There's a problem I'm having trying to automate the process of grepping proxy files. Currently my string looks like this. @echo off set /P %%G=Please Enter Date to Grep e.g. "*mmdd*": gzip.exe -v -c -d d:\logs\%%G.gz | perl ack.pl -i -h "phrase_to_grep" > "logs/%date%_filename.txt" I'm trying to figure out a way to prompt the user for what files they want to search for based on date. As you can see I attempted to use %%G for my variable after it's set. Although, it doesn't recognize it because it's being used in the dir path. Any suggestions?

You are using the variables wrong. Untested @echo off set /P var=Please Enter Date to Grep e.g. "*mmdd*": gzip.exe -v -c -d d:\logs\%var%.gz | perl ack.pl -i -h "phrase_to_grep" > "logs/%date%_filename.txt"

You must set an environment variable. e.g. myVar, not an internal one as %%G as they are absolutely different animals. So code set /P myVar=... and then refer to the value entered as %myVar%. More %date% is not suitable "as is" to be part of a pathname/filename. As date format is country dependent post what you gei by typing at prompt echo.%date%

I figured it was something small like that. Thanks guys.