Batch - Converting variable to uppercase

Question

How would I go about changing the destl variable to uppercase before it is used. I assume some sort of character swap, however I couldn\'t get it working. C

Answer 1

This is pointless since env var names and file names are both case insensitive. But if you insist you can do it like this:

@echo off

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set lower=john smith 123
set alpha=ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
set i=0
:letter
set !alpha:~%i%,1!_=!alpha:~%i%,1!
set /a i += 1
if %i% LSS 26 goto letter
set i=0
set upper=
:uppercase
set let=!lower:~%i%,1!
if "%let%" == "" goto done
if defined %let%_ (set upper=%upper%!%let%_!) else (set upper=%upper%%let%)
set /a i += 1
goto uppercase
:done
echo %upper%

Answer 2

I used 2 files, in the batch I called an external js and in the bat I assign the response to an internal var:

Bat:

@echo off
for /f %%i in ('cscript //nologo //E:jscript jsfile.js %1') do set VAR=%%i
echo %Var%

Js (jsfile.js in same directory):

WScript.echo(WSH.Arguments(0).toUpperCase())

Answer 3

Thanks for the responses guys, I solved it using this -

if not defined %~1 EXIT /b
for %%a in ("a=A" "b=B" "c=C" "d=D" "e=E" "f=F" "g=G" "h=H" "i=I"
        "j=J" "k=K" "l=L" "m=M" "n=N" "o=O" "p=P" "q=Q" "r=R"
        "s=S" "t=T" "u=U" "v=V" "w=W" "x=X" "y=Y" "z=Z" "ä=Ä"
        "ö=Ö" "ü=Ü") do (
call set %~1=%%%~1:%%~a%%
)
EXIT /b

I'm sure your responses are far neater and more efficient, but as mine is doing the trick and I don't want to break anything I will leave it as is!

Thank you for your input!

Answer 4

The shortest way (without requiring 3rd party downloads) would be to use PowerShell.

set "str=The quick brown fox"
for /f "usebackq delims=" %%I in (`powershell "\"%str%\".toUpper()"`) do set "upper=%%~I"

A faster way but still using less code than any pure batch solution would be to employ WSH.

@if (@CodeSection == @Batch) @then
@echo off & setlocal

set "str=The quick brown fox"
for /f "delims=" %%I in ('cscript /nologo /e:JScript "%~f0" "%str%"') do set "upper=%%~I"
set upper
goto :EOF

@end // end Batch / begin JScript hybrid
WSH.Echo(WSH.Arguments(0).toUpperCase());

And of course, you can easily make either a function so you can call it multiple times as needed.

@if (@CodeSection == @Batch) @then
@echo off & setlocal

call :toUpper upper1 "The quick brown fox"
call :toUpper upper2 "jumps over the lazy dog."
set upper
goto :EOF

:toUpper <return_var> <str>
for /f "delims=" %%I in ('cscript /nologo /e:JScript "%~f0" "%~2"') do set "%~1=%%~I"
goto :EOF

@end // end Batch / begin JScript hybrid
WSH.Echo(WSH.Arguments(0).toUpperCase());

---

Or if you want to be really hacksy about it, you could abuse the tree command's error message like this:

@echo off & setlocal

set upper=
set "str=Make me all uppercase!"
for /f "skip=2 delims=" %%I in ('tree "\%str%"') do if not defined upper set "upper=%%~I"
set "upper=%upper:~3%"
echo %upper%

Answer 5

I've expanded upon the great answer by the OP and made it into a function that can be called throughout the batch file.

@echo off

set "str=Make meeeee all uppercaseeeee!"
echo %str% (Old variable)
call :TOUPPERCASE str
echo %str%
goto :eof

rem FUNCTIONS AT VERY BOTTOM
:TOUPPERCASE
if not defined %~1 exit /b
for %%a in ("a=A" "b=B" "c=C" "d=D" "e=E" "f=F" "g=G" "h=H" "i=I" "j=J" "k=K" "l=L" "m=M" "n=N" "o=O" "p=P" "q=Q" "r=R" "s=S" "t=T" "u=U" "v=V" "w=W" "x=X" "y=Y" "z=Z" "ä=Ä" "ö=Ö" "ü=Ü") do (
call set %~1=%%%~1:%%~a%%
)
goto :eof

Result

Make meeeee all uppercaseeeee! (Old variable)
MAKE MEEEEE ALL UPPERCASEEEEE!

Answer 6

@ECHO Off
SETLOCAL
SET "betabet=abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!*$^&^^+=-\^|^>;'.,/?^<"
ECHO %betabet%
>u:\betabet.file ECHO %betabet%
CALL :upper betabet
ECHO %betabet%
CALL :upcase u:\betabet.file 
GOTO :EOF

:upper
FOR %%a IN (A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z) DO CALL SET "%1=%%%1:%%a=%%a%%%"
GOTO :EOF

:upcase
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
for /F "delims=" %%a in (%1) do (
   set "line=%%a"
   for %%b in (A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z) do (
      set "line=!line:%%b=%%b!"
   )
   echo !line!
)
endlocal
GOTO :eof

The method referred to by Aacini at Windows batch file read text file and convert all to uppercase fails for some characters, as is demonstrated by the above batch.

This batch will also fail if the string in question contains certain characters (eg %:) - it will convert the alphas, but delete % and :.

The above batch first establishes a string containing miscellaneous characters, displays it, saves it as a file, then converts it using :upper.

For comparison, the file is then procesed using the :upcase function (derived from the linked response).

---

Following Aacini's valid comment and further investigation, here are some techniques (including a demo of the 'read-from-file' method)

The :showline routine exists to shorten the code by displaying line in delayedexpansion mode

@ECHO Off
SETLOCAL
set "line=abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890|!#$%%&/\()=?<>,;.:"'_-+*~^^[]{}"
SETLOCAL enabledelayedexpansion
>u:\betabet.file ECHO "!line!"
endlocal
CALL :showline
ECHO --- show conversion using "upper - caret disappears
CALL :upper line
CALL :showline
ECHO ------------------------------
ECHO --- show actual file contents ^& data read from file
type u:\betabet.file 
CALL :upcase u:\betabet.file 
ECHO ------------------------------
set "line=abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890|!#$%%&/\()=?<>,;.:"'_-+*~^^[]{}"
CALL :showline
ECHO --- show conversion using "inline-conversion - caret PRESERVED
setlocal ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
for %%b in (A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z) do set "line=!line:%%b=%%b!"
echo "!line!"   ^<--- in inline conversion
endlocal&SET "line=%line:^=^^%"
CALL :showline
ECHO ------------------------------
set "line=abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890|!#$%%&/\()=?<>,;.:"'_-+*~^^[]{}"
CALL :showline
ECHO --- show conversion using "upcase2 - caret disappears
CALL :upcase2 line
CALL :showline
GOTO :EOF

:upper
FOR %%a IN (A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z) DO CALL SET "%1=%%%1:%%a=%%a%%%"
GOTO :EOF

:upcase
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
for /F "delims=" %%a in (%1) do (
 ECHO read%%a
   set "line=%%a"
   for %%b in (A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z) do (
      set "line=!line:%%b=%%b!"
   )
   echo conv!line!
)
endlocal
GOTO :eof

:upcase2
setlocal ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
for %%b in (A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z) do set "%1=!%1:%%b=%%b!"
endlocal&CALL SET "%1=%%%1%%"
GOTO :eof

:showline
SETLOCAL enabledelayedexpansion
ECHO "!line!"
endlocal
GOTO :eof