mb2 Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 how do u create a new blank .txt file using XP's command prompt? (ie so i can use it in a batch file.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacesurfer Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 I'm not sure how you can get a blank file but the commandecho >> blank.txt give you a file with the words "Echo is on."If you doecho . >> blank.txtyou'll get a text file with the period.If you know the escape sequence for the space, you might be able to get a blank file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacesurfer Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Or what you can do is create a blank text file somewhere on your drive, then have the batch file copy it to where you want to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhc Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 I'm sure there's a better way to do it, but you can create zero-length files using the DEBUG program. To automate the process you'll first need to create a file (we'll call it TEST.DBG) containing two lines, as follows:wqThe first line will tell DEBUG to write a file, the second will end DEBUG. You can now use the TEST.DBG file to create a zero-length file. Here's an example:DEBUG ZEROLEN.TXT <TEST.DBGThe above command will create a zero-length file of the name ZEROLEN.TXT. A possible limitation is that DEBUG is a DOS program and only understands 8-dot-3 names for files and directories.You can use this method to change the size of any file to zero bytes, but the TEST.DBG file would be six lines:rbx0rcx0wqThe above is limited to files whose original size was 512K or smaller. It also will not work on .EXE files, or on those which cannot be modified due to lack of permission or read-only status.mhc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bezalel Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 (edited) You can run a program that does not produce any output and redirect the output to a text file.wuauclt > blank.txtwuauclt was first program I could think of that never produces any output.If you have a C compiler you can compile this program that does nothing and use it instead of wuauclt.int main(){} Edited July 2, 2006 by Bezalel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mb2 Posted July 2, 2006 Author Share Posted July 2, 2006 (edited) excellent, thanks guys.. how do u delete folders (ie not just their contents?) with command prompt also?edit: what i was trying to do was delete all the ??.lproj folders and their contents except for the en.lproj folders in iTunes. anyway i've created the following batch file to get rid of the ipodservice.exe and ituneshelper.exe processes, as well as all the useless foreign language stuff, as it was getting annoying doing it manually after every update etc.i've managed to hack it enough to get it to get rid of all the files atleast, but its far from an elegant, simple, solution, and the folders are still there.can anyone improve?. hopefully it'll be of use to some people too.. (tried to upload as .bat but didn't let me.. )taskkill /IM iTunesHelper.exe /Fc:cd c:\Program Files\iTunes\del iTunesHelper.exetype nul>iTuneshelper.exeattrib +R iTuneshelper.exetaskkill /IM ipodservice.exe /Fcd c:\Program Files\ipod\bin\del * /q /f /stype nul>iPodService.exeattrib +R iPodService.execd C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesMiniPlayer.Resources\taskkill /IM iTunes.exe /Fmove en.lproj ..\move itunesminiplayer.dll ..\idel * /q /f /smove ..\en.lproj .move ..\i .\itunesminiplayer.dllcd C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.Resources\move en.lproj ..\move ituneshelper.dll ..\del * /q /f /smove ..\en.lproj .\move ..\ituneshelper.dll .cd C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.Resources\move en.lproj ..\move itunes.dll ..\move itunesregistry.dll ..\move itunes.qtr ..\del * /q /f /smove ..\en.lproj .move ..\itunes.dll .\move ..\itunesregistry.dll .move ..\itunes.qtr .**** command prompt can be a PITA!..eh, u sensor the word dam'n now? Edited July 3, 2006 by mb2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yzöwl Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 To create a zero byte file called test.txttype nul>test.txtTo 'delete folders', (if you used the correct terminology, it may be easier to look up), use RD (Remove Directory). For its usage open a command prompt and type & enterRD /? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mb2 Posted July 2, 2006 Author Share Posted July 2, 2006 from my reading the problem with RD is that it doesn't accept wildcards..? (see problem edited above^^) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LLXX Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 from my reading the problem with RD is that it doesn't accept wildcards..? (see problem edited above^^)for %a in ( name* ) do rd %aSurprising how many ways there are to create a 0-byte file.This is the recommended solution:type nul>test.txt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mb2 Posted July 3, 2006 Author Share Posted July 3, 2006 for %a in ( name* ) do rd %asorry.. can u say that some other way i'm not getting it. does %a replace * ..or? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmshah Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 excellent, thanks guys.. how do u delete folders (ie not just their contents?) with command prompt also?edit: what i was trying to do was delete all the ??.lproj folders and their contents except for the en.lproj folders in iTunes. anyway i've created the following batch file to get rid of the ipodservice.exe and ituneshelper.exe processes, as well as all the useless foreign language stuff, as it was getting annoying doing it manually after every update etc.i've managed to hack it enough to get it to get rid of all the files atleast, but its far from an elegant, simple, solution, and the folders are still there.can anyone improve?. hopefully it'll be of use to some people too.. (tried to upload as .bat but didn't let me.. )taskkill /IM iTunesHelper.exe /Fc:cd c:\Program Files\iTunes\del iTunesHelper.exetype nul>iTuneshelper.exeattrib +R iTuneshelper.exetaskkill /IM ipodservice.exe /Fcd c:\Program Files\ipod\bin\del * /q /f /stype nul>iPodService.exeattrib +R iPodService.execd C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesMiniPlayer.Resources\taskkill /IM iTunes.exe /Fmove en.lproj ..\move itunesminiplayer.dll ..\idel * /q /f /smove ..\en.lproj .move ..\i .\itunesminiplayer.dllcd C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.Resources\move en.lproj ..\move ituneshelper.dll ..\del * /q /f /smove ..\en.lproj .\move ..\ituneshelper.dll .cd C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.Resources\move en.lproj ..\move itunes.dll ..\move itunesregistry.dll ..\move itunes.qtr ..\del * /q /f /smove ..\en.lproj .move ..\itunes.dll .\move ..\itunesregistry.dll .move ..\itunes.qtr .**** command prompt can be a PITA!..eh, u sensor the word dam'n now?Use 4NT as a replacement for cmd.exe It can do really fancy stuff. You can also try 4dos version 7.5 which is now free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mb2 Posted July 7, 2006 Author Share Posted July 7, 2006 (edited) bump.. (see post 6/10).. (would rather use M$ CMD.exe if possible) Edited July 7, 2006 by mb2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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