Windows CMD script to count files and get filenames

I am not very familiar with Windows CMD scripts and I need to write one that will check the number of files in a specific folder and store the filenames found in variables (maybe an array). Here is what I have (%1 is the folder I am getting as a parameter):

ECHO ### Checking the number of files under %1 ###
for %%x in (%1\pdf*.*) do (
 set file[!numFiles!]=%%~nxf
 set /a numFiles+=1
) 
ECHO ### Number of files found: %numFiles%

for /L %%i in (0,1,2,3,4) do (
   echo !file[%%i]!
)

Solution 1:

How do I count the files in a specific folder and store the filenames in an array?

There are a number of problems with your code:

1. You need to enabledelayedexpansion if you are going to use it later.

2. You haven't initialised numFiles.

3. %%~nxf should be %%~nfx.

4. Your for /l command has the wrong syntax (it should be start,step,end).

Here is a corrected batch file (test.cmd):

@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
ECHO ### Checking the number of files under %1 ###
set numFiles=0
for %%x in (%1\pdf*.*) do (
  set file[!numFiles!]=%%~nfx
  set /a numFiles+=1
 ) 
ECHO ### Number of files found: %numFiles%

set /a index=%numFiles%-1
for /L %%i in (0,1,%index%) do (
  echo !file[%%i]!
  )
endlocal

Example usage and output:

> dir *.pdf
 Volume in drive F is Expansion
 Volume Serial Number is 3656-BB63

 Directory of F:\test

21/02/2017  22:53                 0 pdf01.pdf
21/02/2017  22:53                 0 pdf02.pdf
21/02/2017  22:53                 0 pdf03.pdf
               3 File(s)              0 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  1,701,266,092,032 bytes free

> test .
### Checking the number of files under . ###
### Number of files found: 3
F:\test\pdf01.pdf
F:\test\pdf02.pdf
F:\test\pdf03.pdf

Further Reading

• An A-Z Index of the Windows CMD command line - An excellent reference for all things Windows cmd line related.
• enabledelayedexpansion - Delayed Expansion will cause variables to be expanded at execution time rather than at parse time.
• for - Conditionally perform a command on several files.
• for /l - Conditionally perform a command for a range of numbers.
• parameters - A command line argument (or parameter) is any value passed into a batch script.