Why doesn't my for loop find any files?

Question

I have a really simple for loop I'm trying to do in a windows CMD prompt/batch file (I've tried both with %i in command line and %%i in batch file):

for %%i in (workspace\*) do echo %%i

I wan't to display all the sub folders in a folder (just as a really simple example to get the loop working) but nothing is displayed.

What am I doing wrong here?

Answer 1

By default for displays only files, not directories, so a directory containing only subdirectories will show nothing. To show directories you need to add the /d option:

for /d %%i in (workspace\*) do echo %%i

This assumes the command is in a batch file (only single % signs if typed), and shows only directories. There is no option to show both: you would need to use a command such as DavidPostill suggests:

for /f "usebackq" %%i in (`dir /b`) do echo %%i

Answer 2

If you are running this from the command prompt, and not a batch file, you need to use %i, not %%i.

Alternatively, you can use forfiles which has different options and may very well work a lot easier for what you need to do.

Forfiles also finds folders.