Batch / Find And Edit Lines in TXT file
Solution 1:
On a native Windows install, you can either use batch(cmd.exe) or vbscript without the need to get external tools. Here's an example in vbscript:
Set objFS = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
strFile = "c:\test\file.txt"
Set objFile = objFS.OpenTextFile(strFile)
Do Until objFile.AtEndOfStream
strLine = objFile.ReadLine
If InStr(strLine,"ex3")> 0 Then
strLine = Replace(strLine,"ex3","ex5")
End If
WScript.Echo strLine
Loop
Save as myreplace.vbs and on the command line:
c:\test> cscript /nologo myreplace.vbs > newfile
c:\test> ren newfile file.txt
Solution 2:
There is no search and replace function or stream editing at the command line in XP or 2k3 (dont know about vista or beyond). So, you'll need to use a script like the one Ghostdog posted, or a search and replace capable tool like sed.
There is more than one way to do it, as this script shows:
@echo off
SETLOCAL=ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
rename text.file text.tmp
for /f %%a in (text.tmp) do (
set foo=%%a
if !foo!==ex3 set foo=ex5
echo !foo! >> text.file)
del text.tmp