Output Empty/Blank Line/Separation Line to Text file

Question

I am data mining a log file and exporting information successfully. What I am looking to do is put a few blank, empty, or some kind of line separator between each export within the data mining criteria the script finds. I currently have:

  SET "_LogFile=C:\Test.log"
  SET "_ResultFile=OutPut.txt"
  SET "_MatchString_Begin=<Line Text="***********TEST************"
  SET "_MatchString_End=</Report>"
  SET "_Line#_Begin="
)

CALL :Main

( ENDLOCAL
  EXIT/B
)
:Main
CLS
  IF EXIST "%_ResultFile%" (
    DEL /F /Q "%_ResultFile%"
  )
  COLOR 0F
  ECHO.&ECHO.===== Processing =====&ECHO.
  FOR /F "Delims=[]" %%# IN ('
    Find /N "%_MatchString_Begin:"=""%" "%_LogFile%" ^| FIND "["
  ') DO (
    ECHO. Found Match On Line %%#
    SET /A "_Line#_Begin=%%#-1"
    CALL :Output
  )
  COLOR 20
  ECHO.&ECHO.===== Completed! =====

FOR /F tokens^=2^ delims^=^" %%I in ('type "%_ResultFile%" ^& ^> "%_ResultFile%" rem/') do (
    >> "%_ResultFile%" echo(%%I
)

REN %_ResultFile% Trythis.csv

START TryThis.csv

GOTO :EOF

:Output
  FOR /F "SKIP=%_Line#_Begin% Tokens=* usebackq" %%_ IN (
    "%_LogFile%"
  ) DO (
    ECHO(%%_
    ECHO("%%_" | FIND /I "%_MatchString_End%" >NUL&&(
      GOTO :EOF
    )
  )>>"%_ResultFile%"
GOTO :EOF

In my export I get:

AAA
AAA
AAA
BBB
BBB
BBB
CCC
CCC
CCC

Would be nice to see:

 AAA
 AAA
 AAA
 ---
 BBB
 BBB
 BBB
 ---
 CCC
 CCC
 CCC

A is one block that is exported, B is another Block Exported, C is another block exported. They currently all merge line after line. Would be nice to a separator in between each block exported.

Any suggestions would be MUCH appreciated!

Have tried this, however, does not work. Maybe not putting in the correct position? I have updated preliminary scripting to original post. — T-Diddy, Nov 01 '19 at 22:13
In between each data set found. If you see my SET commands - SET "_MatchString_Begin=" After it finds the "" if I can put a blank/empty line or 2 or some sort of separator in between. — T-Diddy, Nov 01 '19 at 22:20

avery_larry · Answer 1 · 2019-11-01T23:22:30.567

I think you just need to put it in the :output section like this:

:Output
FOR /F "SKIP=%_Line#_Begin% Tokens=* usebackq" %%_ IN ("C:\Test.log") DO (
   ECHO(%%_
   ECHO("%%_" | FIND /I "%_MatchString_End%" >NUL&&ECHO(&&(GOTO :EOF)
)>>"%_ResultFile%"

Your full code, changing a bunch of things the way I would more likely do them. I know Mofi really dislikes echo. -- but I work with computers that I have control of and I do not worry about the tiny chance of problems. If you care about it, you can replace all of the echo. with echo/

SET "_MatchString_Begin=<Line Text="**TEST**"
SET "_MatchString_End=</Report>"
SET "_Line#_Begin="   

ECHO.
ECHO ===== Processing =====
ECHO.
FOR /F "Delims=[]" %%a IN ('Find /N "%_MatchString_Begin:"=""%" "C:\Test.log" ^| FIND "["') DO (
   ECHO Found Match On Line %%a>>"%_ResultFile%"
   SET /A "_Line#_Begin=%%a-1"
   rem CALL :Output   I do not understand what this line is doing here.
   rem :Output I also do not understand what this line is doing here.
   FOR /F "SKIP=%_Line#_Begin% Tokens=* usebackq" %%b IN ("C:\Test.log") DO (
      ECHO.%%b>>"%_ResultFile%"
      rem the next line is the blank line if you want it after every line in test.log
      ECHO.>>"%_ResultFile%"
      rem the next line also adds a blank line after finding the ending matching string
      ECHO.%%b^| FIND /I "%_MatchString_End%" >NUL && (
         rem what to do when we match the end string
         rem blank line here if this is where you want it
         echo.>>"%_ResultFile%"
         GOTO :EOF
      )
   )
)
GOTO :EOF

I find that redirecting every line you want into the output file is more understandable than redirecting the entire output of a for statement to a file. It does lead to repeated code -- but you have the flexibility of redirecting to multiple files or just echoing to the console.

