How to read just the data from a registry value?

[NOTS3W]

Is there a way to set one registry value with the data from another within a cmd file?

Here's what I have:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg
	(Default)		  REG_SZ   original_default_data

Here's what I need:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg
	(Default)		  REG_SZ   EmberImage
	BeforeEmberImage   REG_SZ   original_default_data

To make the changes, I need to get the original data from the (Default) value possibly into an environment variable.

REG QUERY HKCR\.jpg /ve returns too much information:

! REG.EXE VERSION 3.0

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg
	<NO NAME>   REG_SZ   NeroPhotoSnapViewer.Files.jpg

I could also do this by renaming (Default) to BeforeEmberImage but I can't find a way to do that. REG COPY copies the entire key, not just the (Default) value.

I'd really like to do this in a simple cmd file without getting into vbs scripts, etc. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Ray

[Yzöwl]

This is not a one size fits all solution.

You cannot use this for all keys and values, many keys would require more values to be backed up and their structure would be different.

Here is an NT command script, it uses as in your example REG.EXE, which is not available by default in any pre-XP Windows OS.

@ECHO OFF&SETLOCAL
SET "N_=EmberImage"
SET "K_=HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\.jpg"&SET "V_=Pre_%N_%"
FOR /F "SKIP=3 TOKENS=2,3 DELIMS=	" %%a IN ('REG QUERY %K_% /ve') DO (
	SET "_=/t %%a /d "%%b"")
ECHO:REG ADD %K_% /v %V_% %_%
ECHO:REG ADD %K_% /ve /d "%N_%" /f
PAUSE

The code does not contain sufficient checks/debugging for potential errors and is made only as an example to the questions originator. The code as is does not actually make registry changes, just echo's the potential changes to the console window.

Note: DELIMS=<TAB> not a series of spaces!

I hope it serves its purpose for you.

[NOTS3W]

Thanks, Yzöwl. It's going to take me a bit to get my head around that, but I think I see what it does.

Ray