Windows command working in cmd but not .bat file

Question

I am trying to replace a line in certain files (based on file extension). The program is not working as desired, and the command which is causing issue is the one below.

FOR /F %%k IN ('TYPE !FILE! ^| FINDSTR /N "^"') DO (

This comes back with following error:

FINDSTR: No search strings The process tried to write to a nonexistent pipe.

However, the command itself works as expected when run in command line. I have already spent nearly 1 full day but to no avail. FOR /F %k IN ('TYPE <filename> ^| FINDSTR /N "^"') DO echo(%k

Pointers will be greatly appreciated!

Complete code is provided below for reference.

@echo off
CD data
FOR /F "delims=" %%i IN ('DIR *.ext1 /B') DO (
  SET "FILE=%%i"
  SETLOCAL EnableDelayedExpansion
  echo(!FILE!
  <!FILE! >!FILE!.tmp~ (
    REM Find line number on which Logon command is found
    FOR /F "tokens=1,* delims=: " %%j IN ('FINDSTR /I /N /R "^\.LOGON.*" !FILE!') DO (
      SET "NUM=%%j"
    )
    REM Print all lines along with line number at beginning
    FOR /F %%k IN ('TYPE !FILE! ^| FINDSTR /N "^"') DO (
      SET "LINE=%%k"
      REM Replace entire content of Logon line with Run file command
      FOR /F "tokens=1,* delims=:" %%l IN ("!LINE!") DO IF %%l EQU !NUM! (
        echo(.RUN FILE logon.txt;
      ) ELSE (
        echo(!LINE:*:=!
      )
    )
  )
  MOVE /Y "!FILE!.tmp~" !%FILE!"
  ENDLOCAL
)
CD ..

Answer 1

The problem in the line FOR /F %%k IN ('TYPE !FILE! ^| FINDSTR /N "^"') DO ( is the fact that you have got delayed variable expansion enabled, which also consumes the caret symbol ^ for escaping even when being quoted. Refer also to this post for details: How does the Windows Command Interpreter (CMD.EXE) parse scripts?

To resolve the issue you simply need to double the carets:

FOR /F %%k IN ('TYPE !FILE! ^| FINDSTR /N "^^"') DO (

Note that specifying $ as the search string for findstr skips the last line of the input data in case it is not terminated by a line-break. Also note that $ anchors to the carriage-return character, which is only present in text files with the Windows-style end-of-line marker carriage-return plus line-feed.

---

Anyway, here is a fixed variant of your code, which avoids delayed expansion as long as possible, hence there is actually no need to double the caret symbol:

@echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions DisableDelayedExpansion

rem // It is assumed here that the parent directory of the script is the root location:
pushd "%~dp0data" && (
    for /F "delims=" %%I in ('dir /B /A:-D-H-S "*.ext1"') do (
        set "FILE=%%I"
        echo(%%I
        rem // Here `%%I` is used instead of `!FILE!` since delayed expansion is disabled:
        < "%%I" > "%%I.tmp~" (
            rem // Use right word boundary `\>` in the search string:
            for /F "tokens=1,* delims=:" %%J in ('findstr /I /N /R "^\.LOGON\>" "%%I"') do (
                rem /* Since this loop should iterate once only anyway, the interim variable
                rem    `NUM` is actually not really needed when the remaining code is also
                rem    placed within the loop body: */
                rem set "NUM=%%J"
                rem // At this point delayed expansion is still disabled:
                for /F %%K in ('type "%%I" ^| findstr /N "^"') do (
                    set "LINE=%%K"
                    rem // Here `%%J` is used instead of `!NUM!`:
                    for /F "tokens=1,* delims=:" %%L in ("!LINE!") do if %%L equ %%J (
                        echo(.RUN FILE logon.txt;
                    ) else (
                        rem // This is the only part where delayed expansion is needed:
                        setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
                        echo(!LINE:*:=!
                        endlocal
                    )
                )
            )
        )
        > nul move /Y "%%I.tmp~" "%%I"
    )
    popd
)

endlocal
exit /B

Answer 2

As long as your source run files don't have any lines which begin with a : character, the following may provide an alternative method of performing the task:

@%__AppDir__%where.exe /Q "data":"*.mload" >NUL 2>&1 && (CD "data"
    For /F "EOL=? Delims=" %%H In (
        '%__AppDir__%findstr.exe /IM "\<\.LOGON\>" "*.mload" 2^>NUL'
    ) Do @(Copy /Y "%%H" "%%~nH.tmp~" >NUL && (
                For /F "Tokens=1,* Delims=:" %%I In (
                    '%__AppDir__%findstr.exe /N "^" "%%~nH.tmp~"'
                ) Do @Set /P "=:%%J"<NUL|%__AppDir__%findstr.exe /LIB ":.LOGON " >NUL && (
                        Echo .RUN FILE logon.txt;) || Echo=%%J)>"%%H"
        Del "%%~nH.tmp~" 2>NUL))

Just to be clear, my reading of your requirement is to, replace all lines inside all .mload files within .\data, which begin with the case insensitive string .LOGON , with the line .RUN FILE logon.txt;

Answer 3

Thanks Phil for your suggestion but it did not work.

Oddly, I tried using end of line character $ instead of beginning of line ^ and it seems to have done the trick.

Seems like ^ was being taken as literal, and even escaping it with \ doesn't work as expected.

First Working Solution

FOR /F "delims=" %%i IN ('DIR *.ext1 /B') DO (
  SET "FILE=%%i"
  SETLOCAL EnableDelayedExpansion
  <!FILE! >!FILE!.tmp~ (
    REM Find line number on which Logon command is found
    FOR /F "tokens=1,* delims=:" %%j IN ('FINDSTR /I /N /R "^\.LOGON.*" !FILE!') DO (
      SET "NUM=%%j"
    )
    REM Print all lines along with line number at beginning
    FOR /F "tokens=1,* delims=" %%k IN ('FINDSTR /N "$" !FILE!') DO (
      SET "LINE=%%k"
      REM Replace entire content of Logon line with Run file command
      FOR /F "tokens=1,* delims=:" %%l IN ("!LINE!") DO IF %%l EQU !NUM! (
        echo(.RUN FILE logon.txt;
      ) ELSE (
        echo(!LINE:*:=!
      )
    )
  )
  MOVE /Y !FILE!.tmp~ !FILE!
  echo Auto-generated !FILE!
  ENDLOCAL
)

Revised Working Solution (thanks to aschipfl)

@echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions DisableDelayedExpansion
pushd "%~dp0data" && (
    rem // Loop through all files with .mload file extension:
    for /F "delims=" %%I in ('dir /B /A:-D-H-S "*.mload"') do (
        < "%%I" > "%%I.tmp~" (
            rem // Use beginning of line position with .logon in the search string:
            for /F "tokens=1,* delims=:" %%J in ('findstr /I /N /R "^\.logon" "%%I"') do (
                rem // Use beginning of line position in the search string:
                for /F "delims=" %%K in ('type "%%I" ^| findstr /N "^"') do (
                    rem // Match current line number with previously searched line:
                    for /F "tokens=1,* delims=:" %%L in ("%%K") do if %%L equ %%J (
                        echo(.RUN FILE logon.txt;
                    ) else (
                        echo(%%M
                    )
                )
            )
        )
        > nul move /Y "%%I.tmp~" "%%I"
    )
    popd
)