I posted this message earlier today, and it was removed from the forum for some unknown reason... Is there something in this question which is inappropriate??? Here goes again... I am trying to pass a value to a variable in DOS. To wit: SET NS6PATH=dir C:\WINDOWS\Applic~1\Mozilla\Profiles\default /A:D /B ECHO %NS6PATH% echo y | del C:\WINDOWS\Applic~1\Mozilla\Profiles\default\%NS6PATH%\Cache\*.* The purpose here is to empty the Netscape cache on my system quickly and easily; without having to know what the assigned folder is under a new install. I have had to reformat my system more than once over the eons, and take every possible opportunity to streamline the process and learn along the way. However, I am incapable of elucidating the syntax which allows one to pass a string value produced by a command sequence such as "dir C:\WINDOWS\Applic~1\Mozilla\Profiles\default /A:D /B" to a variable. That’s it. If anyone knows the answer to this fundamental DOS question, please let me know how this might be done; and, moderator, please be so kind as to allow this post to remain until answered. Thank you.

it was probably removed because you are using Windows and the command prompt within, ie Netscape is Windows Software. This forum is for Standalone DOS, as per the header: "Below is the Disk Operating System message area. This forum is for all Standalone versions of DOS, not the "DOS" prompt contained inside later versions of Windows."

This is the standalone DOS forum - questions related to 'Windows' DOS etc are sometimes removed, although the standard for doing so has become rather unclear. There is a kind of explanation at the top of the forum page - the programming or specific Windows forum can often be a better option. The value assigned to your variable does not seem appropriate to its placement echo y | del C:\WINDOWS\Applic~1\Mozilla\Profiles\default\%NS6PATH%\Cache\*.* becomes echo y | del C:\WINDOWS\Applic~1\Mozilla\Profiles\default\dir C:\WINDOWS\Applic~1\Mozilla\Profiles\default /A:D /B\Cache\*.* We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true

As jboy says, you don't want "dir c:\ blahblah" in the variable. Seems like you're using this: "dir C:\WINDOWS\Applic~1\Mozilla\Profiles\default /A:D /B" to figure out where the cache is. Study the batch below and tinker with the ATTRIB line so that it puts out JUST ONE line. ::== marcus.bat @echo off :: You need to tailor the line below to suit your directory structure. attrib /d /s c:\cache|find "Profiles">profiles > m.d echo e 100 65 63 68 6F 20 79 7C 64 65 6C 20 >> m.d echo n del-it >> m.d echo rcx >> m.d echo b >> m.d echo w >> m.d echo q debug < m.d > nul copy /b del-it+profiles delcache.bat > nul delcache :: DONE If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2

@franki: I am aware that this is a "Standalone DOS" forum -- the question is about plain DOS syntax; hence the post. @jboy: Thank you for your thoughts. I was aware of the string assignment issue; was able to sort that out during execution with the "ECHO %NS6PATH%" statement. My question surrounded the extraction of the dir string value from "dir C:\WINDOWS\Applic~1\Mozilla\Profiles\default /A:D /B". This line DOES yield forth the neat desired string value when executed. I simply want to grind that value into the "SET NS6PATH" statement. @Mechanix2Go: Thank you for the post. I'll tinker around with your syntax and see what floats to the surface :o) Thanks again. -Marcus

@Mechanix2Go: Thanks again for the work which you did here. I messed around with the attrib line to try and get the whole thing to crank over; but I wasn't able get anywhere. Unfortunately, my first post (which was deleted by someone) had significantly greater detail of the problem which I face here. I think that the solution is much simpler than it might presently appear. When Netscape 6 installs afresh, it places a single default directory of some ad-hoc name at the end of the path "C:\WINDOWS\Applic~1\Mozilla\Profiles\default"; in other words, it will burp up a folder of the name "ahsadjh.slt" or somesuch and drop it in at "C:\WINDOWS\Applic~1\Mozilla\Profiles\default" so that the whole mess becomes "C:\WINDOWS\Applic~1\Mozilla\Profiles\default\ahsadjh.slt". Now, inside this randomly named dir, "ahsadjh.slt", falls the rest of the pathway, "\Cache", within which all of the files reside that I want to quickly access and delete. By running the command line "dir C:\WINDOWS\Applic~1\Mozilla\Profiles\default /A:D /B", the system returns this ad-hoc directory name, "ahsadjh.slt", which gives me the string which I need to plug into the "NS6PATH" variable directly. However, "SET NS6PATH=dir C:\WINDOWS\Applic~1\Mozilla\Profiles\default /A:D /B" will not get the job done for me: All I want to do is simply take the string which the command "dir C:\WINDOWS\Applic~1\Mozilla\Profiles\default /A:D /B" produces and grind that value into "NS6PATH" for the subsequent line to operate on: "echo y | del C:\WINDOWS\Applic~1\Mozilla\Profiles\default\%NS6PATH%\Cache\*.*" When %NS6PATH% contains the retrieved string ahsadjh.slt, the batch operates; and the files in the Cache dir are eliminated. Sorry for any confusion which may have been caused by my foreshortened post after my original missive was pulled...

"I am aware that this is a "Standalone DOS" forum -- the question is about plain DOS syntax; hence the post." It is still Windows 9x MS-DOS Prompt and not MS-DOS6 which was the last Retail version whichever way you look at it is not appropriate for this forum. MS-DOS 6 use 8.3 file names and not shortened ~tilde names.