Counter not incrementing with IF statement inside FOR loop in Windows Batch File

Question

I have a simple FOR loop inside of a batch file I'm creating that isn't quite working the way I'm expecting. The FOR loop iterates through lines of a text file, and on each iteration, I use an IF statement to make a quick comparison on the current line, and do some work if it evaluates to true. Here is the code:

SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
set /a sitecounts=1
set /a input=34
FOR /F "tokens=1,2 delims=^/" %%G IN (file.txt) DO (
IF %sitecounts% == %input% (set /a selectedsitepath=%logfilepath%W3SVC%%H)
set /a sitecounts=!sitecounts!+1
echo !sitecounts!
)

I'm running into a weird issue where, the sitecounts variable (my counter) actually increments properly with each loop (I prove this by echoing out the count with the last statement) -- BUT upon the next iteration %sitecounts% still shows that it has the value of '1', which was the initial value.

If I change the code to:

IF !sitecounts! == ...

...then the IF statement appears to treat that value as pure TEXT! I've set ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION to handle variables within loops, but not sure what to do next. Any help is appreciated!

It might be worth learning PowerShell. Windows BAT files are quite limited. — Eric J.
– Eric J., Commented May 4, 2012 at 17:58
While powershell may be worth learning, Windows batch scripts are easily up to this task. — RobW
– RobW, Commented May 7, 2012 at 22:34

marapet · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-04 21:12:11Z

2

This time I actually tested it....

Change the line

IF %sitecounts% == %input% (set /a selectedsitepath=%logfilepath%W3SVC%%H)

into

IF !sitecounts! == %input% (set selectedsitepath=%logfilepath%W3SVC%%H)

%sitecounts% needs to be !sitecounts! in order to be evaluated
set /a selectedsitepath=%logfilepath%W3SVC%%H doesn't work because it is not a numerical expression:

The /A switch specifies that the string to the right of the equal sign is a numerical expression that is evaluated.

Just omit the switch (/p is not going to work neither, that's for a prompt)

edited May 4, 2012 at 21:12

answered May 4, 2012 at 20:06

marapet

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Steve · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-04 21:30:00Z

0

Probably the error is in this line

IF %sitecounts% == %input% (set /a selectedsitepath=%logfilepath%W3SVC%%H)

you are setting a string not a numeric expression (set /a), then change to

IF !sitecounts! == %input% (set   selectedsitepath=%logfilepath%W3SVC%%H)
   ^          ^                 ^

edited May 4, 2012 at 21:30

answered May 4, 2012 at 20:39

Steve

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2 Comments

marapet Over a year ago

Yes, the switch was the culprit, but replacing it by /p is not the solution: The /P switch allows you to set the value of a variable to a line of input entered by the user. In order to set a variable to a string value, no switch is needed.

Steve Over a year ago

@marapet right, just seen that /a /p in set help and thought that /p was for string. Answer updated

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