'Windows batch - concatenate multiple text files into one
I need to create a script, which concatenates multiple text files into one. I know it's simple to use
type *.txt > merged.txt
But the requirement is to "concatenate files from same day into file day_YYYY-DD-MM.txt" I am a Linux user and Windows batch is hell for me. It's Windows XP.
Solution 1:[1]
Windows type command works similarly to UNIX cat.
Example 1: Merge with file names (This will merge file1.csv & file2.csv to create concat.csv)
type file1.csv file2.csv > concat.csv
Example 2: Merge files with pattern (This will merge all files with csv extension and create concat.csv)
When using asterisk(*) to concatenate all files. Please DON'T use same extension for target file(Eg. .csv). There should be some difference in pattern else target file will also be considered in concatenation
type *.csv > concat_csv.txt
Solution 2:[2]
At its most basic, concatenating files from a batch file is done with 'copy'.
copy file1.txt + file2.txt + file3.txt concattedfile.txt
Solution 3:[3]
Place all files need to copied in a separate folder, for ease place them in c drive.
Open Command Prompt - windows>type cmd>select command prompt.
You can see the default directory pointing - Ex : C:[Folder_Name]>. Change the directory to point to the folder which you have placed files to be copied, using ' cd [Folder_Name] ' command.
After pointing to directory - type 'dir' which shows all the files present in folder, just to make sure everything at place.
Now type : 'copy *.txt [newfile_name].txt' and press enter.
Done!
All the text in individual files will be copied to [newfile_name].txt
Solution 4:[4]
In Win 7, navigate to the directory where your text files are. On the command prompt use:
copy *.txt combined.txt
Where combined.txt is the name of the newly created text file.
Solution 5:[5]
I am reiterating some of the other points already made, but including a 3rd example that helps when you have files across folders that you want to concatenate.
Example 1 (files in the same folder):
copy file1.txt+file2.txt+file3.txt file123.txt
Example 2 (files in same folder):
type *.txt > combined.txt
Example 3 (files exist across multiple folders, assumes newfileoutput.txt doesn't exist):
for /D %f in (folderName) DO type %f/filename.txt >> .\newfileoutput.txt
Solution 6:[6]
We can use normal CAT command to merge files..
D:> cat *.csv > outputs.csv
Solution 7:[7]
cat "input files" > "output files"
This works in PowerShell, which is the Windows preferred shell in current Windows versions, therefore it works. It is also the only version of the answers above to work with large files, where 'type' or 'copy' fails.
Solution 8:[8]
Try this:
@echo off
set yyyy=%date:~6,4%
set mm=%date:~3,2%
set dd=%date:~0,2%
set /p temp= "Enter the name of text file: "
FOR /F "tokens=* delims=" %%x in (texto1.txt, texto2.txt, texto3.txt) DO echo %%x >> day_%temp%.txt
This code ask you to set the name of the file after "day_" where you can input the date. If you want to name your file like the actual date you can do this:
FOR /F "tokens=* delims=" %%x in (texto1.txt, texto2.txt, texto3.txt) DO echo %%x >> day_%yyyy%-%mm%-%dd%.txt
Solution 9:[9]
You can do it using type:
type"C:\<Directory containing files>\*.txt"> merged.txt
all the files in the directory will be appendeded to the file merged.txt.
Sources
This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Source: Stack Overflow
| Solution | Source |
|---|---|
| Solution 1 | |
| Solution 2 | Lance |
| Solution 3 | Kingsman |
| Solution 4 | |
| Solution 5 | Tobias Wilfert |
| Solution 6 | Sadheesh |
| Solution 7 | Stephen |
| Solution 8 | Fernando Madriaga |
| Solution 9 |