How to add empty space using batch script?

Question

Is there any way to loop a text file which will add a EMPTY SPACE in front of each line?

commit.txt

commit c9bee
Merge: 7db
Author: TOM
Date:   Fri Mar 13

Author: TIM

output.txt

 commit c9bee
 Merge: 7db
 Author: TOM
 Date:   Fri Mar 13

 Author: TIM

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

1

-Editing here to mention escaping the space is not required, you can use ECHO 1 to get a (space)1.

Try escaping the space using ^

For example:

C:\Scripts>echo ^ string

string

C:\Scripts>echo string

string

-edit, this is what happens when you rush and don't read the question fully!

Try this:

C:\Scripts>for /f %a in (input.txt) do echo ^ %a

C:\Scripts>echo  test1
 test1
C:\Scripts>echo  test2
 test2

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

1
1

answered Mar 16 '15 at 20:39

user4317867

2,397
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Thanks for the quick reply, but i think syntax should be --> for /f "delims=" %a in (commit.txt) do echo ^ %a. For empty line i'm having same issue "ECHO is on." seen. – Mihir Mar 17 '15 at 13:12
for /f "delims=" %i in (file) do @echo. %i will fix empty line issue. – Mihir Mar 17 '15 at 13:35
Try this [post](http://stackoverflow.com/a/24289027/4317867) which uses `FindStr /v` to skip blank lines. – user4317867 Mar 17 '15 at 21:19

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 16 '15 at 20:41

1

Here's one solution:

for /f "delims=" %i in (file) do @echo  %i

Note that you must double the percents if you use this in a script (as opposed to interactive usage).

answered Mar 16 '15 at 20:41

bgoldst

34,190
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thanks for quick reply, your one liner works well. But, if there are any empty line in between, it says "ECHO is on." – Mihir Mar 17 '15 at 13:10
for /f "delims=" %i in (file) do @echo. %i will fix empty line issue. – Mihir Mar 17 '15 at 13:34

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 16 '15 at 20:50

try this. This "overwrites" the original file.If you want to keep the name as output.txt just comment out the call to Overwriteoriginal

@echo off

REM makes sure the user passed in a file name
if [%1]==[] (
    echo Must pass in a file name
) else (
    Call:AddSpaceToEveryLine %1

    Call:OverwriteOriginal %1

    echo processed %1
)

GoTo:EOF

:OverwriteOriginal 
    REM overwrites original file with spaced file
    del %1

    rename output.txt %1
GoTo:EOF

:AddSpaceToEveryLine
    REM there is actually one space after the equals sign
    set space= 
    for /f "tokens=*" %%a in (%1) do (
      echo %space%%%a >> output.txt
    )
GoTo:EOF

thanks for quick reply. But, if there are any empty line in between, it says "ECHO is off." — Mihir, Mar 17 '15 at 13:19

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited Mar 03 '20 at 17:36

It can be done very easily and you don't need a for loop for it. Just declare a variable and and at the end of of your code just to do echo with the declared variable few times to your output file. In this case, I am sending to a file called c:\sample.txt. Here is an example:

@echo off

set blank=

:: Your main code goes here

echo. %blank% >> c:\sample.txt
echo. %blank% >> c:\sample.txt
echo. %blank% >> c:\sample.txt

echo. Author: TIM >> c:\sample.txt

How to add empty space using batch script?

4 Answers4