Question

So for example i need to check if file C:\windows\system32\whatever.dll lies in c:\windows. Is it possible in a manner like if not exists ..., but here if %file% lies in %directory% ?

edit: I know the path to the file I’m looking for. The problem boils down to comparing strings, that is checking if path to the directory is contained at the beginning in a path to the file.

Answer 1

you can do something like

if not exists %directory%\%file% 

in this way you create a full file-pathname like “c:\myfolder\yourfolder\myfile.txt” and check for it’s existence

Update
this should works (but it’s not tested)

:: starting folder
set RootPath=c:\myfolder\yourfolder\

::check all subfolder
for /R "%RootPath%" %%d IN (.) DO ( 
    echo %%d

    :: check all file in each subfolder
    for %%f IN ("%%~d\*.*") DO (

        :: check if your file exist 
        IF "%%~nxf"=="filenameImLookingFor.txt" (
              echo Found file here "%%~f"
        )
    )
)

• %%~nxf will expand to filname with extension, without the path
• the “~” make also sure that the expanded variable will never contain
  prefix/postfix doublequte, so that you can add your own without
  having unexpected double-doublequote (that will obviously mess things
  up)

Here is a list of useful syntax for FOR variables (from the help of the FOR command)

You can now use the following optional syntax:

%~I         - expands %I removing any surrounding quotes (")
%~fI        - expands %I to a fully qualified path name
%~dI        - expands %I to a drive letter only
%~pI        - expands %I to a path only
%~nI        - expands %I to a file name only
%~xI        - expands %I to a file extension only
%~sI        - expanded path contains short names only
%~aI        - expands %I to file attributes of file
%~tI        - expands %I to date/time of file
%~zI        - expands %I to size of file
%~$PATH:I   - searches the directories listed in the PATH
               environment variable and expands %I to the
               fully qualified name of the first one found.
               If the environment variable name is not
               defined or the file is not found by the
               search, then this modifier expands to the
               empty string

The modifiers can be combined to get compound results:

%~dpI       - expands %I to a drive letter and path only
%~nxI       - expands %I to a file name and extension only
%~fsI       - expands %I to a full path name with short names only
%~dp$PATH:I - searches the directories listed in the PATH
               environment variable for %I and expands to the
               drive letter and path of the first one found.
%~ftzaI     - expands %I to a DIR like output line