.DeleteFile Filename
FileSystem.MoveFile TempFilename, Filename

Wscript.Quit

Solution 4

If you are on Windows, you can use FART (Find And Replace Text). It is only 1 single *.exe file (no library needed).

All you need to is run:

fart.exe your_batch_file.bat ex3 ex5

Solution 5

@echo off
set "replace=something"
set "replaced=different"

set "source=Source.txt"
set "target=Target.txt"

setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
(
   for /F "tokens=1* delims=:" %%a in ('findstr /N "^" %source%') do (
      set "line=%%b"
      if defined line set "line=!line:%replace%=%replaced%!"
      echo(!line!
   )
) > %target%
endlocal

Source. Hoping it will help some one.

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