.bat renaming files runs multiple times

Question

So the script works well, I usually run it in the folder with the files I modify (Mainly .mp3's) to trim the first X characters from the filename (Numbers spaces dashes ect) of multiple files.

@echo off setLocal enableDelayedExpansion set X=5 set FOLDER_PATH=. pushd %FOLDER_PATH% for %%f in (*) do if %%f neq %~nx0 ( set "filename=%%~nf" set "filename=!filename:~%X%!" ren "%%f" "!filename!%%~xf" ) popd

But running it on my SD Card (Formatted for Galaxy S4 w./ Android 4.3) that I have plugged in it works perfectly for 70% of the files. But for some it runs twice, and for a very rare few it acts like it hasn't run at all. I'm completely befuddled by it, is it just the SD Card?

Sorry about the android tag, it was recommended and looking back it was irrelevant. My bad — user3268199
– user3268199, Commented Feb 17, 2014 at 23:45

dbenham · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-17 06:09:51Z

The simple FOR command with wildcards begins iterating files before it finishes reading the entire directory. It buffers a block of files and iterates them, then picks up where it left off. When you rename a file, the renamed file may sort later in the list, and be picked up in a later block of files. Hence the double renaming.

Any time you have a loop that modifies the directory listing you should use FOR /F with the DIR /B command instead of the simple FOR.

for /f "eol=: delims=" %%F in ('dir /b /a-d-h-s') do ...

The EOL=: is just in case a file name begins with ; (unlikely, but possible). Other valid options with the same result are EOL=* or EOL=? - All are characters that cannot begin a file name or path.

Thank you, your answer is appreciated. It'll help a lot in other areas too!

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