Hey, I need help making a batch file that searches the computer for certain filenames, someone helped me make this so far, @echo off if exist C:\kresults.txt del /q C:\kresults.txt FOR %%G IN ( abc 123 tree ) DO ( echo Searching for %%G dir C:\*.* /L /A /B /S|Find "%%G" >> C:\kresults.txt ) If not exist C:\kresults.txt echo "Files not found" >> C:\kresults.txt start notepad C:\kresults.txt exit this works but how can I do this, How can I make it search only in folders with a certain name(s), like "Cheese" Thank you

[edit: small fixes to the script] I made a few improvements..... @ECHO OFF SET FLNM= SET DRV= SET DIRS= :NAME CLS SET /P FLNM=INPUT [A] FILENAME[S] TO SEARCH FOR SEPERATED BY [A] COMMA[S]. DO NOT CONTAIN ANY FILE NAMES IN "QUOTES", ^ EVEN IF THEY CONAIN SPACES. IF THE FILE NAME[S] CONTAINS [A] SPACE[S] SOME FALSE POSITIVES MAY BE RETURNED. RESULTS WILL ^ ONLY BE RETURNED FROM THE DRIVE[S] AND DIRECTOR[Y/IES] SPECIFIED IN THE NEXT STEPS. IF NOT DEFINED FLNM GOTO NAME IF /I "%FLNM%"=="/Q" GOTO :EOF SET FLNM=%FLNM: =.% :DV CLS SET /P DRV=INPUT THE LETTER[S] OF THE DRIVE[S] YOU WANT SEARCHED, USE THE LETTER ONLY DON'T INCLUDE THE COLON ":". ^ SEPERATE EACH LETTER BY A COMMAS, THEN PRESS ENTER. IF NOT DEFINED DRV GOTO DV IF EXIST KRESULTS.TXT DEL KRESULTS.TXT CLS SET /P DIRS=INPUT THE DIRECTORY/FOLDER NAMES YOU WOULD LIKE RESULTS RETURNED FROM. SEPERATED EACH ENTRY WITH A COMMA. DO ^ NOT CONTAIN ANY DIRECTORY/FOLDER NAMES IN "QUOTES", EVEN IF THEY CONAIN SPACES. DIRECTORY/FOLDER NAMES THAT CONTAIN [A] ^ SPACE[S] MAY CAUSE SOME FALSE POSITIVES. RESULTS FROM ALL DIRECTORYS WITH THIS NAME CONTAINED WITHIN THE SPECIFIED DRIVE[S] ^ WILL BE RETURNED. IF YOU WANT RESULTS RETURNED FROM [ALL OF] THE DRIVE[S] SELECTED IN THE LAST STEP DON'T ENTERING ANYTHING. ^ AFTER YOU HAVE ENTERED ANY DESIRED FOLDER/DIRECTORY NAME[S] PRESS ENTER TO CONTINUE. IF DEFINED DIRS SET DIRS=%DIRS: =.% FOR %%D IN (%DRV%) DO ( FOR %%G IN (%FLNM%) DO ( IF DEFINED DIRS (FOR %%C IN (%DIRS%) DO (DIR %%D:\ /L /B /S|FINDSTR /I /E \%%C.\%%G>>KRESULTS.TXT)) ELSE (^ DIR %%D:\ /L /B /S|FINDSTR /I /E \%%G>>KRESULTS.TXT) ) ) CALL :ZEROBYTE KRESULTS.TXT IF NOT EXIST KRESULTS.TXT ECHO:"FILES NOT FOUND">>KRESULTS.TXT START NOTEPAD KRESULTS.TXT EXIT /B :ZEROBYTE IF %~Z1==0 DEL KRESULTS.TXT GOTO :EOF This one will return a few false positives, for example say you have three files "txt file.txt", "txttfile.txt" "txtyfileytxt" they would all get pulled up by searching for "txt.file.txt". This happens because findstr treats "." as a wild card meaning it can be any character. I think it shouldn't cause much if any trouble unless you have a lot of files with sequenced names and your searching for one of them. It will also be touchy about certain characters(but so would yours). It's probably not as efficient as it could be but it was still quite fast for me, so I didn't bother optimising. Note: the carat's at the ends of a few of the lines in the script are to keep the page from stretching too much, it still works with them there but they can safley be removed provided that the line break folowing them is also removed.

Hi, I am also trying to do the same thing. But instead of entering the filename to search for, can the batch read a list of filenames from a .txt file? So I can search for 30 files in one go. Thank you,

Just remove the set /p flnm=<all of this text> statment and change this: FOR %%G IN (%FLNM%) DO ( to: FOR /F "DELIMS=" %%G IN (YOURTEXTFILE) DO ( File names with spaces need special care as always......

Hi, Works just as I expected. I can't believe that such an easy tool is so hard to find on the net. All I was able to find, where tools that search FOR a list of strings IN multiple files... Thanks a lot.

sorry to intrude but I have a question about the carat's that isn't worth a new thread. So the carat lets you take a really long line and break it to multiple lines? Cause I've been wondering how to do that, since I have some annoyingly long lines for program settings.

pball, Yes I do remember your thread, it's something I have picked up since then. It does work, but it can be a little touchy, it doesn't like certain characters starting the new line(like the left barchet "(") and I think there in a limit of something like four or five per line. I'm also not sure if it works with every command, I'm very new to it. If you use it it may cause you to tear out your hair a little. I wrote the above batch with long lines, got it working, then used the carats before a final test then posting. The carats didn't work first time....