Cmd findstr in folder Jun 18, 2018 · I'm trying to use FINDSTR to search through a folder full of text files, using a text file of strings, then output to results. txt>test2. txt using findstr and I have the following issue: set "log_file=C:\Tools_Dev\log_file. How to search for the exact match of string (s) using the windows findstr command? For example: I need to find only the exact match the string store but not stored, storeday, etc. Nov 16, 2019 · I have been given the clue of using the findstr command, however, this is only useful for searching through one directory. I achieved proper code until this point. Apr 9, 2015 · Trying to find any files of certain pattern in a directory and its subdirectories. This is the used code: @findstr /i /v &q Sep 30, 2015 · I am running the windows command findstr to search for a specific sting only in . There's a very rough estimate, but scanning the entire C:-drive typically takes a few hours as opposed to five minutes. I have edited the answer accordingly. txt. txt and a string "Hi" and the beginning of the 15th line. The command to count the no of lines is findstr /R /N "^" file. Nov 16, 2011 · Get-ChildItem -recurse | Get-Content | Select-String -pattern "dummy" The problem is, I can see the occurences of the text I am looking for, but I don't know how to tell PS to return the path and the name for every matching files as well. findstr is particularly useful in scripting, log analysis, and automated tasks […] Dec 20, 2019 · I have a folder with subfolders, which include files. Changing <filepath> to a regular expression makes the command look for the specified pattern in all files that match. Jun 10, 2021 · FINDSTR will then try to find the file "C:\ICT\"RefilterMe". For example, I want to find all files that include BOTH "String: A Oct 1, 2022 · Note: Each folder has further sub directories String to find: What I tried: findstr /spin C:\xampp\htdocs\projects\e-pay\script\vendor:"please enter your datbase connection details" *. txt) and run findstr on each file followed by a newline (echo:). What is the simplest way to d For future reference, Microsoft has an online Windows XP - Command-line reference A-Z which is still mostly applicable to later versions. r12222 tjy. exe in Windows. Jan 12, 2017 · Search for a text string in a file (or multiple files) unlike the simple FIND command FINDSTR supports more complex regular expressions. Oct 16, 2018 · As it is quoted if the file name being processed by findstr includes spaces or special characters the command will fail because they are out of a quoted area. bat Jul 20, 2015 · I've come across a new string I want to search for in the same file and do the same action if it finds it, it stored it in a variable called %acctg_cyc% can I search for both strings in one line of code? Overview findstr is a command-line tool in Windows CMD that searches for patterns of text in files. config, and . Mar 12, 2024 · I'm trying to find a string inside a file. /C:string Use string as a Sep 22, 2021 · Finding Words in Files Let’s start learning about the findstr command by finding words in files. The command findstr "Windows NT FAQ" ntfaq. /S Searches for matching files in the current directory and all subdirectories. That's why test2. /R Uses search strings as regular expressions. ini looking for the string \output. " Is there a way to do this -- at the command line, for example (assuming such is still available in Windows 10)? Mar 30, 2020 · (for /f "tokens=1,*" %%a in ('findstr /b "Data:" data. For example, in a given (network) folder, I want to search all the MS Word docs in the folder for a phrase such as "knee brace. After every file has been processed by findstr then we will count the number of lines. Adding parameters to the findstr command gives you flexibility in finding words in files and even finding files. Compared to the find command, findstr offers more advanced and flexible search capabilities, making it ideal for extracting specific data from logs, searching across multiple files, and filtering command outputs. Jan 5, 2024 · Learn how to create, delete, find, rename, compress, hide, move, copy and manage a file or folder using Command Prompt in Windows 11/10. Page includes findstr availability, syntax, and examples on how to use the findstr command. Syntax FINDSTR string(s) [pathname(s)] [/R] [/C:"string"] [/G:StringsFile] [/F:file] [/D:DirList] [/A:color] [/OFF[LINE]] [options] Key string(s) Text to search for, each word a separate search. May 4, 2018 · findstr is a built-in tool of the Windows operating system that you may run from the command line to find text in files or in command-line outputs. skip= n A number of lines to skip