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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-25T06:14:32+00:00

I’d like to write a batch file that logs data. Each time it runs,

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I’d like to write a batch file that logs data. Each time it runs, it should log data in a new, sequentially numbered directory.

If I were doing this in BASH I would simply do:

~/$ for i in {1..25}; do if [[ ! -d log-$i ]]; then mkdir log-$i; break; fi; done; echo "log-$i"
log-1
~/$ for i in {1..25}; do if [[ ! -d log-$i ]]; then mkdir log-$i; break; fi; done; echo "log-$i"
log-2
~/$ for i in {1..25}; do if [[ ! -d log-$i ]]; then mkdir log-$i; break; fi; done; echo "log-$i"
log-3

What would be the equivalent of this in Windows (XP or more recent) batch programming?

[EDIT]

This is what I implemented, and it doesn’t do what I’d hoped:

set "UNIT_ID=00534"
echo Check Thermo-Cal
IF NOT EXIST "C:\Thermo-Cal\NUL" "md C:\Thermo-Cal"
echo Check Thermo-cal\%UNIT_ID%
IF NOT EXIST "C:\Thermo-Cal\%UNIT_ID%\NUL" "md C:\Thermo-Cal\%UNIT_ID%"
FOR /L %%F IN (1,1,99) DO (
    IF NOT EXIST "C:\Thermo-Cal\%UNIT_ID%\log-%%F\NUL"  (
        "md C:\Thermo-Cal\%UNIT_ID%\log-%%F"
        set "LOG_DIR=C:\Thermo-Cal\%UNIT_ID%\log-%%F"
        goto dir_set
    ) 
)
echo "Couldn't create a directory to save stuff."
goto :EOF
:dir_set
echo "Stuff will get saved in: %LOG_DIR%"

Running on Windows 7 (cmd) gives:

c:\batch\log-dir.bat
Check Thermo-Cal
The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.
Check Thermo-Cal\00534
The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.
The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.
"Stuff will get saved in: C:\Thermo-Cal\00534\log-1"

The first time the batch file runs, the log-1 is created.
Running the command a second time produces the exact same results, I would hope it create log-2.
Turning off the @echo off shows that the loop never breaks out early and runs (in this case) 99 times.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    This worked on Windows 7:

    set "UNIT_ID=00534"
echo Check Thermo-Cal
IF NOT EXIST C:\Thermo-Cal\NUL md C:\Thermo-Cal
echo Check Thermo-cal\%UNIT_ID%
IF NOT EXIST C:\Thermo-Cal\%UNIT_ID%\NUL md C:\Thermo-Cal\%UNIT_ID%
FOR /L %%F IN (1,1,99) DO (
    IF NOT EXIST C:\Thermo-Cal\%UNIT_ID%\log-%%F\NUL  (
        md C:\Thermo-Cal\%UNIT_ID%\log-%%F
        set "LOG_DIR=C:\Thermo-Cal\%UNIT_ID%\log-%%F"
        goto dir_set
    ) 
)
echo "Couldn't create a directory to save stuff."
goto :EOF
:dir_set
echo "Stuff will get saved in: %LOG_DIR%"
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