Loop through files (Recurse subfolders)
Syntax
FOR /R [[drive:]path] %%parameter IN (set) DO command
Key
drive:path : The folder tree where the files are located.
set : A set of one or more files. Wildcards must be used.
If (set) is a period character (.) then FOR will
loop through every folder.
command : The command to carry out, including any
command-line parameters.
%%parameter : A replaceable parameter:
in a batch file use %%G (on the command line %G)
This command walks down the folder tree starting at [drive:]path,
and executes the DO statement against each matching file.
If the [drive:]path are not specified they will default to the current drive:path.
Unlike some other variants of the FOR command you must include a wildcard (either * or ?) in the 'set' to get consistent results returned. In many cases you can work around this by adding a single character wildcard e.g. if you are looping through multiple folders to find the exact filename myfile.txt you could instead specify myfile.t?t
Example:
To delete every .bak file in every subfolder starting at C:\temp
C:\>FOR /R C:\temp\ %%G IN (*.bak) DO del %%G
"Life is one fool thing after another where as love is two fool things after
each other" - Oscar Wilde
Related:
FOR - Loop commands
FOR - Loop through a set of files in one folder
FOR /D - Loop through several folders
FOR /L - Loop through a range of numbers
FOR /F - Loop through items in a text file
FOR /F - Loop through the output of a command
FORFILES - Batch process multiple files
GOTO - Direct a batch program to jump to a labelled
line
IF - Conditionally perform a command
Powershell: ForEach-Object - Loop for each object in the pipeline
Equivalent bash command (Linux):
for - Expand words, and execute commands