at the beginning of the file. bat) that you double-click on it and it will run automatically. txt-files for a significant performance boost. config, or text files for that particular string. txt" a-findstr C/:"text to find" %log_file% works Apr 15, 2021 · FINDSTR Search for a text string in a file (or multiple files) unlike the simple FIND command FINDSTR supports more complex regular expressions. How can I read the first line from a text file using a Windows batch file? Since the file is large I only want to deal with the first line. Is that possible by one line in cmd? Apr 26, 2019 · I need to search the contents of a folder for phrases contained within files contained within that folder. Only folder. r9994 Where an number is appended after the letter r, done by SVN. Aug 31, 2016 · All findstr command-line options must precede Strings and FileName in the command string. To avoid this, nest the command inside parentheses (FINDSTR options). txt | find /C ":" I re Aug 10, 2011 · The solutions that search a file for a substring can also search a string, eg. Step 1 You need to click on the file explorer. My command below does not produce any results, whereas the FINDSTR Use the FINDSTR command to search for a specific string in a file or files and send the specified lines to your output device. ini files. I tried: findstr /n Load. txt The text file of strings contains 3,200 lines, each containing an authors name and associated book title. Mar 20, 2025 · Learn how to quickly search for text within files on Linux and Windows using powerful tools like grep, Notepad++, and findstr. Jan 28, 2021 · Use findstr rather than find to get the file name and line content of matches only. Sep 6, 2024 · In this section, we’ll walk you through each step to help you master the ‘findstr’ command in Windows 10. txt" as is, the quotes are then trimed but as there is an escaped quote (\" from C:\ICT\"), this quote is kept as is. Furthermore, the command handles about 1 GB a minute. doc" and "docx"). txt:"something","str1","something else The command DIR /X will reveal short filenames if they exist, where many similar names exist in the same folder the short file name (SFN) will not always be an obvious contraction of the long name. Find String when put in short became FINDSTR. Mar 21, 2025 · Findstr command information for MS-DOS and the Windows command line. "BAR"). Is there a way to use findstr to get powershell to search through the whole drive for a specific string? Aug 2, 2018 · Enter FindStr /? at the Command Prompt and read the usage information. Regular expressions use both literal characters and metacharacters to find patterns of text, rather than exact strings of characters. May 10, 2018 · Powershell requires (much) more resources (RAM) than cmd so if all you need is something quick and simple, it makes more sense to use cmd. txt | find /c /v "GarbageStringDefNotInYourResults" So you are counting the lines resulting from your findstr command that do not have the garbage string in it. Do you know if it starts searching from where cmd. The following command finds all occurrences of “<?php” at the beginning of the line in all PHP files of the current folder: Oct 16, 2018 · From Windows CMD I can use findstr -m subroutine *. and findstr /? prints: Searches for strings in files. You can use Select-String similar to grep in Unix or findstr. Is it possible to regex replace from command line? Right now I'm using notepad++ to do this. It is also used to find files with Mar 10, 2017 · Just for reference, with findstr, you get highlighted filenames on the command line, and you don't get this in a text file (obviously). Kind of a hack, but it could work for you. FINDSTR will prevent console color escape sequences from working for subsequent commands within the same command block. So, we need a way to separate the two quotes, without including a non desired character in the findstr expression but properly closing each quoted area Oct 4, 2016 · I am attempting to find multiple strings in files in a directory, there are thousands. Net framework. Use findStr tool that adds the flexibility to run the unix grep commands on windows. I have a folder called New Folder with 3 files called Jun 8, 2016 · Now I want to use Windows command prompt to search for a specific text term within all files located within the current directory and sub directories How do I use the Windiows command findstr to search subdirectories? findstr is a shell command that searches for text in files [1] and prints matching lines to standard output. Go to the folder, from where you want to start the search. Complete guide and advanced search solutions in Windows. Select-String is