China DOS Union

Use the for command to extract the output of the following command:

dir "c:\Documents and Settings" /b /d

Thanks, using dir "c:\Documents and Settings" /b /d I can already get the usernames, but how do I use the for command to extract the output of the following command? I tried several times and still couldn't do it. Climbing and all experts, please help again, many thanks!

[ Last edited by superadam on 2007-8-20 at 04:05 PM ]

Just passing by`

[ Last edited by itolaiai on 2007-8-21 at 05:05 PM ]

Basically as the poster above wrote, you can also do it like this:

for /f "usebackq delims=" %i in (`dir /b/d "c:\documents and settings"`) do xcopy /e/i "c:\documents and settings\%i\Favorites" "x:\target"

x:\target means the target directory.

Originally posted by Climbing at 2007-8-21 08:19 AM:
Basically as the poster above wrote, you can also do it like this:

for /f "usebackq delims=" %i in (`dir /b/d "c:\documents and settings"`) do xcopy /e/i "c:\documents and settings\%i\Favori ...

The answer I'm adopting now is as follows:

for /f "usebackq delims=" %i in (`dir /b/d "c:\documents and settings"`) do xcopy /e/i "c:\documents and settings\%i\Favorites" "x:\target"

x:\target means the target directory.

Many thanks to the two posters above for the replies. After using Climbin's method, the problem has been completely solved. But I still have one more question now. May I continue to ask Climbin something? What's the difference in syntax between "usebackq delims=" and "delims="? How should it be explained?

[ Last edited by superadam on 2007-8-21 at 09:31 AM ]

This is how I understand usebackq: use backquotes (`) to enclose the command sequence that will be executed. Under normal circumstances, single quotes (') are used to enclose the command, but sometimes the command arguments need single quotes or double quotes as well (and then it causes confusion between single and double quotes). In that case it's best to use the usebackq parameter, and then use backquotes to enclose the command, so this kind of trouble won't happen.

As for the "delims=" parameter, it is used to specify the string delimiter. The for /f command is mainly used to extract fields from a string. Since there is a distinction between fields, there must be symbols to separate the fields. By default it is space or Tab. You can use delims= to specify the delimiter you want to use, and in this example, of course you do not want to use any delimiter, so delims= is specified as empty.

For this, you can just check Microsoft's for /?. Although its explanation feels rather confusing, after enough time you'll naturally understand it.

Run cmd and enter for /? and you should see something.

Alright, I'll look at the syntax first. If there's anything I don't understand, I'll ask you again~~
Thanks, Climbing, for taking your valuable time to reply. Your reply was really timely, thanks. The problem has been successfully solved. Really, really many thanks!
This thread can be closed now. Please have a moderator close it for me, thanks~~:D

[ Last edited by superadam on 2007-8-21 at 09:35 AM ]