batch script - run command on each file in directory

Question

I need to convert some xls files into xlsx files. I can successfully convert one xls file into xlsx by running this command into cmd prompt (windows):

ssconvert inputFileName.xls outputFileName.xlsx

(ssconvert is a Gnumeric's command-line utility that can convert between different spreadsheet file formats)

I'd like to write a batch file that FOR EACH file in a specified directory runs the command I wrote above, using the current file name both for input and for output filename.

For example, if I have this set of files:

c:\directory\file1.xls
c:\directory\file2.xls
c:\directory\file3.xls

the output should be

c:\directory\file1.xlsx
c:\directory\file2.xlsx
c:\directory\file3.xlsx

so the batch pseudo code should be something like

directory = c:\directory\
for (fileName in directory)
    ssconvert fileName.xls fileName.xlsx

Can anyone help me?

Does this answer your question? How do you loop in a Windows batch file? — bobobobo
– bobobobo, Commented Dec 19, 2021 at 2:33

Fortranner · Accepted Answer · 2020-01-15 23:41:01Z

72

for /r %%v in (*.xls) do ssconvert "%%v" "%%vx"

a couple have people have asked me to explain this, so:

Part 1: for /r %%v in (*.xls)

This part returns an array of files in the current directory that have the xls extension. The %% may look a little curious. This is basically the special % character from command line as used in %PATH% or %TEMP%. To use it in a batch file we need to escape it like so: %%PATH%% or %%TEMP%%. In this case we are simply escaping the temporary variable v, which will hold our array of filenames.

We are using the /r switch to search for files recursively, so any matching files in child folders will also be located.

Part 2: do ssconvert "%%v" "%%vx"

This second part is what will get executed once per matching filename, so if the following files were present in the current folder:

c:\temp\mySheet.xls, c:\temp\mySheet_yesterday.xls, c:\temp\mySheet_20160902.xls

the following commands would be executed:

ssconvert "c:\temp\mySheet.xls" "c:\temp\mySheet.xlsx" ssconvert "c:\temp\mySheet_yesterday.xls" "c:\temp\mySheet_yesterday.xlsx" ssconvert "c:\temp\mySheet_20160902.xls" "c:\temp\mySheet_20160902.xlsx"

edited Jan 15, 2020 at 23:41

Fortranner

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answered Jan 9, 2013 at 14:43

paul

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10 Comments

Brad Irby Over a year ago

I could not get it to work with the /r. Removed that and it was fine.

Sebastian Over a year ago

@BradIrby I've used it to run a jar-Konverter instead of ssconvert and it was working well, so you might had some issues with your dos cmd.exe ;-).

Costin Gușă Over a year ago

remember that if you try from command prompt it works with single percent sign while in a batch(cmd) file it needs the double percent sign!

Tomáš Zato Over a year ago

Why didn't you explain the command so that others like me can make better use of it...?

paul Over a year ago

@Phoenix you could use "%%~nv" to just get the filename without extension

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davestevens · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-16 11:11:10Z

33

Actually this is pretty easy since Windows Vista. Microsoft added the command FORFILES

in your case

forfiles /p c:\directory /m *.xls /c "cmd /c ssconvert @file @fname.xlsx"

the only weird thing with this command is that forfiles automatically adds double quotes around @file and @fname. but it should work anyway

edited Nov 16, 2015 at 11:11

davestevens

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answered Jan 9, 2013 at 15:04

weberik

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1 Comment

phflack Over a year ago

Note that the quotes may mess with other commands, but can be removed

Loïc MICHEL · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-09 14:42:40Z

18

you can run something like this (paste the code bellow in a .bat, or if you want it to run interractively replace the %% by % :

for %%i in (c:\directory\*.xls) do ssconvert %%i %%i.xlsx

If you can run powershell it will be :

Get-ChildItem -Path c:\directory -filter *.xls | foreach {ssconvert $($_.FullName) $($_.baseName).xlsx }

answered Jan 9, 2013 at 14:42

Loïc MICHEL

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2 Comments

CashCow Over a year ago

Does the first command work as %%i already has .xls extension so you'll be converting to .xlsxlsx

Wodzu Over a year ago

What if my directory has a space character in it. How to handle that?

Rishikesh Ayre · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-10 05:27:49Z

0

I am doing similar thing to compile all the c files in a directory.
for iterating files in different directory try this.

set codedirectory=C:\Users\code
for /r  %codedirectory% %%i in (*.c) do 
( some GCC commands )

answered Oct 10, 2017 at 5:27

Rishikesh Ayre

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