based on lines of text. Jul 24, 2025 · The findstr command in Windows allows you to search for complex patterns using regular expressions within files. Oct 19, 2020 · Finding data within files is a common need. Use findstr to Search a Sub Directory for a String? I can use the following to search for text files that contain the word "string" from the Windows Command Prompt: What if I want to search a sub-directory? The following doesn't work: Is it possible to search a specific sub path using findstr? Sep 26, 2022 · Findstr is capable of searching through multiple files. What am I doing wrong? Sep 16, 2014 · Finding Duplicate entries in a file using command prompt Asked 11 years, 2 months ago Modified 11 years, 2 months ago Viewed 1k times Nov 12, 2012 · I want to write a batch file which used the find command to find a string in the parent directory and all sub directories, and prints that output to a text file, then opens the text file when done. By following these steps, you’ll be able to search for specific words or phrases within files straight from the command line. html would search for Windows NT FAQ in ntfaq. g. In Windows 10, with a batch file, I want to search specific string in a . Jul 12, 2021 · I've been having some problem in using FIND or FINDSTR command to find a particular string in a log file and return its output with the matching string along with 1 line above and 1 line below the matching line. What am I doing wrong? The Select-String cmdlet uses regular expression matching to search for text patterns in input strings and files. * But this g Sep 18, 2014 · I want to search for a string in files which end with . By default, Select-String finds the first match in each line and, for each match, it displays the file name, line number, and all text in the line containing the Feb 21, 2018 · So I am running a FINDSTR command to search a file for the text [errorCode: 0] and using the option /v to output the lines which do not contain this string. This solution doesn't require complex batch logic or putting the find command in a loop to parse output and such to get the expected result (s). Is it possible to use findstr in order to find file names that contain 2 different strings, for example. txt findstr command Another tool which is grep equivalent in windows is the findstr command. html. What is the simplest way to d Feb 13, 2023 · find /? prints: Searches for a text string in a file or files. txt" a-findstr C/:"text to find" %log_file% works Nov 23, 2013 · In case the input of your findstr command should not be the result of ipconfig, you could use the following line of code to look for an ip-address in a text or csv file. The command I am running is findstr /i /s /m /C:\output *. I've tried: findstr /s /m /c:"the_word_i_need_to_find" * But this command search in files with any extension. Sep 9, 2022 · I use 'findstr' to find certain common values in a lot of files and I get a list of all files containing it. txt file with FINDSTR command, and copy files, which contain my str Jul 2, 2019 · The grep command in Linux is widely used for parsing files and searching for useful data in the outputs of different commands. txt" Is there something that can search for "Hi" Oct 5, 2023 · Windows command to recursively search for a string in a directory and output results to txt file (s = recursive, i = case insensitive, n = line number detail) - findstr. CMD uses native Win32 calls and Powershell uses the . To list all . * I want to add something that will exclude the results which contain the string str2. The command findstr /c:"Windows NT FAQ" ntfaq. How can I sort the returned files by its modify da Jan 8, 2000 · Use spaces to separate multiple search strings unless you use /c. It is available in all major Windows versions including Windows 10. I am writing a batch file script using Windows command-line environment and want to change each occurrence of some text in a file (ex. pathname(s) The file(s) to search. How can I get the name and location of the files that contains the expression I am looking for? Feb 5, 2015 · Further Reading An A-Z Index of the Windows CMD command line - An excellent reference for all things Windows cmd line related. In command line I can only use FINDSTR wich can only locate the mached files/lines EDIT : Maybe it will I am writing a batch file script using Windows command-line environment and want to change each occurrence of some text in a file (ex. Jun 11, 2021 · find "string name" *. f90 containing "subroutine". txt you're asking for all lines in test. I need to use regex in my batch script. . Then the command should look like this. The `FINDSTR` command in the Windows Command Prompt is