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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.)

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basename retains the file extentsion. I.e. `/home/user/Desktop/test.txt' becomes 'test.txt'. Is that the functionality you want, or do you just want 'test'? –  eldarerathis Aug 8 '10 at 2:35
@eldarerathis: The Unix basename command can remove an extension: basename /some/where/file.txt .txt yields file, which is the desired result. The extension in question is known. –  Jonathan Leffler Aug 8 '10 at 3:52
Ah, okay. That clears it up, then. –  eldarerathis Aug 8 '10 at 3:57
@Johannes - I would have accepted your edits if you had left DOS in the verbiage. It is a crucial part of the context AFAIAC; it is about DOS, not Windows. –  Jonathan Leffler Aug 9 '10 at 13:17
Eek, sorry, misread :-( I apologize. Might be that I'm a bit overzealous by now on the whole DOS issue. Though I wonder why you accepted that answer then, as it clearly won't work in DOS. –  Јοеу Aug 9 '10 at 13:24
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6 Answers

up vote 19 down vote accepted

For command-line

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

output: bar

For .bat Files

set FILE=bar
for /F %%i in ("%FILE%") do @echo %%~ni

output: bar

Further Reading:


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The URL wins you the 'selected answer' - thanks. –  Jonathan Leffler Aug 8 '10 at 3:58
I tried: FOR %%f IN (*.DAT) DO bcheck -y %%~nf in my FIX.BAT script, but it didn't work!.. ~n is a FOR extension available only with WinXP cmd.exe command interpreter. I'm running native DOS 6.22 command.com which doesn't support ~ extensions. See my previous posting: stackoverflow.com/questions/3429032/… –  FrankComputerAtYmailDotCom Aug 8 '10 at 5:07
for /F %i in ("c:\foo\bar space.txt") do @echo %~ni outputs "bar", how could I get the "bar space.txt"? –  Ciantic Oct 21 '10 at 19:34
@Ciantic: By reading the link in my answer. Or by asking a question in the appropriate fashion. –  hobodave Oct 21 '10 at 19:36
Answer to my question is for /F "delims=" %i in ("c:\foo\bar space.txt") do @echo %~ni produces "bar space" –  Ciantic Oct 21 '10 at 19:54
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To expand on hobodave's and ars's answers, here's the relevant snippet of help from the for command:

In addition, substitution of FOR variable references has been enhanced.
You can now use the following optional syntax:

    %~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
    %~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:

                   environment variable for %I and expands to the
                   drive letter and path of the first one found.

avoids confusion with the modifiers, which are not case sensitive.
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In the FOR loop command, you can use %%~n.

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I understand that the answer "you can't" is not good enough. So, if it really /has/ to be done in Real Mode DOS, then get the 4DOS command shell and accompanying programs and use it instead of COMMAND.COM


I haven't used it in years, but it was always /far/ better than COMMAND.COM If you search this page: http://www.4dos.info/4batfaq.htm for "basename" you will see there is a Real Mode DOS answer to your problem if using 4DOS /instead/ of COMMAND.COM

The only other solution path I can think of is to find or write a Real Mode .exe that performs basename.

COMMAND.COM, even in DOS 6.22 with all its supporting external commands, was always an incredibly crippled system for scripts/batch files. Note that the MinGW32 command line progs will be of no help. All that stuff is for Protected Mode (32 bit Windows). If you try it in DOS you'll just get the cryptic "This program cannot be run in DOS mode." or something similar.

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Also, the MKS Toolkit has a basename util...


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This was discussed...as you can imagine, those who still insist on DOS also insist on no MKS. –  Jonathan Leffler Aug 8 '10 at 3:55
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DOS 6.22 does not support %~nI in for batch statements. here's a workaround to the problem I presented in my original question about isql's 4.10 bcheck utility requiring only a basename whereas in isql 2.10 bcheck utility worked with star.star as an argument. I created the following QBASIC program to solve bcheck 4.10 now requiring only a basename to work:

BatFile$ = "CHKFILE.BAT"
        IF INSTR(COMMAND$, "?") > 0 THEN
          PRINT "This program generates a batch file to check Informix files"
          PRINT "  -b  BBBB.BAT    this option is used to change the batch file name"
          PRINT "                  by default the batch file name is CHKFILE.BAT"
        END IF
        IF INSTR(COMMAND$, "-B") > 0 THEN
          BatFile$ = LTRIM$(MID$(COMMAND$, INSTR(COMMAND$, "-B") + 2)) + "  "
          BatFile$ = LEFT$(BatFile$, INSTR(BatFile$, " ") - 1)
        END IF

        OPEN BatFile$ FOR OUTPUT AS #2

        filename$ = DIR$("*.dat")
        IF LEN(filename$) = 0 THEN SYSTEM
        DO WHILE LEN(filename$) > 0
          PRINT #2, "bcheck -y", filename$
          filename$ = DIR$

OR, one can write an ACE program to extract the basename from systables.dirpath and PRINT "BCHECK -y ",systables.dirpath

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