wildcards in cmd

[cL0N31]

i want to use total video converter to encode >1k mp3 files to ac3... the problem is that they reside in their own sub directories, and total video converter doesn't seem to import files that way (if there are 2 or more levels of directories converter quits)... i decided that i need to make it so that all files reside in one directory, no subdirs... to do that i tried

copy olddir\*\*.mp3 newdir

but that doesn't work... what works however is the following:

copy olddir\subdir\*.mp3 newdir

which makes me think that '*' only works on filenames, not directories... i have many way many subdirs as well, so handtyping them in is not an option, i need to automate process... please help with this windoze crap

[Baldrick]

Try xcopy, see http://www.computing.net/answers/pro...ers/13105.html

[JohnnyMalaria]

Run either of these from within your target directory (assumes all the source directories are below the target):

for /r .  %1 in (*.*) do copy %1 %~n1

or

for /r .  %1 in (*.*) do move %1 %~n1

if you want to move them instead of copy. This will be a l-o-t faster than copying and deleting.

[cL0N31]

Baldrick: guy claims it worked, but maybe he just didn't check the directory wildcards and used wildcards only in for filename... in reality directory asterisks don't work neither for copy nor xcopy

JohnnyMalaria: haha, your code works, but because my subfolders' names are bigger than 6 characters or/and include spaces it returns "The system cannot find the file specified." so it traverses the directory tree alright, but can't copy because copy and xcopy require input of let's say 'supermega folder' as 'superm~1' and so on... stupid gill bates or something

i'll just use frenzy livecd to do what i need... gill bates, what can i say

[JohnnyMalaria]

Hmmm. Try this (it works for me on long paths + spaces):

for /r .  %1 in (*.*) do copy /Y "%1" "%~n1%~X1"

or

for /r .  %1 in (*.*) do move /Y "%1" "%~n1%~X1"

Clear as mud

[cL0N31]

haha, computing is stupid, i copied files using the frenzy livecd and ntfs-3g and some files copied badly... so it didn't work... anyway it's better than windoze: windoze in such cases would corrupt file system, hdd and so on...
JohnnyMalaria, the following worked fo me:

for /r sourcedir %1 in (*.mp3) do copy "%1" destdir

thanx
ahahah stupid total video converter failed to queue up >1k mp3 files at once, so i have to load it up chunk by chunk (i used about 400 as a chunk)... what r u gonna do - there are no other suitable programs rto do mp3->ac3 conversion except besweet, but it's outdated now and has compatibility issues with pioneer players

[cL0N31]

and then eventually total video converter is not suitable for me because in order to convert to some bitrate, you need to alter a quality profile in total video converter and assign this profile to each audio track... i got more than 1k tracks... so much work for a DEAD END