a more powerful alternative to `FIND`. Oct 9, 2020 · If you're in a Micrososft Windows machine, you can use a batch script using the find string command (findstr) from the command prompt direclty or as a batch file (. Like grep it searches files and output streams for matching strings and patterns. Is there a way to count those results so I don't have to do it manually, or like enable row numbers in CMD? Feb 12, 2024 · How to Replace Text From File in Batch Script Using findstr and echo The findstr command is a powerful tool for searching for text patterns in files. Jun 6, 2025 · What is FINDSTR and how to use FINDSTR FINDSTR is a command used to find specific text in files on Windows. txt Note: the whole output of the for /f loop is redirected in one go, which is a big time saver with big files. Here is the command I am using findstr /s /i "my-key-word" *. Jan 19, 2021 · I want to search a string in files without extension. "FOO") with another (ex. html would search for Windows, NT, or FAQ in ntfaq. Jan 20, 2023 · Can someone please help me with this. This step-by-step guide covers basic commands, advanced options, and practical examples for efficient file searching. Nov 24, 2016 · I have this string in a text file (test. txt file with FINDSTR command, and copy files, which contain my string, into current folder. Jun 16, 2021 · A quick guide to how to port the unix grep command in windows os. Mar 20, 2012 · I want to search all files in a certain directory for occurrences of statements such as Load frmXYZ I am on Windows 7, using the findstr command. Important Tips Here are some important tips to keep in mind when using the find string and replace feature: Jul 15, 2016 · Further Reading An A-Z Index of the Windows CMD command line - An excellent reference for all things Windows cmd line related. The window of command prompt will be open before you. Syntax FOR /F [" options "] %% parameter IN (filenameset) DO command FOR /F [" options "] %% parameter IN ("Text string to process") DO command Key options: delims= xxx The delimiter character (s). "abc") in a folder, specifically in all the Word files (e. We look for option available with findstr command using help findstr It is quite a powerful search command like grep and we can use regular expression with it We have a text file, which we will use in our examples Aug 24, 2015 · What is the Windows equivalent of the Linux/Unix command wc -l? Basically, how do you count the number of lines output from a command on the Windows command line? May 26, 2023 · Currently, I need to find out all the files which contains the key word. tmp" "%i" command replaces the original file with the modified one. Default for strings = a space or TAB. r[0-9]* /s /b File Not Found in hopes to find files like abc. Temp. exe ” and can be located at system directory (generally, at “ C:\Windows\System32 ” folder). I searched that and find a solution Windows recursive grep command-line I applied same with two different approach, Nov 24, 2018 · I want to search specific string in a . *frm *. Or use it to get the file name only of any file (s) that contain any number of matches. The /N switch already limits the output to the matching line. txt:"something","str1","something else Nov 6, 2014 · For instance, /b and /e tell findstr to only display lines with the search term at the beginning or end of the line, respectively. /I Specifies that the search is not to be case-sensitive. Please take the tour and read How to Ask before editing your question to include a minimal reproducible example of the batch file content you have tried along with what was returned. f90 files not containing the string I can do something like dir /b Jul 5, 2016 · The command file is an executable named “ findstr. txt') do echo %%b) > done. In your case, the easy solution would be to pipe a string into the command instead of supplying a filename eg. I'm using PowerShell and the findstr command. If you write each line individually, the file has to be opened, read until the end of the file, written and closed again for every single line. It supports regular expressions and various search options. * Output File. So it's not a given that the text file is a more useful format. 