hi i'm getting crazy with this matter... i would want to make a file batch that could search for a specific file (for example a file named abc.dat) and then assign to a variable the path of that file or could only go to to the directory containing it. It should be great to restrict search to one level subdirectory only... i know that there was an utility called "berkfind" that was able to do exactly this, but it is not compatible with Windows XP. ps: sorry if my english sucks but it's not my main language...

@echo off setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion for /f "tokens=* delims= " %%a in ('dir/s/b/a-s c:\temp\abc.dat') do ( set var=%%~DPa echo the path to abc.dat is !var! ) ===================================== If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2

mitico! :-) i had to delete the string "c:\temp\" leaving only 'dir/s/b/a-s abc.dat' and it's ok!! thanks! do you have any idea on how limit the search in the subdir to only the first level?

I think you mean that if the tree is: S:\MY ├───a │ ├───1 │ └───2 └───b ├───1 └───2 [that got trashed as usual] I think you want to start at MY and check a and b but NOT 1 and 2. Is that right? ===================================== If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2

exactly do you know how to make it?

:: find abc.dat in a tree, one level down @echo off setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion pushd s:\my for /f "tokens=* delims= " %%a in ('dir/b/ad ') do ( pushd %%a for /f "tokens=* delims= " %%a in ('if exist abc.dat dir/b abc.dat') do ( set var=%%~DPa ) popd ) echo the path to abc.dat is !var! ===================================== If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2

thanks a lot, it's perfect!