new to batch scripting. would it be possible to have a script that can read a list of file names from a directory and determine if there is a series ie. file1.txt file2.txt then append a line to a configuration file that points to the next file name in the series? like file1.cfg would have the following line added: nextmap file2 --- loosely this will type a list of file names. for %%x in (*.bsp) do echo %%x --- strip file extensions --- look at %current and %next file name --- is it a series --- echo nextmap %next >> %current + .cfg any help will be appreciated, tia background and purpose: Half-Life mod Sven Co-op recent updates to the steam(content distribution system) have uncovered a changelevel bug in the Sven Co-op mod. this bug prevents the server from automaticaly changing to the next map, when a trigger_changelevel is encountered. a workaround is to include a nextmap statement in each maps config file. a script would help to do this for hundreds of maps on hundreds of computers most running xp or xp pro. single or non series maps can be skipped. like auspices.bsp a series would have the cfg files updated. for example, the map series. toonrun1.bsp toonrun2.bsp toonrun3.bsp toonrun1.cfg add nextmap toonrun2 toonrun2.cfg add nextmap toonrun3 toonrun3.cfg no change hostage.bsp hostage2a.bsp hostage2b.bsp afrikakorps1.bsp afrikakorps2.bsp afrikakorps3.bsp this will not fix the half-life single player maps. since the correct sequence cannot be determined by the map name. c1a0c.bsp no change c1a0d.bsp no change c1a4j.bsp no change c1a0c runs after c1a0d in the sequence. It's OK, I've already done them.

here is what I've got. @echo off setlocal enabledelayedexpansion if exist filenames.txt del filenames.txt for %%x in (*.bsp) do echo %%x >>filenames.txt for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%a in (filenames.txt) do ( set txtline=%%a set txtline=!txtline:.bsp=! echo !txtline!>>tmp.txt) del filenames.txt & ren tmp.txt filenames.txt endlocal reads file names from a directory into text file. strips off the file name extension. I don't know how to compare the file names or do sub string manipulation.

this batch script will quickly generate mapnames.txt @echo off if exist mapnames.txt del mapnames.txt @FOR /f "delims=" %%? IN ('DIR/b *.bsp') DO @ECHO/%%~n? >>filenames.txt here I attempt to describe the problem differently. map names are sequential. typically map1 map2 map3, sometimes map map2a map2b map3 made up of a mapname and an extension or modifier as the number and everything following it. ie. map2a is mapname = map plus a modifier = 2a mapnames.txt is sorted directory listing of map names with the .bsp extension stripped. read a line from mapnames.txt mapname = line process mapname one character at a time if a number is found save the number and everything after it. modifier = "whatever" no number found modifier = "" mapname = line - modifier read the nextline from mapnames.txt mapname2 = line process mapname2 one character at a time if a number is found save the number and everything after it. modifier2 = "whatever" no number found modifier2 = "" mapname2 = line - modifier2 if mapname is like mapname2 append one line of text to the file: mapname + modifier + .cfg the line would be: nextmap mapname + modifier2 read the nextline from mapnames.txt mapname3 = line process mapname3 one character at a time if a number is found save the number and everything after it. modifier3 = "whatever" no number found modifier3 = "" mapname3 = line - modifier3 if mapname is like mapname3 append one line of text to the file: mapname + modifier2 + .cfg the line would be: nextmap mapname + modifier3 keep doing this until mapname is not like mapname?n

