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What does this do? SET CDIR=%CDIR:~0,-24%

Lines in a DOS batch file (e.g. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP.BAT) What do these lines do?

The first line gets the name of the batch file itself.
Then what's all that rest do with the file name?

SET CDIR=%0
SET CDIR=%CDIR:~0,-24%
SET LIST=%CDIR:~0,32%
SET LIST=%LIST:~-6%

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dsacker

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SOLUTION

Bill Prew

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Steve Knight

Just to add.... if they are trying to get part of the filename the use of %0 depends upon what was actually used to RUN the batch file, e.g. using this batch file to show some of the operators to get the (d)rive, (p)ath, (f)ull path, (n)ame and e(x)tension parts. So would suggest NOT using %0 but combinations of below:

@echo off
echo %%0 %0
echo %%~0 %~0
echo %%~dp0 %~dp0
echo %%~f0 %~f0
echo %%~nx0 %~nx0
pause

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If it is run just using "1" from command prompt:

C:\Users\stephen>1
%0 1
%~0 1
%~dp0 C:\Users\stephen\
%~f0 C:\Users\stephen\1.cmd
%~nx0 1.cmd
Press any key to continue . . .

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If it is run using c:\users\stephen\1.cmd

C:\Users\stephen>c:\users\stephen\1.cmd
%0 c:\users\stephen\1.cmd
%~0 c:\users\stephen\1.cmd
%~dp0 c:\Users\stephen\
%~f0 c:\Users\stephen\1.cmd
%~nx0 1.cmd
Press any key to continue . . .

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Also if you do want (maybe?) the 6 characters from character 26 in the name then you can use:

set cdir=%~f0
%CDIR:~26,6%

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deleyd

ASKER

Thank you Steve for that information. It was very helpful. :)