11 thoughts on “Classic for-loop in a windows batch file”

1. anonymous March 19, 2009 at 10:27 am

   Thanks very much.

   Reply ↓
2. Aditya March 26, 2009 at 1:24 pm

   The arthametic is very starnge. Its working out side of loop but not working inside the loop 🙁

   Here is my code : (Retrive.bat)
   set i=1
   echo %i%
   set /a i = %i% + 1
   echo %i%
   for /r %%x in (%1) do (
   set /a i = %i% + 1
   echo %i%
   copy /-y “%%x” %2%i%
   :: all files with same name, so i need to append a counter
   )

   output :
   D:\zzz>Retrive *.html d:\zzz\*.html

   D:\zzz>set i=1

   D:\zzz>echo 1
   1

   D:\zzz>set /a i = 1 + 1

   D:\zzz>echo 2
   2

   D:\zzz>for /R %x in (*.html) do (
   set /a i = 2 + 1
   echo 2
   copy /-y “%x” d:\zzz\*.html2
   )

   D:\zzz>(
   set /a i = 2 + 1
   echo 2
   copy /-y “D:\zzz\CN=dashdash.html” d:\zzz\*.html2
   )
   2
   Overwrite d:\zzz\CN=dashdash.html2? (Yes/No/All):

   I am expecting i to be 3 …but ist still 2 🙁

   Reply ↓
3. admin Post authorMarch 29, 2009 at 8:02 pm

   Hi Aditya!
   Now that’s an interesting question. Basically, the problem is, that SET does not work correct within for loops. At least not by default.
   Basically, what you need to do is to start your shell with the parameter /V which enables “delayed environment variable expansion”. You can find more about that by typing “cmd /?”.
   The other thing you need to do is to replace every occurence of “%i%” inside your loop with “!i!”. Type “set /?” to see a few examples and more explanation on delayed environment variable expansion.
   That topic would be worth a post if there weren’t such a good one already:
   http://www.robvanderwoude.com/variableexpansion.php
   HTH!
   Tom

   Reply ↓
4. Kuroki Kaze January 17, 2010 at 7:17 pm

   Thanks, this snippet is very handy 🙂

   Reply ↓
5. David September 28, 2011 at 10:40 pm

   Here’s two more versions:

   ——-%

   Reply ↓
6. David September 28, 2011 at 10:41 pm

   Here’s two more versions:

   —————————
   @echo off
   @FOR /L %%i in (0,1, 9) DO (
   echo This is iteration %%i.
   echo This is still iteration %%i
   )
   echo That’s it!
   —————————

   And my new favorite:

   —————————
   ::MAIN ROUTINE
   @FOR /L %%i in (0,1, 9) DO @CALL :PROCESS %%i
   echo That’s it!
   GOTO END

   :: SUBROUTINE PROCESS
   :PROCESS
   echo This is iteration %1.
   echo This is still iteration %1
   GOTO:EOF

   :END
   —————————

   Reply ↓
7. Niraj April 28, 2013 at 3:54 pm

   good,
   it’s help

   Thanks,
   Niraj

   Reply ↓
8. Dinesh May 7, 2013 at 6:57 am

   In above example the for loop will run thru 10 times.
   But Instead of 9 in (0,1, 9), i want to add a variable like N. N will be supplied during run time. I tried as below (0,1, N). but its not working:( Please help me. Thanks in Advance

   Reply ↓
9. Ph4nT0m1m3 May 25, 2013 at 6:54 am

   heres mine, i just tweak your code to make it more simplier

   @echo off
   set /a count=0
   :countStart
   if %count%==10 goto countEnd
   echo hello world
   set /a count+=1
   goto countStart
   :countEnd
   pause

   Reply ↓
10. MichaelD July 17, 2013 at 6:21 pm

    I have a batch file that uses RoboCopy to copy files from network drives and local hard drives. It uses five variables. Four are text strings with the fifth being a six digit integer. The batch file works great for cases where data for one user is needed, but I have a need now to use this batch file to copy data from several users. I can place the variables in a CSV file and assign them %1, %2, etc in the batch file, but how do I get the batch file to loop through this list moving to the next in the list when the data copy has been completed for an individual user?

    Thanks for any help you can offer!

    Reply ↓
11. Proskit January 3, 2015 at 12:42 pm

    what cross-jumpin’ codes you publish, guys?
    please see this one:

    set /a i=0
    :Loop

    echo this is the body of the loop

    set /a i+=1
    if not %i%==10 goto Loop

    Reply ↓

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