Hi all, I have been having problems writing a batch file to automate a process at work... Basically we have provided a folder for users to paste Lotus Notes archive .nsf files into which will be copied into another secure folder on a server every second to form an archive. Naming conventions mean that every file should have a unique name but we all know thats not going to happen! My aim is to construct a batch file that will copy the file to the folder on the server and rename the file from x.nsf to date+time_x.nsf I can get the files to transfer between folders no problem but whatever i do i just can't get them to rename This should at least give me a unique file name and a fighting chance of tracking down archives which users haven't named correctly. I am in Europe but not fussed what format or order the date/time is in the file name. Anyone point me in the right direction?

You could generate random names. copy d:\src\x.nsf s:\dest\%random%-x.nsf with some error checking. =================== To stamp with date/time, this bat will get YYYYMMDD via BIOS and is independent of region/langiafe etc. http://golden-triangle.com/YMD8BAT.ZIP To get the time into var, my time output is: 18:28:57.13 so I would: ::== mytime.bat @echo off setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion set mytime=%time:~,2%%time:~3,2%%time:~6,2%%time:~9,2% echo !mytime! :== ===================================== If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2

Cheers, I like the random names idea. I can always find the date/time by looking at the properties. One last thing, when i use the random name generator for say bookmark.nsf it names the file 29171-rk.nsf. Is there a way to keep the file 29171-bookmark.nsf so if anybody follows the naming convention i will be able to quickly see who its is: 44561-SJones.nsf etc. Here is how i have it coded: xcopy c:\test1\*.nsf c:\test2\%random%-*.nsf (If i just used the copy command it would only give me a 1Kb file the xcopy gives me the full thing)

"xcopy c:\test1\*.nsf c:\test2\%random%-*.nsf (If i just used the copy command it would only give me a 1Kb file the xcopy gives me the full thing)" There's something goofy going on. No reason for COPY to shorten a file. And when I do this: C:\temp\d10\wipe\no2blank>xcopy *.bat x\%random%-*.bat img.bat 20208-*.bat Could not expand second file name so as to match first ===================================== If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2