How to use Windows .bat to edit contents of a file

[Thai]

Hi,

I'm managing a school web server and would like to be able to quickly change the home page by using explorer context menu, invoking a batch file.

I know how to overwrite the home page file via this method, but would like to be able to generate a new, replacement file (index.htm), incorporating the name of the file selected in explorer within a meta redirect, such as:
<meta http-equiv="REFRESH" content="0;url=http://192.168.0.1/e-learn/english/english1.htm">

So how do I take the name of the file selected and edit it into a file?

Otherwise, any other ideas would be welcomed......

Thanks.

[aGerman]

Thai,

this is a batch forum and thats why maybe I shouldn't say that, but:
Don't use a batch file for replacements in websites.

The main reason is that you have to read / replace / write it line by line. But a line into the source text could be too long for batch. Another reason is that you have to escape a lot of characters to echo it (each < to ^< and each > to >^).

I posted a small VBScript in a different forum, so why not here again.
Save as Xchange.vbs

Code: Select all

Option Explicit

' Syntax:
' 
' Xchange.vbs Filename -Option1 Old -Option2 New
' 
' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
' 
' Option1/Option2 | Old/New
' ----------------|------------------------------------------------
' -L              | any literal expression, like a word or letter
'                 |
' -C              | use VB constants:
'                 |      "Tab"  tab
'                 |      "CrLf" Windows line break
'                 |      "Cr"   carriage return
'                 |      "Lf"   line feed
'                 |
' -U              | HEX code of any character
' 
' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
' 
' Example Calls:
' 
' Xchange.vbs "C:\test.txt" -l ";" -c "tab"
' will replace semicolons with tabs in C:\test.txt
' 
' Xchange.vbs "C:\test.txt" -u "3F" -l "!"
' will replace Character 3F (question mark) with exclamation marks
' 
' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
' 
' Return Code (Errorlevel):
' 
' 2 Syntax Error
' 1 File not found
' 0 No Error

On Error Resume Next
Dim strFile, optF, xFind, optR, xReplace, fso, text

If Not WScript.Arguments.Count = 5 Then WScript.Quit (2)

strFile = WScript.Arguments(0)
optF = WScript.Arguments(1)
xFind = WScript.Arguments(2)
optR = WScript.Arguments(3)
xReplace = WScript.Arguments(4)

Select Case UCase(optF)
  Case "-L"
  Case "-U"
    xFind = ChrW(CLng("&H" & xFind))
  Case "-C"
    If UCase(xFind) = "TAB" Then
      xFind = vbTab
    ElseIf UCase(xFind) = "CRLF" Then
      xFind = vbCrLf
    ElseIf UCase(xFind) = "CR" Then
      xFind = vbCr
    ElseIf UCase(xFind) = "LF" Then
      xFind = vbLf
    Else
      WScript.Quit 2
    End If
  Case Else
    WScript.Quit 2
End Select

Select Case UCase(optR)
  Case "-L"
  Case "-U"
    xReplace = ChrW(CLng("&H" & xReplace))
  Case "-C"
    If UCase(xReplace) = "TAB" Then
      xReplace = vbTab
    ElseIf UCase(xReplace) = "CRLF" Then
      xReplace = vbCrLf
    ElseIf UCase(xReplace) = "CR" Then
      xReplace = vbCr
    ElseIf UCase(xReplace) = "LF" Then
      xReplace = vbLf
    Else
      WScript.Quit 2
    End If
  Case Else
    WScript.Quit 2
End Select

If Not Err.Number = 0 Then WScript.Quit 2

Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
text = fso.OpenTextFile(strFile, 1).ReadAll
If Not text = "" Then
  fso.CreateTextFile(strFile).Write Replace(text, xFind, xReplace)
End If
Set fso = Nothing
If Err.Number = 0 Then
  WScript.Quit 0
Else
  WScript.Quit 1
End If

You will find the usage in the comment lines (beginning with ' ). Call this tool into a batch process or from the command prompt.

Regards
aGerman

[Thai]

Thanks for getting back aGerman.

I will have a play.

Thai

[aGerman]

The command line should be something like that:

Code: Select all

"Xchange.vbs" "Thai.html" -l "/english/english1.htm" -l "/thai/thai1.htm"

Use the entire path for the .vbs and .html files if they are not in the same folder like your batch file.

Regards
aGerman

[ghostmachine4]

Hi,

I'm managing a school web server and would like to be able to quickly change the home page by using explorer context menu, invoking a batch file.

I know how to overwrite the home page file via this method, but would like to be able to generate a new, replacement file (index.htm), incorporating the name of the file selected in explorer within a meta redirect, such as:
<meta http-equiv="REFRESH" content="0;url=http://192.168.0.1/e-learn/english/english1.htm">

So how do I take the name of the file selected and edit it into a file?

Otherwise, any other ideas would be welcomed......

Thanks.

if you want to modify files, use a tool or a programming language specialized for this. If you prefer native solution, you may try the vbscript provided, however if you can download stuff, you can use sed for windows or gawk for windows ( which has been used in the *nix world long ago till now to edit files ) . A simple illustration

Code: Select all

C:\test>more file
<meta http-equiv="REFRESH" content="0;url=http://192.168.0.1/e-learn/[i]english/english1.htm[/i]">

C:\test>sed "s|english/english1.htm|thai/thai.html|" file
<meta http-equiv="REFRESH" content="0;url=http://192.168.0.1/e-learn/[i]thai/thai.html[/i]">

use -i option to save the file inplace

Code: Select all

C:\test>sed -i.bak "s|english/english1.htm|thai/thai.html|" file

[rfpd]

i think it's possibel to do this using the regestry.

[ghostmachine4]

i think it's possibel to do this using the regestry.

show how then.

[rfpd]

i couldn't find looll but i think they save that kind of things in the regestry.

[ghostmachine4]

i couldn't find looll but i think they save that kind of things in the regestry.

the answer is no. you don't use the registry to edit contents of a file. you use a programming language/ tools that allows i/o operations. eg Perl/Python/Java/Ruby etc... or specialized tools such as sed/awk , or editors such as emacs, vi etc.