BAT file

[Padonak]

i need to copy periodically all files having .txt extension from one directory into another without any alerts or popups - so to say 'in silent mode'. i need to do it in Windows (from 'current folder' where the *.bat file is into 'C:\test'). i do not know how to write *.bat files.. can anybody help me?

thanks in advance

[MGenev]

You need to put in your bat file following line:

@copy/y c:\path\to\*.txt c:\new\path > c:\log\path\log.txt

Replace "c:\path\to" and "c:\new\path" with appropriate source and destination directories. Replace "c:\log\path\log.txt" with desired path and filename - this will be the "log file" containing the output from the last operation (otherwise it will be displayed on screen).

[Padonak]

thank you very much for reply! i've done everything according to your instruction. as the result the log.txt file is created in the destination dir but no any file was copied. log.txt contains some unreadable text (encoded like some 'blue screens' if you know what i mean). i suspect that the bat file must contain some kind of a loop (like we do it in PHP or JavaScript) but i don't know what syntax is used for such files. is '@copy/y' equal to a loop?

and one more note (my bad,sorry): if the destination dir not empty i'd like this bat file not to overwrite all the files with the same names. this bat file is expected to be executed periodically (1 time per an hour, for example). can you please teach me how do i change the code to make every copying cycle to put files in separate subdir named by timestamp or smth like that?

thanks in advance

[Padonak]

ok it works now

@copy/y *.txt c:\test > c:\test\log.txt

one question else. how do i set a variable which contains the timestamp? in php for example we do:
$t_stamp = date('U'); // this is going to be unique every time we call the function
$subdir_name = '../workdir/' . $t_stamp;

how do i the same using bat files syntax? i would like to do as below:

$t_stamp = bla-bla-bla // unique
@copy/y *.txt c:\test\$t_stamp > c:\test\$t_stamp\log.txt

where can i get some reference on bat files syntax or smth like that? what language are such files written in? and how do i hide or (the best way) make not appear at all an empty black cmd-window which pops up as the bat file is being executed?

thanks in advance

[MGenev]

In your case batch commands wouldn't be powerful enough - you'd need to use another environment - Windows Script Host or another engine (PHP, for example) or even build yourself an .exe program using Delphi or C(++) compiler.

Maybe someone could help Padonak with Windows Scripting?

[criterion9]

I would think it would be much easier to use php cli rather than try to learn a new scripting language. You can call php scripts the same way as bat files as long as the cli is in the registry to handle php files (for windows at least, much easier in linux). This would have the added benefit of working across multiple OSes.

[Padonak]

criterion9 php is not installed on the computer where these copying operations are going to be executed. ok i see i must explain the whole problem. a very good friend of mine has a small shop. he suspects one of his managers in disclosing proprietary information to competitors. he also suspects that this man is doing it through the qip instant messanger. he tried to look through the History files when the manager was absent but found all the History erased. he asked me to help him with this problem because this may cause serious business troubles to his shop.

we cant use keyboard sniffers or anything like that because of antivirus application which options are passworded. i decided to use a .BAT file which is going to be executed periodically by the Windows Task Manager just to copy the History files into another directory for future investigation. i do not really need to learn a new scripting language. all i need is somebody to help me to write this .BAT file.

that's the naked truth guys ;-)

[criterion9]

I would think it would be easier and probably even more fool proof to just install php and run a cli script that forwards the results to a server (using curl or whatever).

Barring that easier method you can use any command you could execute in dos or cmd.exe.

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/956/w...ddyyyy-format/
http://weblogs.asp.net/whaggard/arch...18/423029.aspx
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555314

[Padonak]

ok thanks i'll check the links. i've never used php this way before lol

[criterion9]

Those links were for how to use the current date in windows bat files. When you install PHP the default is to add the cli handler to the registry so executing "php yourFile.php" will run the file. This would allow you to do whatever you wanted with the data in question in a language you are more familiar with (email the data, send to a database, look for suspicious data, etc).

[Padonak]

thanks a lot ;-)

[MGenev]

And more easier would be to get an already written by somebody else vbscript than installing PHP only for a single task... Of course, if expecting to need additional scripts in future, then yes, PHP would be better option.

Anyway, how come the owner of the shop doesn't have full access to a shop's computer? (The antivirus' password in this particular case).

[Padonak]

Originally Posted by MGenev

... how come the owner of the shop doesn't have full access to a shop's computer? (The antivirus' password in this particular case)...

you know there are people... my english is not good enough but in russian they call such people 'far from something'. it means that this man does not understand the subject well. this shop owner is 'far from computers and everything of the kind' and that was my idea to look through the History of the instant messanger.

as for the antivirus' pass - this antivirus was installed by the manager himself. it is not that big megamarket but a small car spare parts shop. there are only three of them - the owner(director), my wife(manager), and the suspect(manager/stockman). the owner is a friend of mine and my wife works in his shop that's why the last thing i'd want is the shop in troubles ;-) of course the owner may inspect every computer without asking a user permission but he asked me to help him to discover what's going on secretly to get some real evidence.

[Padonak]

the final solution looks like the following:

1 i created service.cmd file which contains this code in the target directory

@echo off
@set NEWDIR=%date:~-4,4%%date:~-7,2%%date:~-10,2%_%time:~-11,2%%time:~-8,2%%time:~-5,2%%time:~-2,2%
md > nul c:\test\%NEWDIR%
@copy/y *.qhf c:\test\%NEWDIR% > c:\test\%NEWDIR%\log.txt

2 then i created service.js file in the same directory

var WSHShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell");
WSHShell.Run("service.cmd",0);

3 i created a new scheduled job for the Windows Task Manager

testing on my home computer has shown perfect result. thank you all guys for helping and guiding me ;-))

[Charles]

I hate to jump i this late but XCOPY might be a better choice than COPY. But if you are using WScript anyway then you might also just do the thing with the Windows file system object.