I'm trying to sync one directory with another. I've got an xcopy
command that makes sure that files on the source are present on the
target, but I also want to delete files on the target that are not
present on the source.

Currently my command looks like this:

for /R Z:\test1 %F in (*.*) do if not exist "X:%~pnxF" del "%F"

This works fine when I run it on the command prompt directly, but
doesn't work in a cmd file. I seem to remember something about having
to double up the % but I can't remember the details, I tried this in
various places but can't make it work. Any ideas?

Phil Hibbs.

PhilHibbs schrieb:
> I'm trying to sync one directory with another. I've got an xcopy
> command that makes sure that files on the source are present on the
> target, but I also want to delete files on the target that are not
> present on the source.
>
> Currently my command looks like this:
>
> for /R Z:\test1 %F in (*.*) do if not exist "X:%~pnxF" del "%F"
>
> This works fine when I run it on the command prompt directly, but
> doesn't work in a cmd file. I seem to remember something about having
> to double up the % but I can't remember the details, I tried this in
> various places but can't make it work. Any ideas?
>
> Phil Hibbs.

Hi Phil,

you should take a look at robocopy from Windows 2003 Reskit. There is a
switch /MIR (Mirror).

Lutz

"PhilHibbs" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:a57cc660-82ad-4f2e-bea3-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm trying to sync one directory with another. I've got an xcopy
> command that makes sure that files on the source are present on the
> target, but I also want to delete files on the target that are not
> present on the source.
>
> Currently my command looks like this:
>
> for /R Z:\test1 %F in (*.*) do if not exist "X:%~pnxF" del "%F"
>
> This works fine when I run it on the command prompt directly, but
> doesn't work in a cmd file. I seem to remember something about having
> to double up the % but I can't remember the details, I tried this in
> various places but can't make it work. Any ideas?
>
> Phil Hibbs.

As you say, you must double your % characters when referring
to enumerating variables in batch files.

Robocopy.exe will do exactly what you want. Here is the relevant
line from its help file:
/PURGE :: delete dest files/dirs that no longer exist in source.
You can get it from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en.

Pegasus wrote:
> > This works fine when I run it on the command prompt directly, but
> > doesn't work in a cmd file. I seem to remember something about having
> > to double up the % but I can't remember the details, I tried this in
> > various places but can't make it work. Any ideas?
>
> As you say, you must double your % characters when referring
> to enumerating variables in batch files.

As I say, I tried that and it didn't work. Where do I need to double
it up? "%%F in", or "X:%%~pnxF"? Whichever I try, I get this:

The following usage of the path operator in batch-parameter
substitution is invalid: %~pnxF" del "%F"

Phil Hibbs.

Lutz Kruse wrote:
> you should take a look at robocopy from Windows 2003 Reskit. There is a
> switch /MIR (Mirror).

That looks like exactly what I want, thanks. I'm still curious as to
why my command wouldn't work in a batch file though.

Phil Hibbs.

"PhilHibbs" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:a23bcba7-c5aa-4038-9e9d-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Pegasus wrote:
>> > This works fine when I run it on the command prompt directly, but
>> > doesn't work in a cmd file. I seem to remember something about having
>> > to double up the % but I can't remember the details, I tried this in
>> > various places but can't make it work. Any ideas?
>>
>> As you say, you must double your % characters when referring
>> to enumerating variables in batch files.
>
> As I say, I tried that and it didn't work. Where do I need to double
> it up? "%%F in", or "X:%%~pnxF"? Whichever I try, I get this:
>
> The following usage of the path operator in batch-parameter
> substitution is invalid: %~pnxF" del "%F"
>
> Phil Hibbs.

I had no problem at all with the following batch file, which is based on
yours:
@echo off
for /R D:\Fri %%F in (*.*) do if not exist "E:%%~pnxF" del "%%F"

I note that the error message refers to the string
%~pnxF" del "%F"

Since the string includes the "del" command I suspect that you ran afoul of
some dreaded poison character. In other words, one of your file names
contains a character out of the following set:
'"`%^&()|<>
You can easily find out: Turn on your Echo in the batch file, then watch
which file name the program trips over. Alternatively you could run this
modified batch file:
@echo off
for /R D:\Fri %%F in (*.*) do (
echo File name = xx%%Fzz
if not exist "E:%%~pnxF" del "%%F"
)