Jtdylktuy

I am looking to sort approximately 3,000 pdf files into their own folders. All 3,000 files are in one folder and follow the same format.

COURSE NAME - EMPLOYEEFIRSTNAME EMPLOYEELASTNAME

I have made all the folders, but now want to move the appropriate PDF document into the corresponding folder. I found this handy answer to get me started: How to sort files into folders, according to file names - Windows CMD.

This is what I'm currently trying to modify:

:: C:UsersUserDesktopTraining Test.cmd

@Echo off 

PushD "C:UsersUserDesktopTraining Test"



For %%A in (*.pdf) do For /F "tokens=2,3delims=-." %%B in ("%%A") Do (

  If Not exist "%%B" MD "%%B"

  Move "%%A" "%%B"

)

PopD

What I'm finding is that it's creating a new folder with a space in front of the employee name. I have a folder named "EMPLOYEEFIRST EMPLOYEELAST", but its making a new folder of " EMPLOYEEFIRST EMPLOYEELAST" (note the space at the beginning).

I have also noticed that it creates a new folder for those employees with a hyphenated first or last name. EMPLOYEE-FIRST EMPLOYEE-LAST just turns into a new folder of " EMPLOYEE".

I'm very new to all of this. Is there a way of resolving the issues with the space in the folder name and hyphenated names?

It looks like your delimiter between course name and first/last name is the sequence space-space.

Unfortunately for /f can't treat this as one delimiter but would treat them all as single delimiters and more worse see's adjacent delimiters as only one.

You can use string substitution to replace - with one character like : and then split on that.

String substitution requires normal (no for meta) variables and inside a code block needs delayed expansion.

Sample tree on my ram drive a: before:

> tree a: /F

A:

    COURSE NAME - EMPLOYEE-FIRST EMPLOYEE-LAST.pdf

    COURSE NAME - EMPLOYEEFIRSTNAME EMPLOYEELASTNAME.pdf

    NAME COURSE - EMPLOYEE-FIRST EMPLOYEE-LAST.pdf

    NAME COURSE - EMPLOYEEFIRSTNAME EMPLOYEELASTNAME.pdf

running this batch file:

:: Q:Test201931SU_1410384.cmd

@Echo off & SetLocal EnableDelayedExpansion

PushD "C:UsersUserDesktopTraining Test"

For /f "delims=" %%A in ('dir /B "* - *.pdf" 2^>Nul') do (

    Set "BaseName=%%~nA"

    Set "BaseName=!BaseName: - =:!"

    For /F "tokens=1,2 delims=:" %%B in ("!BaseName!") Do (

        If Not exist "%%B" MD "%%B"

        Move "%%A" "%%B" 1>Nul

    )

)

PopD

And tree after:

> tree a: /F

A:

├───COURSE NAME

│       COURSE NAME - EMPLOYEE-FIRST EMPLOYEE-LAST.pdf

│       COURSE NAME - EMPLOYEEFIRSTNAME EMPLOYEELASTNAME.pdf

│

└───NAME COURSE

        NAME COURSE - EMPLOYEE-FIRST EMPLOYEE-LAST.pdf

        NAME COURSE - EMPLOYEEFIRSTNAME EMPLOYEELASTNAME.pdf