DosTips.com

Hi,

I use a dos script to alter the txt output of my LDIFDE script. The output contains many lines and blank lines. I change a line from 'changetype: add' to 'objectclass: top objectclass: person'.

It's very good at making the line change but also removes blank lines. I need the blank lines preserving. Please help?

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
if not exist "%1" (echo file not found..)&goto :eof
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%a in (%1) do (
if "%%a"=="changetype: add" set write=objectclass: top objectclass: person
echo !write!
(echo !write!)>>%~n1.replaced%~x1
)

I have tried "delims= "

Thanks
Staro

Hi,

I've decided to start again but use VBScript rather than a dos batch script as I don't think it is possible to ignore blank lines unless someone knows better?

Cheers
Staro

"DOS" batch scripts are tricky to use for text file processing, so using another language is always a good viable option.

But it CAN be done with "DOS". Read through New technic: set /p can read multiple lines from a file for a newly discovered technique that is easy to implement. The only limitation of the new technique is the lines must strictly follow the DOS convention of <carriage return><line feed> for line termination.

Also in that post are examples of more complicated traditional techniques using FOR /F. These are more flexible with regard to line termination, but they require SETLOCAL / ENDLOCAL within the loop, thus making it difficult to preserve variable assignments across loop iterations. (Difficult, but not impossible)

Dave Benham