DOS BAT file equivalent to Unix basename command?

Question

Is there an easy way to get to the basename (file name without extension) of a DOS file name using the DOS BAT command language?

I agree: format c:\ is probably a good start, followed by a bootable Linux CD (assuming these antique machines have a CD reader - not a given). But let's pretend that we only have DOS... (That means: not Windows - not even Windows 3.1, let alone Windows 95, 98, NT, ME, XP, Vista, 7, etc.)

`basename` retains the file extentsion. I.e. `/home/user/Desktop/test.txt' becomes 'test.txt'. Is that the functionality you want, or do you just want 'test'? — eldarerathis, Aug 08 '10 at 02:35
@eldarerathis: The Unix `basename` command can remove an extension: `basename /some/where/file.txt .txt` yields `file`, which is the desired result. The extension in question is known. — Jonathan Leffler, Aug 08 '10 at 03:52
@Johannes - I would have accepted your edits if you had left DOS in the verbiage. It is a crucial part of the context AFAIAC; it is about DOS, not Windows. — Jonathan Leffler, Aug 09 '10 at 13:17
Eek, sorry, misread :-( I apologize. Might be that I'm a bit overzealous by now on the whole DOS issue. Though I wonder why you accepted that answer then, as it clearly won't work in DOS. — Joey, Aug 09 '10 at 13:24
@Johannes: I accepted the answer because I don't have DOS to work on. I need to think what to do now that I know from Frank, on whose behalf I effectively asked the question, that it is an extension in the more recent Windows (maybe XP) versions of cmd.exe. The original question was also not rigorous enough in excluding any form of Windows. — Jonathan Leffler, Aug 09 '10 at 13:30
@JonathanLeffler, belated thanks for asking this question on my behalf. However, I finally moved away from Real Mode DOS to Windows and using PowerShell and vb.net for scripting. The Windows cmd.exe CLI does support legacy DOS batch scripts, but you can do so much more with DotNet and PS. — Joe R., Nov 11 '21 at 20:22

score 56 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 02 '21 at 09:10

56

For command-line

for /F %i in ("c:\foo\bar.txt") do @echo %~ni

For .bat Files

for /F %%i in ("c:\foo\bar.txt") do @echo %%~ni

output: bar

If the path contains a space, add in "delims=" like so:

for /F "delims=" %i in ("c:\foo\bar baz.txt") do @echo %~ni

output: bar baz

(Further Reading: http://www.computerhope.com/forhlp.htm )

edited Nov 02 '21 at 09:10

Sophie Gage

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answered Aug 08 '10 at 02:55

hobodave

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I tried: FOR %%f IN (*.DAT) DO bcheck -y %%~nf in my FIX.BAT script, but it didn't work!.. ~n is a FOR extension available only with WinXP cmd.exe command interpreter. I'm running native DOS 6.22 command.com which doesn't support ~ extensions. See my previous posting: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3429032/how-can-i-supress-filename-extensions-at-the-command-line-interpreter-and-batch-f – Joe R. Aug 08 '10 at 05:07
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`for /F %i in ("c:\foo\bar space.txt") do @echo %~ni` outputs "bar", how could I get the "bar space.txt"? – Ciantic Oct 21 '10 at 19:34
@Ciantic: By reading the link in my answer. Or by asking a question in the appropriate fashion. – hobodave Oct 21 '10 at 19:36
Oh I was not meant to be rude, I have been reading the link. I cannot understand how I can make the spaces in filename work, if not by quoting it? – Ciantic Oct 21 '10 at 19:49
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Answer to my question is `for /F "delims=" %i in ("c:\foo\bar space.txt") do @echo %~ni` produces "bar space" – Ciantic Oct 21 '10 at 19:54
how set it to variable? – T.Todua Mar 06 '19 at 07:06
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@T.Todua Instead of the `@echo %%~ni`, write `set MY_VAR=%%~ni` – Itay Apr 16 '19 at 11:57

score 45 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

To expand on hobodave's and ars's answers, here's the relevant snippet of help from the for command:

In addition, substitution of FOR variable references has been enhanced.
You can now use the following optional syntax:

    %~I         - expands %I removing any surrounding quotes (")
    %~fI        - expands %I to a fully qualified path name
    %~dI        - expands %I to a drive letter only
    %~pI        - expands %I to a path only
    %~nI        - expands %I to a file name only
    %~xI        - expands %I to a file extension only
    %~sI        - expanded path contains short names only
    %~aI        - expands %I to file attributes of file
    %~tI        - expands %I to date/time of file
    %~zI        - expands %I to size of file
    %~$PATH:I   - searches the directories listed in the PATH
                   environment variable and expands %I to the
                   fully qualified name of the first one found.
                   If the environment variable name is not
                   defined or the file is not found by the
                   search, then this modifier expands to the
                   empty string