here is what I've got so far. a little broken when it comes to the odd case hostage hostage2a hostage2b. and for opening the correct file to append a line. any help? Option Explicit Dim objFSO Dim ofolder Dim objStream Dim intCounter Dim arrTestNames () Dim dicBaseNames Dim strBase Dim strName Dim strNumber Dim nUBound Dim arrTemp Dim strOutput Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") 'create the output file Set objStream = objFSO.createtextfile("search.log", True) CheckFolder (objFSO.getfolder(".")), objStream ReDim Preserve arrTestNames (intCounter) FillArray(objFSO.getfolder(".")), objStream, arrTestNames 'Start by making a dictionary of all the base names. The value will be an array of the numerals Set dicBaseNames = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary") For Each strName In arrTestNames strBase = GetBaseName(strName) strNumber = GetSequenceNumber(strName) If dicBaseNames.Exists(strBase) Then nUBound = UBound(dicBaseNames(strBase)) + 1 arrTemp = dicBaseNames(strBase) ReDim Preserve arrTemp(nUBound) arrTemp(nUBound) = strNumber dicBaseNames(strBase) = arrTemp Else dicBaseNames.Add strBase, Array(strNumber) End If Next 'now step through the dictionary using basenames. StepThruDic(objFSO.getfolder(".")), objStream MsgBox "File Search Completed." + vbCr + "Please check search.log for details." Function GetSequenceNumber(strName) Dim oRE Dim colMatches Dim oMatch Set oRE = New Regexp oRE.Pattern = "\D*(\d*)(\D*)" oRE.IgnoreCase = True Set colMatches = oRE.Execute(strName) For Each oMatch In colMatches GetSequenceNumber = oMatch.Submatches(0) Exit Function Next GetSequenceNumber = "" End Function Function GetBaseName(strName) Dim oRE Dim colMatches Dim oMatch Set oRE = New Regexp oRE.Pattern = "(\D*)\d*(\D*)" oRE.IgnoreCase = True Set colMatches = oRE.Execute(strName) For Each oMatch In colMatches GetBaseName = oMatch.SubMatches(0) Exit Function Next GetBaseName = "ERROR" End Function Sub CheckFolder(objCurrentFolder, objLogFile) Dim strTemp Dim strSearch Dim strOutput Dim objNewFolder Dim objFile Dim objStream dim a strSearch = ".bsp" For Each objFile In objCurrentFolder.Files strTemp = Right(objFile.Name, 4) If UCase(strTemp) = UCase(strSearch) Then 'Got one 'a=Split(CStr(objFile.Name),".") intCounter = intCounter + 1 'strOutput = CStr(intCounter) & " " & a(0) 'objLogFile.writeline strOutput End If Next End Sub Sub FillArray(objCurrentFolder, objLogFile, arrTestNames) Dim strTemp Dim strSearch Dim strOutput Dim objNewFolder Dim objFile Dim objStream dim a dim intIndex strSearch = ".bsp" intIndex = 0 For Each objFile In objCurrentFolder.Files strTemp = Right(objFile.Name, 4) If UCase(strTemp) = UCase(strSearch) Then 'Got one a=Split(CStr(objFile.Name),".") 'populate database arrTestNames (intIndex) = a(0) 'strOutput = arrTestNames (intIndex) 'objLogFile.writeline strOutput intIndex = intIndex + 1 End If Next End Sub Sub StepThruDic(objCurrentFolder, objLogFile) Dim strTemp Dim strSearch Dim strOutput Dim objNewFolder Dim objFile Dim objStream dim a dim intIndex dim strName2 dim strBase2 dim strNumber2 dim strName3 dim strBase3 dim strNumber3 dim i For i = 0 to intCounter - 1 strName = arrTestNames(i) strBase = GetBaseName(strName) strNumber = GetSequenceNumber(strName) If strNumber = "" Then strName2 = arrTestNames(i + 1) strBase2 = GetBaseName(strName2) If StrComp(strBase2, strBase) = 0 Then strNumber2 = GetSequenceNumber(strName2) strOutput = "nextmap" & " " & strbase2 & strnumber2 & " " & strname & ".cfg" objLogFile.writeline strOutput End If If strNumber2 = "1" Then strName3 = arrTestNames(i + 2) strBase3 = GetBaseName(strName3) If StrComp(strBase3, strBase) = 0 Then strNumber3 = GetSequenceNumber(strName3) strOutput = "nextmap" & " " & strbase3 & strnumber3 & " " & strname2 & ".cfg" objLogFile.writeline strOutput End If End If End If If strNumber = "1" Then strName2 = arrTestNames(i + 1) strBase2 = GetBaseName(strName2) If StrComp(strBase2, strBase) = 0 Then strNumber2 = GetSequenceNumber(strName2) strOutput = "nextmap" & " " & strbase2 & strnumber2 & " " & strname & ".cfg" objLogFile.writeline strOutput End If If strNumber2 = "2" Then strName3 = arrTestNames(i + 2) strBase3 = GetBaseName(strName3) If StrComp(strBase3, strBase) = 0 Then strNumber3 = GetSequenceNumber(strName3) strOutput = "nextmap" & " " & strbase3 & strnumber3 & " " & strname2 & ".cfg" objLogFile.writeline strOutput End If End If End If Next End Sub

