hey tech guys, i am working on an batch file, that needs to get the following done: 1. download an txt file from an ftp (easy, already done) 2. open this txt file, look through and delete all rows, next to those, which begin with 7 (changing) digits. anybody an idea? thanks a lot for your efforts datec

"delete all rows, next to those, which begin with 7 (changing) digits" -- do you mean the rows above those that begin with 7 digits? Or the rows below them? What about the rows that begin with 7 digits themselves?

I am sorry... I mean an text file like this: abcdef 875 defghi +abc defghijk defghi 4567890 abc 4673890 important row 12345 cdefghi ijkl ijklmno 1234567 more 2345789 also important row rstuvwx cdefghikj from an text file like this I just want to get the important rows. the rows, that begin with 7 digits. thank you a lot, I know it's difficult!

findstr "^[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]" some.txt Actually, does Win2K have findstr? I forget.

Hi Razor2.3, yep, findstr comes with 2k. ===================================== If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2

hey guys, you're awesome!!! that's great. i'm just asking myself, how to get not just the numbers but also the rest of the row also "echo"ed >> to another txt-file. is there anyway to say like if you findstr "^[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]", than mark whole row and "echo" it out to another file. Thanks a lot for your efforts... datec

findstr "^[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]" some.txt >> another.txt