The modifiers can be combined to get compound results:

    %~dpI       - expands %I to a drive letter and path only
    %~nxI       - expands %I to a file name and extension only
    %~fsI       - expands %I to a full path name with short names only
    %~dp$PATH:I - searches the directories listed in the PATH
                   environment variable for %I and expands to the
                   drive letter and path of the first one found.
    %~ftzaI     - expands %I to a DIR like output line

In the above examples %I and PATH can be replaced by other valid
values.  The %~ syntax is terminated by a valid FOR variable name.
Picking upper case variable names like %I makes it more readable and
avoids confusion with the modifiers, which are not case sensitive.

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 25 '17 at 15:58

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Full-working solution (even when path contains spaces)

in .bat files

for /F "delims=" %%i in (%FILE_path%) do @echo "%%~ni"

in command-prompt use % instead of %%

(thanks to @Ciantic)

answered Nov 25 '17 at 15:58

T.Todua

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score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 17 '11 at 23:24

I understand that the answer "you can't" is not good enough. So, if it really /has/ to be done in Real Mode DOS, then get the 4DOS command shell and accompanying programs and use it instead of COMMAND.COM

http://www.4dos.info/v4dos.htm

I haven't used it in years, but it was always /far/ better than COMMAND.COM If you search this page: http://www.4dos.info/4batfaq.htm for "basename" you will see there is a Real Mode DOS answer to your problem if using 4DOS /instead/ of COMMAND.COM

The only other solution path I can think of is to find or write a Real Mode .exe that performs basename.

COMMAND.COM, even in DOS 6.22 with all its supporting external commands, was always an incredibly crippled system for scripts/batch files. Note that the MinGW32 command line progs will be of no help. All that stuff is for Protected Mode (32 bit Windows). If you try it in DOS you'll just get the cryptic "This program cannot be run in DOS mode." or something similar.

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 19 '14 at 18:54

Based on the accepted answer from hobodave here is how you can use the command to set a variable in a batch file:

for /F %%i in ("%1") do @set FN=%%~nxi

It uses the first command line argument %1, and sets the variable FN equal to the basename (file.txt for example).

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 08 '10 at 02:46

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Also, the MKS Toolkit has a basename util...

http://www.mkssoftware.com/docs/man1/basename.1.asp

answered Aug 08 '10 at 02:46

shawndumas

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This was discussed...as you can imagine, those who still insist on DOS also insist on no MKS. – Jonathan Leffler Aug 08 '10 at 03:55

Joe R. · Answer 7 · 2011-01-20T16:25:15.163

DOS 6.22 does not support %~nI in for batch statements. here's a workaround to the problem I presented in my original question about isql's 4.10 bcheck utility requiring only a basename whereas in isql 2.10 bcheck utility worked with star.star as an argument. I created the following QBASIC program to solve bcheck 4.10 now requiring only a basename to work:

BatFile$ = "CHKFILE.BAT"
        IF INSTR(COMMAND$, "?") > 0 THEN
          PRINT
          PRINT "This program generates a batch file to check Informix files"
          PRINT "  -b  BBBB.BAT    this option is used to change the batch file name"
          PRINT "                  by default the batch file name is CHKFILE.BAT"
          PRINT
          SYSTEM
        END IF
        IF INSTR(COMMAND$, "-B") > 0 THEN
          BatFile$ = LTRIM$(MID$(COMMAND$, INSTR(COMMAND$, "-B") + 2)) + "  "
          BatFile$ = LEFT$(BatFile$, INSTR(BatFile$, " ") - 1)
        END IF

        OPEN BatFile$ FOR OUTPUT AS #2


        filename$ = DIR$("*.dat")
        IF LEN(filename$) = 0 THEN SYSTEM
        DO WHILE LEN(filename$) > 0
          PRINT #2, "bcheck -y", filename$
          filename$ = DIR$
        LOOP
        CLOSE
        SYSTEM

OR, one can write an ACE program to extract the basename from systables.dirpath and PRINT "BCHECK -y ",systables.dirpath

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 08 '10 at 02:40

2

In the FOR loop command, you can use %%~n.

answered Aug 08 '10 at 02:40

ars

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DOS BAT file equivalent to Unix basename command?

8 Answers8

Full-working solution (even when path contains spaces)

Linked