Windows – How to output a list of filenames surrounded by quotation marks

cmd.execommand linedirwindows

In Windows Command Prompt, I can use the dir command to output the names of all PNG files within a directory:

dir *.png /od /b > files.txt

file 1.png
file 2.png
...

However, the image files I am working with contain spaces in their filenames, and hence will not work with ImageMagick unless I surround their names with quotation marks, like so:

"file 1.png"
"file 2.png"
...

What is the best way to go about this?

Is there a command that lists filenames surrounded by quotes?

Or will I need to add them in after creating the txt file?

Best Answer

You can use FOR /F to run the DIR command and surround the output with quotes:

This is from the prompt

for /f "delims=" %A in ('dir /b /od *.png') do @echo "%A"

In a batch script, you would double the percent signs, so %A becomes %%A in both places.

Related Solutions

Command Line – Handling Spaces in File Names with find | grep | xargs

Are you looking for "howdy doody" in the filename, or within the file?

# find files with "howdy doody" in the filename
find * -name "*howdy doody*" -print0 | xargs -0 ...

xargs is what you need to use to split the null-terminated output from find -print0. In your example, the echo is extraneous; don't bother with it.

# find files containing "howdy doody"
find * -print0 | xargs -0 grep -l "howdy doody"

# find files containing "howdy doody" and do further processing

# multiple xargs version
find * -print0 | xargs -0 grep -l "howdy doody" | xargs -i{} do-something "{}"

# "sh -c" version
find * -print0 | xargs -0 -i{} sh -c 'grep -l "howdy doody" "{}" && do-something "{}"'

# notes: 
#   "sh -c" allows us to run a complex command with a single xargs
#   "{}" handles spaces-in-filename
#   handles any &&, ||, | command linking

You can also run your command directly from the find with -exec. The difference is that find -exec runs the command once per file found; xargs adds filenames to the end of the command (up to system limit), so it runs the command fewer times. You can simulate this with xargs -n1 to force xargs to only run one command per input.

# grep once per file
find * -exec grep -l "howdy doody" {} \; | ...

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Command Line – Handling Spaces in File Names with find | grep | xargs

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