Windows console: Print repeated string to file

Question

Is there a way I can port this:

printf '=%.0s' {1..100} > file.txt

from bash to the cmd console?

To see what the code above does look here.

I can think of a few workarounds with variables and for-loops but I hoped for a quick and easy solution that doesn't require an the "-v" option set for the cmd in question (the shell is opened by make so as far as I know you can't specify the "-v" option).

I'm ashamed to say I'm not terribly familiar with bash. What does the code do? — SomethingDark, Dec 22 '14 at 18:03
Alright, string of one hundred equals signs with no terminating newline character. Got it. There's definitely a way to do this in batch, I just need to find the snippet... — SomethingDark, Dec 22 '14 at 18:14
@WorldSEnder Does it absolutely **have** to be the = symbol? For some reason, the snippet I'm using doesn't like displaying them, but I can do a - if that's acceptable. — SomethingDark, Dec 22 '14 at 18:28
It does not have to be displayed as long as it is written to the file, but yes, it has to be an `=`-symbol. Don't mind and submit it though, I may find a workaround myself. — WorldSEnder, Dec 22 '14 at 18:30
You could `>file.txt echo ====================================================================================================` — rojo, Dec 22 '14 at 18:45
@WorldSEnder What is this being used for? I've managed to display 100 = symbols to the command line, but if you open the file in a text editor, you can see that I achieved it by printing `.=` 100 times. — SomethingDark, Dec 22 '14 at 20:24

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 22 '14 at 18:35

1

There's no easy way to simulate printf with batch. PowerShell does offer similar functionality using composite strings though. So, invoking PowerShell, your printf command becomes this:

powershell -command "'='*100" > file.txt

edited Dec 22 '14 at 18:35

WorldSEnder

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answered Dec 22 '14 at 18:21

rojo

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Not quite what I want, but easily modifiable to that. You may want to read through bash's printf again :D – WorldSEnder Dec 22 '14 at 18:28
lol OK. Yeah, I just ssh'd into my Linux box to test your command and discovered how embarrassingly wrong that was. :) Thank you for the edit. – rojo Dec 22 '14 at 18:38

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 22 '14 at 18:35

For some reason, I'm having a hard time printing the = symbol, but otherwise, this prints 100 - characters and no terminating newline character. I'll keep looking to see if there's a workaround.

@echo off

(
    for /L %%A in (1,1,100) do (
        <nul set/p =-
    )
)>file.txt

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 22 '14 at 20:36

In the interest of thoroughness, here's another possibility. It's a two-liner, though. Still, if you're benchmarking, I think it'll have a speed advantage over the powershell solution.

set /p "=for(i=100;i--;)WSH.StdOut.Write('=')"<NUL>tmp.js
>file.txt cscript /nologo tmp.js && del tmp.js

Or, in for a penny, in for a pound I guess. Create repeat.js as follows:

for (i=WSH.Arguments(1); i--; ) {
    WSH.StdOut.Write(WSH.Arguments(0));
}

Then call it as cscript /nologo repeat.js "=" 100 >file.txt whenever needed.

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 22 '14 at 18:28

0

with a little trick, FBnerFP's answer does, what you want:

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set "x="
for /l %%i in (1,1,100) do set x=!x!=
echo %x%

Note: a forvariable (x is a one-digit-name. %variable won't work.

Note: for use at the command prompt write %i instead of %%i in batch files

answered Dec 22 '14 at 18:28

Stephan

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That requires having started the cmd with cmd -v, as explained this is not possible. Or I would have to create a bashscript to call, which seems like too much overhead for such a simple task... I'll consider it. – WorldSEnder Dec 22 '14 at 18:29
2

ahhmmm - no. Either `/v` or `setlocal enabledelayedexpansion` – Stephan Dec 22 '14 at 18:48

score -1 · Answer 5 · edited Dec 22 '14 at 18:37

-1

See For /l.

FOR /L %variable IN (start,step,end) DO command [command-parameters]

The set is a sequence of numbers So (1,1,5) would generate the sequence (5 4 3 2 1)

edited Dec 22 '14 at 18:37

Nick Dickinson-Wilde

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answered Dec 22 '14 at 18:08

FBnerFP

1

How does that help? echo will append a newline even when I append that to the file. Please explain a bit more – WorldSEnder Dec 22 '14 at 18:09
`>>` appends while `>` overwrites. If you don't specify your actual problem you won't get useful answers. – FBnerFP Dec 22 '14 at 18:11

Windows console: Print repeated string to file

5 Answers5