3 In cmd, navigate to C:\Users, and run dir /s /b | findstr AppData\Local | findstr txt Explanation: dir /s lists all files recursively, /b displays full path, and within all these child files, use pipeline operator to search both the string 'AppData\Local' and 'txt'. htm. Oct 23, 2014 · Open up a Windows console (or CMD). txt is empty: there Nov 6, 2014 · For instance, /b and /e tell findstr to only display lines with the search term at the beginning or end of the line, respectively. ". If what you're looking for is in a flat file, you can find what you're after without having to load your file into another program. In other words, if you want to find specific exact match text strings in files, in a command-line output, or elsewhere, you may use the free findstr command on Windows to do so. Jan 14, 2015 · I am trying to generate a file with all of the rows from an input file containing a certain string using the FINDSTR commanand in cmd. It is similar to the UNIX/Linux grep command and can be used to search single or multiple files for lines that contain a specified string or expressions. g. Nov 8, 2018 · I am trying to write a batch file that allows the user to input a partial filename, and it will search dozens of sub-directories, find and open all of the pdf files whose name contains the user input. FINDSTR was introduced in the Windows NT 4 Resource Kit and is now a native command in Windows 2000 and later. Let's say you search for a text (e. findstr will not return substrings matching the conditions but the whole line where the conditions are met. "I monitored a Powershell session executing Get-ChildItem. txt without "unwanted" in it. Jan 23, 2013 · I successfully managed to seek strings in a long list of files with findstr. Dec 28, 2015 · I have a file example. The documentation in the answer you accepted is at the end of the section on the for command. Mar 21, 2011 · This shows you how you can search for specific string in a file using PowerShell like grep in the Linux and Unix world or findstr in the Windows shell. I am trying to log my results of my search term in a text file called results. The reason why findstr /v "unwanted" test. For Windows, the grep alternative is findstr. exe. Step 2 As soon as the explorer window throws up, enter “cmd” on the search bar. In Linux the way of doing it is to add | grep -v str2 (to grep str1 * of cours Feb 10, 2023 · I'm trying to search a folder for all files that include two different strings. e. Jul 8, 2025 · If you are planning to use command lines to find duplicate files and clean them, these comprehensive guidance will share specific steps for you, involving both CMD and PowerShell. The findstr command is a Windows grep equivalent in a Windows command-line prompt (CMD). I tried: C:\test\workspace>dir *. Powershell takes longer to load, and can consume a lot more RAM than CMD. Feb 10, 2016 · PowerGrep can search in MS-Word files and have a command line option: PowerGrep can quickly search text and binary files, compressed archives, MS Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PDF files, OpenOffice documents, Lotus spreadsheets, Zip files and more on a network and PC. But when I extend it to cover the current folder and sub-folders: findstr /S "import" May 7, 2014 · To the command findstr str1 *. txt In order to get just 11 errors string. /E Matches pattern if at the end of a line. I created a batch that will use windows FINDSTR to search for my selective input. (default = 0) eol=; Character at the start of each line to indicate a comment The default is a Mar 21, 2011 · This shows you how you can search for specific string in a file using PowerShell like grep in the Linux and Unix world or findstr in the Windows shell. Alternatively, just use the find /c on the string you do care about being there. Feb 3, 2023 · Reference article for the find command, which searches for a string of text in files, displaying the specified text string in the file. Sep 19, 2023 · The type "%i" command reads the contents of the file, the findstr /v "example" command removes the string "example" from the contents, and the move /y "%i. Syntax: FINDSTR Searches for strings in files. Open The Command Prompt The first step to use the findstr command is to pop up the command prompt. The command DIR /X will reveal short filenames if they exist, where many similar names exist in the same folder the short file name (SFN) will not always be an obvious contraction of the long name. txt So I do have something like this so The `FINDSTR` command in the Windows Command Prompt is a more powerful alternative to `FIND`. asp, . Feb 21, 2018 · So I am running a FINDSTR command to search a file for the text [errorCode: 0] and using the option /v to output the lines which do not contain this string. I'm redirecting findstr's output to different text files, however I need to get rid of the starting part of the output l Sep 5, 2025 · Learn how to search for modified files in CMD using FC, COMP, and FINDSTR. Command1 findstr "str1" *. It offers powerful options for text searching, including case insensitivity, use of regular expressions, and recursive searches through