hello, thanks for your help. here is the near final vbscript. it still has a little trouble with some filename series projectg, projectg1 ... project8 does not get the nonnumber one first. tweaked the regex to better split the filenames into character / number parts. found and online regex tester that helped. it is updated to sort the dictionary by the key. and when an item is a number it sorts the rest of the items as numbers. had to include special case stuf to handle names starting with numbers and names that are one number. if anyone is real smart with vbscript. have a look. if not maybe something here will help you. thanks. [code][codebox]Option Explicit Dim objFSO Dim ofolder Dim objStream Dim objStream2 Dim intCounter Dim arrTestNames () Dim dicBaseNames Dim strBase Dim strName Dim strNumber Dim nUBound Dim arrTemp Dim strOutput, a Const dictKey = 1 Const dictItem = 2 Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") 'create the output file Set objStream = objFSO.CreateTextFile("search3.log", True) CheckFolder (objFSO.GetFolder(".")), objStream ReDim Preserve arrTestNames (intCounter) FillArray(objFSO.GetFolder(".")), objStream, arrTestNames Const TextCompare = 1 'Start by making a dictionary of all the base names. The value will be an array of the numerals Set dicBaseNames = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary") dicBaseNames.CompareMode = TextCompare For Each strName In arrTestNames strBase = GetBaseName(strName) strNumber = GetSequenceNumber(strName) 'workaround for single number names. If strbase = "1" Then strbase = "jam" strNumber = "1" End If If strbase = "2" Then strbase = "jam" strNumber = "2" End If If strbase = "3" Then strbase = "jam" strNumber = "3" End If If strbase = "4" Then strbase = "jam" strNumber = "4" End If If strbase = "5" Then strbase = "jam" strNumber = "5" End If If strbase = "6" Then strbase = "jam" strNumber = "6" End If If dicBaseNames.Exists(strBase) Then nUBound = UBound(dicBaseNames(strBase)) + 1 arrTemp = dicBaseNames(strBase) ReDim Preserve arrTemp(nUBound) arrTemp(nUBound) = strNumber dicBaseNames(strBase) = arrTemp Else dicBaseNames.Add strBase, Array(strNumber) End If Next set dicbasenames = SortDictionary(dicBaseNames, dictKey) 'set dicbasenames = sortdict(dicbasenames,objFSO.getfolder("."), objStream) 'step through the dictionary using basenames and numbers to update config files. StepThruDic(objFSO.GetFolder(".")), objStream MsgBox "Series Map Search Completed." + vbCr + "Please check updated map.cfg's." + vbCr + "See search.log for details " + CStr(Date) Function SortDictionary(ByVal objDict, intSort) ' declare our variables Dim strDict() Dim arrTmp() Dim objKey Dim strKey, strItem Dim X, Y, Z, i, j, temp ' get the dictionary count Z = objDict.Count ' we need more than one item to warrant sorting If Z > 1 Then ' create an array to store dictionary information ReDim strDict(Z, 2) X = 0 ' populate the string array For Each objKey In objDict ReDim arrTmp(UBound(objdict(objkey))) For i = 0 To UBound(objdict(objkey)) '- 1 arrTmp(i) = objDict.Item(objKey)(i) Next For i = UBound(objdict(objkey)) - 1 To 0 step -1 For j = 0 To i If objKey <> "c" Then If Len(arrTmp(j)) <> 0 And Len(arrTmp(j + 1)) <> 0 Then If IsNumeric(arrTmp(j)) And IsNumeric(arrTmp(j + 1)) Then If CInt(arrTmp(j)) > CInt(arrTmp(j + 1)) Then Wscript.Echo CStr(Join(arrTmp)) temp = arrTmp(j + 1) arrTmp(j + 1) = arrTmp(j) arrTmp(j) = temp End If End If End If End If Next Next strDict(X, dictKey) = CStr(objKey) strDict(X, dictItem) = CStr(Join(arrTmp)) X = X + 1 Next ' perform a a shell sort of the string array For X = 0 To (Z - 2) For Y = X To (Z - 1) If StrComp(strDict(X, intSort), strDict(Y, intSort), vbTextCompare) > 0 Then strKey = strDict(X, dictKey) strItem = strDict(X, dictItem) strDict(X, dictKey) = strDict(Y, dictKey) strDict(X, dictItem) = strDict(Y, dictItem) strDict(Y, dictKey) = strKey strDict(Y, dictItem) = strItem End If Next Next ' erase the contents of the dictionary object objDict.RemoveAll ' repopulate the dictionary with the sorted information For X = 0 To (Z - 1) objDict.Add strDict(X, dictKey), Split(strDict(X, dictItem)) Next End If Set SortDictionary = objDict End Function Function GetSequenceNumber(strName) Dim oRE Dim colMatches Dim oMatch, I Set oRE = New Regexp 'oRE.Pattern = "\D*(\d*)(.