Question

I am using Windows XP and need to create a batch file to move tok.filename to filename.tok.
This works for one file if I type in fix.bat tok.filename.

set filename=%1
set newname=%filename:~4,45%
ren %1 %newname%.tok

I need to type in fix.bat tok*, but this puts tok* in the filename.

How do I get it to read all the files into the filename one at a time?

Answer 1

Use a for statement.

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

for %%i in (tok.*) do (
  set filename=%%i
  set newname=!filename:~4,45!
  ren %%i !newname!.tok
)

Enabling the delayed expansion makes it so that the variables are evaluated at the time they are used.

Alternatively, since you already have a batch file that works, you could write another batch file that uses the for statement, which calls your working batch file — like this:

for %%i in (tok.*) do call fix.bat %%i

Or you could run it directly from the command line like this:

for %i in (tok.*) do call fix.bat %i