directories. find or findstr. You can limit the search to . *. (Tips. It offers advanced features and supports regular expressions. Jul 30, 2015 · I want to search one string e. txt): BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA Found 11 errors and 7 warnings I perform this command: findstr /r "[0-9]+ errors" test. The followi The above command will loop through every file (named test*. "main" in my project on windows OS recursively. f90 to list all files with suffix . /L Uses search strings literally. Is there a way to use findstr to get powershell to search through the whole drive for a specific string? Jan 23, 2013 · I successfully managed to seek strings in a long list of files with findstr. In findstr /v "unwanted" test. Dec 17, 2024 · The findstr command in Windows is a versatile tool used for searching specific strings or patterns within files or command outputs. exe is located or from the path showed in command-line itself (for me it's C:\Users\amiregelz)? Nov 16, 2011 · Get-ChildItem -recurse | Get-Content | Select-String -pattern "dummy" The problem is, I can see the occurences of the text I am looking for, but I don't know how to tell PS to return the path and the name for every matching files as well. Dec 27, 2023 · The findstr command offers much of grep‘s core functionality directly from the Windows Command Prompt. In the following example script, we use findstr to locate lines containing the text substring we want to replace within the specified file. Jan 8, 2000 · Use spaces to separate multiple search strings unless you use /c. The required code for findstr should be: findstr /b /n "Hi" "example. The findstr command is a built-in command-line tool, which sends specific lines of matching words to the standard output device. Command Prompt Reference FINDSTR /B Matches pattern if at the beginning of a line. Aug 31, 2022 · Grep is a command-line option used to find a specific string from inside a file or multiple files or from an output of a command but it can be used only in Linux. Here are some examples: Example 1: Simple text search: Oct 1, 2022 · Note: Each folder has further sub directories String to find: What I tried: findstr /spin C:\xampp\htdocs\projects\e-pay\script\vendor:"please enter your datbase connection details" *. exe but when I try to execute it, it gives me the following error FINDSTR: Bad command line Tried so many things but unable to fix. For example, I want to find all files that include BOTH "String: A Oct 14, 2010 · My system has findstr. py it returns a number of matches. I currently run the following command to search the directory: findstr /s "customerid" * Now this allows me t Dec 29, 2020 · I need to find just a folder wwwroot in whole disk F , and not files. [2] The command provides similar functionality as find, but findstr supports regular expressions. The followi Feb 10, 2016 · PowerGrep can search in MS-Word files and have a command line option: PowerGrep can quickly search text and binary files, compressed archives, MS Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PDF files, OpenOffice documents, Lotus spreadsheets, Zip files and more on a network and PC. php But Nothing showed up! can any body guide me the correct way how the string can be find in a particular location? May 25, 2017 · When I use findstr on a single file, like this: findstr "import" filename. findstr - Search for strings in files. java. In other words I want to query asp, web. txt won't work is because findstr searches for lines matching the conditions you gave it. The Findstr command is similar to the Find command but provides a bit more power. Feb 3, 2023 · Reference article for the findstr command, which searches for patterns of text in files. Net) * Find one or more strings in a piped command's output: {{dir}} | findstr "{{string1 string2 }}" Find one or more strings in all files recur [s]ively: findstr /s "{{string1 string2 }}" * Find strings using a case-insensitive search: findstr /i "{{string1 string2 }}" * Find strings in all files using regular expressions: findstr /r Apr 14, 2011 · I want to count the no of lines in a text file and then the value has to be stored into a environment variable. What is the difference between these two? For future reference, Microsoft has an online Windows XP - Command-line reference A-Z which is still mostly applicable to later versions. Here are some examples: Example 1: Simple text search: findstr /c:"@" mail. When you want to find and display only the records that includes a specific term or terms, you have to pass the following command switch parameters: “ /r /c ”. ynvtwpl llx bjkip xogg xxjh vfxs ult bwfae jksjvr jciux plakp izviy vmhq npl lep