Batch wildcards in if statement

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Im saying this at the beginning so it doesn't happen: Don't say anything bad about batch its needed for a reason.

I need wildcards in an if statement something like

<br />
if "food is good"=="food * good" echo Yes I agree it is<br />

(Wildcard)

Is this possible? How can I do this?

Posted 31-Jul-13 7:46am

G4mm4R4y

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RedDk 31-Jul-13 14:15pm

http://www.dostips.com/ and wayd through the search return ...

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 31-Jul-13 15:02pm

I'm saying this at the beginning so it doesn't happen (later again): don't be so arrogant, let people tell you whatever they find appropriate. After all, you are asking for help, so get ready to listen to member's opinion. I think most members will understand that batch can be useful.
—SA

pasztorpisti 31-Jul-13 16:30pm

Your toolset is very limited if you are using just builtin commands. This kind of problem should be solved by running a small external tool program or script from your bat file by passing the strings as parameters and then the external stuff could return the result as an exitcode. I would use for example python script (maybe a perl one-liner) in which this task is ridiculously easy.

G4mm4R4y 1-Aug-13 2:41am

I do know a little python but not enough to get by without help, I know barely anything besides variables math and user input

pasztorpisti 1-Aug-13 4:35am

Then read the tutorial. The python homepage is excellent, you can find everything you need there.

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OriginalGriff · Answer 1 · 2013-07-31T08:08:00

Solution 1

AFAIK the batch IF Statement only works on string equality / non-equality, there are no wildcards.
However, it would not be difficult to write a quick'n'dirty application which takes two strings as parameters, and returns ERRORLEVEL 0 for equality and +1 and -1 for greater and less than. Since it'd be your app, wildcards would be completely under your control...

Posted 31-Jul-13 8:08am

OriginalGriff

Comments

PIEBALDconsult 31-Jul-13 14:37pm

Or RegEx.

OriginalGriff 31-Jul-13 14:45pm

I've not heard of a regex in a batch file: does the cmd process support them?

PIEBALDconsult 31-Jul-13 14:46pm

I mean write a utility like you suggest, but use RegEx to perform the test.

OriginalGriff 31-Jul-13 14:59pm

That's a pity! I thought I was going to learn something new. :laugh:

PIEBALDconsult 31-Jul-13 15:49pm

Sorry to get your hopes up. On the other hand, I wonder if an in-line Perl script would do it. (I don't have Perl installed on this system.)
On the plus side, I reviewed my simple little RegEx utility and added the return of the number of matches found.

C:\Projects\Utilities>regex "food .* good" "food is good"
0 = food is good

C:\Projects\Utilities>if errorlevel 1 echo Yay!
Yay!