Escape characters in ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION

[tinfanide]

b.log:

"WINWORD.EXE","2348","Console","1","49,852 K"
"WINWORD.EXE","4568","Console","1","48,840 K"
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
"WINWORD.EXE","1980","Console","1","36,928 K"
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.

Code: Select all

FOR /F %%C IN (C:\b.log) DO (
SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
SET "old=%%C"


SET new=!old:INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.=!
:: output: INFO:

ECHO !new! >> C:\c.log
)

ENDLOCAL

PAUSE

I want to replace "INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria." with "" (nothing) in the b.log text file
but I don't know how to tell CMD the ":" in the string to be replaced should be treated not as special characters
I've used ^ but failed.

Code: Select all

SET new=!old:INFO^: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.=!

[Ed Dyreen]

'
Why no quotes ?

Code: Select all

@echo off &SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION

set "$var=INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria."
set "$var"
set "$var=!$var:INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.=!"
set "$var"

pause
if defined $var ECHO.!$var!>>"C:\c.log"
type "C:\c.log"
pause
exit

Code: Select all

$var=INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
Omgevingsvariabele $var is niet gedefinieerd
Druk op een toets om door te gaan. . .

[jeb]

Why no quotes ?

Ok, quotes makes it more secure, but they don't have any correlation to the problem

but I don't know how to tell CMD the ":" in the string to be replaced should be treated not as special characters
I've used ^ but failed.

Yes, it fails, as the colon doesn't need any escape character.
You run into an other problem, not the replacement fails, it's the output of the result

If your replacement is successful, the variable new is empty, or better it isn't defined.
That results in your line ECHO !new! >> C:\c.log into an empty echo statement, that will output something like

echo is off

So you could use a "safe" echo like

Code: Select all

echo(!new!>> C:\c.log

Important is the "(" after the echo and the missing space between "!new!>>".
But even the "safe" echo would append empty lines, if you want to supress them too, you could use the solution of Ed.

Code: Select all

if defined new (
  echo(!new!>>C:\c.log
)

jeb

[tinfanide]

'
Why no quotes ?

Code: Select all

@echo off &SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION

set "$var=INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria."
set "$var"
set "$var=!$var:INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.=!"
set "$var"

pause
if defined $var ECHO.!$var!>>"C:\c.log"
type "C:\c.log"
pause
exit

Code: Select all

$var=INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.
Omgevingsvariabele $var is niet gedefinieerd
Druk op een toets om door te gaan. . .

Sorry, I couldn't follow your suggested codes.

[tinfanide]

Why no quotes ?

Ok, quotes makes it more secure, but they don't have any correlation to the problem

but I don't know how to tell CMD the ":" in the string to be replaced should be treated not as special characters
I've used ^ but failed.

Yes, it fails, as the colon doesn't need any escape character.
You run into an other problem, not the replacement fails, it's the output of the result

If your replacement is successful, the variable new is empty, or better it isn't defined.
That results in your line ECHO !new! >> C:\c.log into an empty echo statement, that will output something like

echo is off

So you could use a "safe" echo like

Code: Select all

echo(!new!>> C:\c.log

Important is the "(" after the echo and the missing space between "!new!>>".
But even the "safe" echo would append empty lines, if you want to supress them too, you could use the solution of Ed.

Code: Select all

if defined new (
  echo(!new!>>C:\c.log
)

jeb

Code: Select all

@ECHO OFF

FOR /F %%C IN (C:\b.log) DO (
SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION

SET "old=%%C"
SET new=!old:INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.=!


IF defined new (
ECHO(!new!>>C:\c.log
)

ENDLOCAL

PAUSE

Sorry, it does not work. It returns error.

[tinfanide]

Code: Select all

FOR /F "tokens=*" %%C IN (C:\Users\Tin\Desktop\text.txt) DO (
SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION

SET "old=%%C"
SET new=!old:INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria.=!
IF DEFINED new (

:: ECHO) = ECHO.
   ECHO.!new!

)
ENDLOCAL
)

Finally, I've sorted it out. It might be me mistaking some of your codes because of being new in MS-DOS.

Yes, the most important part that fails is the !new! variable being undefined. And second, ECHO) // ECHO. (without spaces) does matter.

[!k]

Why not

Code: Select all

FINDSTR /V /C:"INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria." b.log

?

[tinfanide]

Why not

Code: Select all

FINDSTR /V /C:"INFO: No tasks are running which match the specified criteria." b.log

?

Yes, using FINDSTR /V in this situation is just simple and beautiful.
I didn't know why I forgot it. Or I messed it up somehow.