Also, I still don't think this is your actual code. I had to add parentheses here and there. Perhaps the :output section was supposed to be outside the initial for loop ??

Here's what I think your code is actually supposed to be:

SET "_MatchString_Begin=<Line Text="**TEST**"
SET "_MatchString_End=</Report>"
SET "_Line#_Begin="   

ECHO.
ECHO ===== Processing =====
ECHO.
FOR /F "Delims=[]" %%a IN ('Find /N "%_MatchString_Begin:"=""%" "C:\Test.log" ^| FIND "["') DO (
   ECHO Found Match On Line %%a
   SET /A "_Line#_Begin=%%a-1"
   CALL :Output
   echo.>>"%_ResultFile%"
)
goto :eof

:Output
FOR /F "SKIP=%_Line#_Begin% Tokens=* usebackq" %%b IN ("C:\Test.log") DO (
   ECHO.%%b>>"%_ResultFile%"
   ECHO.%%b| FIND "%_MatchString_End%" >NUL && GOTO :EOF
)
GOTO :EOF

Ultimately though, I wouldn't loop through the file over and over again like that. This is what I'd do: UNTESTED Could easily be minor errors like missing a ^.

@echo off
SET "_MatchString_Begin=<Line Text="**TEST**"
SET "_MatchString_End=</Report>"
SET "_Line#_Begin="

:: output_flag is used to decide if the lines should be output or not
SET "output_flag=N"
cls

ECHO.
ECHO ===== Processing =====
ECHO.
FOR /F "usebackq tokens=*" %%a IN ("C:\Test.log") DO (
   ECHO.%%a|find "%_MatchString_Begin:"=""%"  && set "output_flag=Y"
   if "!output_flag!"=="Y" echo.%%a>>"%_ResultFile%"
   echo.%%a|find "%_MatchString_End%" >nul &&echo.>>"%_ResultFile%"&&set "output_flag=N"
)

In my effort to simplify things, believe I have made things much more complicated than they need to be. I have updated my FULL code, which works great, just needs the separator. The code I tried from you breaks the full and does not complete what I am looking for unfortunately. Hope the FULL code helps! — T-Diddy, Nov 02 '19 at 00:06
@avery_larry: I agree, chances for problems are small (but why take the risk), but `echo.` does look for a file on the disk (searches current workfolder and the complete `%path%`), so `echo/` is surely much faster. I know, batch isn't about speed, but in a tight loop, that additional time might matter. — Stephan, Nov 02 '19 at 08:43
`echo/` is so ugly to me I don't know that I'll ever change. — avery_larry, Nov 02 '19 at 13:35

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 02 '19 at 13:31

0

Add this line:

echo/>>"%_ResultFile%"

immediately after this line:

CALL :Output

inside the for loop.

But I'm not sure what this for loop even does, so it could mess it up:

FOR /F tokens^=2^ delims^=^" %%I in ('type "%_ResultFile%" ^& ^> "%_ResultFile%" rem/') do (
    >> "%_ResultFile%" echo(%%I
)

answered Nov 02 '19 at 13:31

avery_larry

2,069
1
5
17

Unfortunately, this suggested line of code does not work successfully either. This was one of the original locations I tried with no success. This line of code ` FOR /F tokens^=2^ delims^=^" %%I in ('type "%_ResultFile%" ^& ^> "%_ResultFile%" rem/') do ( >> "%_ResultFile%" echo(%%I ) ` Simply cleans up garbage characters within the output I don't want or need. – T-Diddy Nov 03 '19 at 15:01
@T-Diddy There is no way the output file doesn't have blank lines in it somewhere -- unless those blank lines are removed later. Troubleshoot by not using that final for loop. – avery_larry Nov 03 '19 at 19:36

Output Empty/Blank Line/Separation Line to Text file

2 Answers2