Get full path and long file name from short file name

Question

I have an nice console file manager (eXtreme by Senh Liu), it passes short path/filenames as variables to a menu.bat.

How can I generate a full folder name + long file name?

Example:

• input variable = "P:\MYPROG~1\SHELLS\ZBACKUP\REFSTO~1.BAL"
• target variable = "P:\MyPrograms\SHELLS\zBackup\RefsToMyData.bal"

I have tried the following:

• SET my_file=%~2:

  echo %my_file% produces: "P:\MYPROG~1\SHELLS\ZBACKUP\REFSTO~1.BAL"

• FOR /F "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %%F IN (`dir /B %2`) DO SET my_file=%%~fF:

  echo %my_file% produces: "P:\MYPROG~1\SHELLS\zBackup\RefsToMyData.bal"

• FOR /F "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %%F IN (`dir /B %2`) DO SET my_file=%%~dpnxF:

  echo %my_file% produces: "P:\MYPROG~1\SHELLS\zBackup\RefsToMyData.bal"

Answer 1

Simple solution: use PowerShell.

PS C:\> (Get-Item 'P:\MYPROG~1\SHELLS\ZBACKUP\REFSTO~1.BAL').FullName
P:\MyPrograms\SHELLS\zBackup\RefsToMyData.bal

You can incorporate a PowerShell call in a batch file like this:

@echo off

setlocal

for /f "usebackq delims=" %%f in (
  `powershell.exe -Command "(Get-Item '%~1').FullName"`
) do @set "var=%%~f"

echo %var%

Output:

C:\> test.cmd P:\MYPROG~1\SHELLS\ZBACKUP\REFSTO~1.BAL
P:\MyPrograms\SHELLS\zBackup\RefsToMyData.bal

---

PowerShell is available for all supported Windows versions:

• Windows XP SP3 and Server 2003 SP2: PowerShell v2 available
• Windows Vista and Server 2008: ship with PowerShell v1 (not installed by default), PowerShell v2 available
• Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2: PowerShell v2 preinstalled, PowerShell v3 available (batteries not included)
• Windows 8 and Server 2012: PowerShell v3 preinstalled

---

If PowerShell can't be used for some reason (e.g. administrative restrictions), I'd use VBScript instead:

name = WScript.Arguments(0)

Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
If fso.FileExists(name) Then
  Set f = fso.GetFile(name)
ElseIf fso.FolderExists(name) Then
  Set f = fso.GetFolder(name)
  If f.IsRootFolder Then
    WScript.Echo f.Path
    WScript.Quit 0
  End If
Else
  'path doesn't exist
  WScript.Quit 1
End If

Set app = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
WScript.Echo app.NameSpace(f.ParentFolder.Path).ParseName(f.Name).Path

A VBScript like the one above can be used in a batch file like this:

@echo off & setlocal

for /f "delims=" %%f in ('cscript //NoLogo script.vbs "%~1"') do @set "var=%%~f"

echo %var%

This does require an additional script file, though.