Batch file directory of files in folder

dingpud

Hello all. I am far from a programmer, but have found a lot of use out of a batch file that I found. The file is as follows:
dir /s*.*>dirlist.txt
This file, typed into a notepad file, then saved as a .bat file has worked perfectly on my XP system. I tried to use in in W7, and it just prints to a blank notepad file. Is something different with W7?

I did, through a Google search, find that when renaming the file from .txt to .bat, I had to use uppercase for the .BAT, but that was an easy fix.....

Any suggestions?
Thanks,

chiro

I tried the same thing on my C drive and I got an access denied message. I tried the same thing on a different drive and it worked.

I'm guessing you need to change your permissions for the C drive to allow you to do this on that drive. An easy way to check if you can do this is to open the command prompt and type "dir /s *.* > dirstruc.txt" and if you get the denied message, you'll know that you need to change the permissions.

dingpud

I will try that when I get a chance... Currently when I run the one that I posted, it just gives me a blank notepad file. It use to create the same file listing.txt which had the directory in the notepad file. I do not get any errors when I run it.

DrGreg

Are you sure that the txt file is even being created in the first place? If the current directory is set to "C:\", then your command will try to create the txt file within "C:\". I use Vista and on my machine non-administrators don't have permission to create files there. The solution is to specify a place where you are allowed to write, e.g.

or, better still

which has the same effect.

dingpud

Well, I found the original batch file... went in to edit it, and it seems as though the only difference were the spaces around the *.* This file works exactly like it use to.
dir /s *.* >dirlist.txt
Saved as a batch file will allow me to copy and paste the batch file in a folder, double click on it, then read the .txt file that it creates with a list of all the files, folders, and sub-folders within the folder. I can then export to Excel and get a nice neat list of all the files.
Thanks all. The info about including the directory to write to will help reduce the amount of renaming and copying and pasting that I'll have to do....

EDIT: This works on both XP and W7