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DOS batch command help needed with ftp

what I am trying to do is
1 .connect to ftp
2. copy all files in a folder called "source"
3. place a copy of the files in a "Picked" folder
4. finally delete original files in "source"

I do this by using a batch file that calls a script file called GetFiles.txt
The calling batch file has following commands

@Echo off
cd C:\FTPTest
ftp -v -w:2000000 -s:getfiles.txt

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GetFiles.txt has following commands

prompt
open <ftp address>
username
password
cd Source
binary
lcd C:\Destination
mget *.*
lcd C:\Destination
cd ..
cd Picked
mput *.*
for /f %%a IN ('dir /b C:\Destination\*.*') do delete %%a
bye

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My script works for all 3 steps above. The step 4 fails. ( Line 13 ) - it does not do anything
I dont want to use mdelete *.* since I need to delete only the files I copied ( just in case some files did not get copied I want to keep them in source)
so I have implemented the following line for step 4 above ( but it fails )

for /f %%a IN ('dir /b C:\Destination\*.*') do delete %%a

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Bill Prew

No easy way to do this with the built in windows ftp client. You would have to essentially do two ftp commands, the first to xfer the files, then use a for loop in the bat script to build a new control file for the second ftp run, with a delete line for each file in the destination folder, and then run ftp with that delete control file.

You could make this a LOT simpler by using NCFTPGET (link below) with the -DD option, it will transfer the files to your pc, and then delete them from the server if successful, all automatically. And no control file needed, all options and parms are passed tight in on the command line. Great tool, and free.

http://www.ncftp.com/ncftp/

~bp

ren20atom

Hi Indikad,

Please try the following,
On the 13 line, put the following command
dir /b C:\Destination >>c:\Destination\list.txt

on the line 14, put the following command
for /F %%A in (c:\destination\list.txt) do (del c:\destination\%%A)

on the line 15, put the command : bye
Please test and let me know if it worked.

indikad

ASKER

Hi ren20atom,

Thanks for your attention.

what is list.txt ?
also del does not work in thisn instance since - I am deleting files in a ftp folder.

Hi , billprew - at this moment I am bit reluctant to have another 3rdPart FTP client on the server. But thanks anyway for the tip.

Bill Prew

Does the c:\destination folder get cleaned out after each xfer, or will it build up with more and more files over time? If the latter then doing a DEL in ftp for each of those will grow beyond the files transferred in the most recent batch and become inefficient.

If the files do get moved out of there after each xfer then I have an approach that will work, but it will result in a good bit more bat code.

~bp

indikad

ASKER

Yes. Destination folder , will get flushed to a seperate folder within the local server. I just have not implemented that yet.

Thanks.

indikad

ASKER

billprew: , do you have the solution please ?

Bill Prew

Working it...

~bp

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Bill Prew

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