*$)" oRE.Pattern = "[^\D]*\D*(\d*.*$)" oRE.IgnoreCase = True Set colMatches = oRE.Execute(strName) If colMatches.Count > 0 Then Set omatch = colMatches(0) If oMatch.SubMatches.Count > 0 Then For I = 0 To oMatch.SubMatches.Count -1 GetSequenceNumber = GetSequenceNumber & oMatch.SubMatches(I) Next End If Else GetSequenceNumber = "" End If 'For Each oMatch In colMatches ' GetSequenceNumber = oMatch.SubMatches(0) & oMatch.SubMatches(1) ' Exit Function 'Next 'GetSequenceNumber = "" End Function Function GetBaseName(strName) Dim oRE Dim colMatches Dim oMatch, I Set oRE = New Regexp 'oRE.Pattern = "(\D*)\d*" oRE.Pattern = "^(\d*\D*)\d*" oRE.IgnoreCase = True Set colMatches = oRE.Execute(strName) If colMatches.Count > 0 Then Set oMatch = colMatches(0) If oMatch.Submatches.Count > 0 Then For I = 0 To oMatch.SubMatches.Count -1 GetBaseName = GetBaseName & oMatch.SubMatches(I) Next End If End If 'For Each oMatch In colMatches ' GetBaseName = oMatch.SubMatches(0) ' Exit Function 'Next 'GetBaseName = "ERROR" End Function Sub CheckFolder(objCurrentFolder, objLogFile) Dim strTemp Dim strSearch Dim strOutput Dim objNewFolder Dim objFile Dim objStream Dim a strSearch = ".bsp" For Each objFile In objCurrentFolder.Files strTemp = Right(objFile.Name, 4) If UCase(strTemp) = UCase(strSearch) Then intCounter = intCounter + 1 End If Next End Sub Sub FillArray(objCurrentFolder, objLogFile, arrTestNames) Dim strTemp Dim strSearch Dim strOutput Dim objNewFolder Dim objFile Dim objStream Dim a Dim intIndex strSearch = ".bsp" intIndex = 0 For Each objFile In objCurrentFolder.Files strTemp = Right(objFile.Name, 4) If UCase(strTemp) = UCase(strSearch) Then arrTestNames (intIndex) = Split(objFile.Name, ".")(0) intIndex = intIndex + 1 End If Next End Sub Sub StepThruDic(objCurrentFolder, objLogFile) Dim strTemp Dim strSearch Dim strOutput Dim objNewFolder Dim objFile Dim objStream Dim i, j, temp, num1, num2 Dim strNextmap strOutput = "changelevel bug squished. Summary of changes:" objLogFile.WriteLine strOutput For Each strBase in dicBaseNames.Keys For i = 0 To UBound(dicBaseNames(strBase)) - 1 If strbase = "jam" Then strOutput = dicBaseNames(strBase)(i) & ".cfg" objLogFile.WriteLine strOutput strOutput = " nextmap " & dicBaseNames(strBase)(i + 1) objLogFile.WriteLine strOutput 'update the config file. If objFSO.FileExists(dicBaseNames(strBase)(i) & ".cfg") Then objFSO.OpenTextFile(dicBaseNames(strBase)(i) & ".cfg", 8).WriteLine _ vbCrLf & "nextmap " & dicBaseNames(strBase)(i + 1) Else 'create the config file. strTemp = dicBaseNames(strBase)(i) & ".cfg" Set objStream = objFSO.CreateTextFile(strTemp, True) objStream.WriteLine _ "nextmap " & dicBaseNames(strBase)(i + 1) End If Else 'skip c1,c2,c3 series, blank records, special case If strBase <> "c" _ And "nextmap " & strbase & dicBaseNames(strBase)(i) <> "nextmap " Then strNextmap = strbase & dicBaseNames(strBase)(i + 1) If strBase & dicBaseNames(strBase)(i) = "assaultmesa2-2" Then strOutput = strBase & dicBaseNames(strBase)(i + 1) & ".cfg" objLogFile.WriteLine strOutput strOutput = " nextmap " & strBase & dicBaseNames(strBase)(i) objLogFile.WriteLine strOutput If objFSO.FileExists(strBase & dicBaseNames(strBase)(i + 1) & ".cfg") Then objFSO.OpenTextFile(strBase & dicBaseNames(strBase)(i + 1) & ".cfg", 8).WriteLine _ vbCrLf & "nextmap " & strbase & dicBaseNames(strBase)(i) End If Else ' write to the search log. strOutput = strBase & dicBaseNames(strBase)(i) & ".cfg" objLogFile.WriteLine strOutput strOutput = " nextmap " & strNextmap objLogFile.WriteLine strOutput 'update the config file. If objFSO.FileExists(strBase & dicBaseNames(strBase)(i) & ".cfg") Then objFSO.OpenTextFile(strBase & dicBaseNames(strBase)(i) & ".cfg", 8).WriteLine _ vbCrLf & "nextmap " & strbase & dicBaseNames(strBase)(i + 1) Else 'create the config file. strTemp = strBase & dicBaseNames(strBase)(i) & ".cfg" Set objStream = objFSO.CreateTextFile(strTemp, True) objStream.WriteLine _ "nextmap" & " " & strbase & dicBaseNames(strBase)(i + 1) End If End If End If End If Next Next End Sub[/code][/codebox]