Question

Is there an easy way to get to the basename (file name without extension) of a DOS file name using the DOS BAT command language?

I agree: format c:\ is probably a good start, followed by a bootable Linux CD (assuming these antique machines have a CD reader – not a given). But let’s pretend that we only have DOS… (That means: not Windows – not even Windows 3.1, let alone Windows 95, 98, NT, ME, XP, Vista, 7, etc.)

Answer 1

For command-line

for /F %i in ("c:\foo\bar.txt") do @echo %~ni

For .bat Files

for /F %%i in ("c:\foo\bar.txt") do @echo %%~ni

output: bar

If the path contains a space, add in "delims=" like so:

for /F "delims=" %i in ("c:\foo\bar baz.txt") do @echo %~ni

output: bar baz

(Further Reading:
http://www.computerhope.com/forhlp.htm )