TSCMD138 FAQ: How can I get the long name of a short-named file or folder? Assorted NT/2000/XP/.. CMD.EXE script tricks written by Timo Salmi

138} How can I get the long name of a short-named file or folder?

Getting the short name of a file or folder is relatively easy with FOR /F and %%~sI but the reverse is more complicated.

Is it possible to cd to short-named dir, but prompt to show full, long name?

The question essentially is, when in a short-named folder, how can one get its long name? The solution below should do this, for XP at least

@echo off & setlocal enableextensions
cd C:\DOCUME~1
for /f %%d in ("%cd%") do set name_=%%~nd
for /f %%p in ("%cd%") do set path_=%%~dpp
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%a in (
'dir /x ..^|find "%name_%"') do set long_=%%a
set long_=%long_:~49%
echo %path_%%long_%
endlocal & goto :EOF

The output would be
C:\_M>c:\_d\test\cmdfaq
C:\Documents and Settings

DIR /X displays the short names generated for non-8dot3 file names.

More generally:

@echo off & setlocal enableextensions
echo.
echo +----------------------------------------------------+
echo : Get the long name of a short-named folder or file :
echo : By Prof. Timo Salmi. Last modified Fri 28-Apr-2006 :
echo +----------------------------------------------------+
echo.
::
:: Usage
if "%~1"=="" (
echo Usage: %~f0 "ShortFolderOrFileName"
goto :EOF
)
::
:: Check that it is about a short name
echo "%~1"|find "~">nul
if %errorlevel% GTR 0 (
echo "%~1" is not a valid short name
goto :EOF
)
::
:: Check the existence
if not exist "%~1" (
echo "%~1" not found
goto :EOF
)
::
:: Get and process the information
for /f %%d in ("%~1") do set name_=%%~nd
for /f %%p in ("%~1") do set path_=%%~dpp
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%a in (
'dir /x "%1\.."^|find "%name_%"') do set long_=%%a
set long_=%long_:~49%
::
:: Show the results
echo %~1
echo %path_%%long_%
endlocal & goto :EOF

The output might be e.g.
C:\_M>c:\_d\bas\cmdfaq "C:\_D\BAS\KOE2~1.CMD"
C:\_D\BAS\KOE2~1.CMD
C:\_D\BAS\KOE 2.CMD

There is an even simple solution to the problem of displaying the long-name format of the current folder as captured below

C:\DOCUME~1>attrib %cd%
C:\Documents and Settings

Developed from that we get:

@echo off & setlocal enableextensions
if "%~1"=="" (
set dir_=%cd%
) else (
set dir_=%~1
)
::
echo %dir_%|findstr /e "\\" > nul
if %errorlevel% EQU 0 (
echo Drop the trailing backslash \
goto :EOF)
::
if not exist "%dir_%\" (
echo "%dir_%" no such folder
goto :EOF)
::
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%d in (
'attrib "%dir_%"') do set long_=%%d
set long_=%long_:~11%
::
echo %dir_%
echo %long_%
endlocal & goto :EOF

The output might be e.g.
C:\_M>C:\_D\BAS\CMDFAQ C:\DOCUME~1

C:\DOCUME~1

C:\Documents and Settings

The problem with the above solutions is that they work one level at the time only. Thus one has to walk through, which takes some doing. A fullpath solution to the problem is given below

@echo off & setlocal enableextensions enabledelayedexpansion
::
:: Display intermediate information for debugging or not
set debug=true
set debug=
::
:: Usage
if "%~1"=="" (
echo.
echo Usage: %~0 [FolderOrFileName]
goto :EOF
)
::
:: Give the name of the folder or the file
set name=%~f1
if not exist "%name%" (
echo "%name%" not found
goto :EOF)
::
:: Parse the path elements
set count_=0
set rest_=%name%
:_loop
for /f "tokens=1* delims=\" %%a in ("%rest_%") do (
set /a count_+=1
set part[!count_!]=%%a
set rest_=%%b
if defined rest_ goto _loop
)
::
:: Display the individual parts
if defined debug (
for /l %%i in (1,1,%count_%) do (
echo part[%%i]=!part[%%i]!
)
echo.
)
::
:: Build up the path
for /l %%i in (1,1,%count_%) do (
set longpath_=!longpath_!!part[%%i]!\
if %%i GTR 1 (
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%f in (
'attrib "!longpath_:~0,-1!"') do (
set longpath_=%%f
set longpath_=!longpath_:~11!\
)
if defined debug echo !longpath_!
)
)
set longpath_=%longpath_:~0,-1%
::
:: Display the result
echo The given format was:
echo %name%
echo The long format is:
echo %longpath_%
::
endlocal & goto :EOF

Examples of the output
C:\_D\TEST>cmdfaq %temp%
The given format was:
C:\DOCUME~1\ts\LOCALS~1\Temp
The long format is:
C:\Documents and Settings\ts\Local Settings\Temp

C:\_D\TEST>cmdfaq %temp%\jupdate1.5.0.xml
The given format was:
C:\DOCUME~1\ts\LOCALS~1\Temp\jupdate1.5.0.xml
The long format is:
C:\Documents and Settings\ts\Local Settings\Temp\jupdate1.5.0.xml

C:\_D\TEST>cmdfaq C:\DOCUME~1\ts\LOCALS~1
The given format was:
C:\DOCUME~1\ts\LOCALS~1
The long format is:
C:\Documents and Settings\ts\Local Settings

C:\_D\TEST>cmdfaq TEST3~1.CMD
The given format was:
C:\_D\BAS\TEST3~1.CMD
The long format is:
C:\_D\BAS\TEST 3.CMD

There is a non-command-line solution which one can use the check one's results. Enter a SFN path as the Windown explorer address.

It will produce

Assorted NT/2000/XP/.. CMD.EXE Script Tricks From the html version of the tscmd.zip 1cmdfaq.txt file To the Description and the Index

Assorted NT/2000/XP/.. CMD.EXE Script Tricks
From the html version of the tscmd.zip 1cmdfaq.txt file
To the Description and the Index