Make the first letter of user input a capital in a batch script

Question

This is the batch script I use to make the folders for a new client:

@ECHO OFF
SET /p clientLast=Enter Client's Last Name: 
SET /p clientFirst=Enter Client's First Name:  
ECHO Making Folders...
MKDIR "%clientLast%, %clientFirst%"
MKDIR "%clientLast%, %clientFirst%"\Budget
MKDIR "%clientLast%, %clientFirst%"\"Business Registration"
MKDIR "%clientLast%, %clientFirst%"\Correspondence
MKDIR "%clientLast%, %clientFirst%"\"Financial Info"
MKDIR "%clientLast%, %clientFirst%"\Forms
MKDIR "%clientLast%, %clientFirst%"\Illustrations
MKDIR "%clientLast%, %clientFirst%"\"Loans & Investments"
MKDIR "%clientLast%, %clientFirst%"\"Personal Info"
MKDIR "%clientLast%, %clientFirst%"\Recommendations
MKDIR "%clientLast%, %clientFirst%"\"Tax Misc"
TREE "%clientLast%, %clientFirst%"
ECHO DONE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PAUSE

I want to be able to add the ability to automatically uppercase the first letter of each word.

I found a way to do it by replacing every letter with a space in front of it with it's capital, which looks something like:

FOR %%i 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") DO CALL SET "%1=%%%1:%%~i%%"

But this does not capitalize the first word...

Any ideas?

Answer 1

Or with pure batch...

@echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
call :FirstUp result hello
echo !result!

call :FirstUp result abc
echo !result!

call :FirstUp result zynx
echo !result!
goto :eof

:FirstUp
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set "temp=%~2"
set "helper=##AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNNOOPPQQRRSSTTUUVVWWXXYYZZ"
set "first=!helper:*%temp:~0,1%=!"
set "first=!first:~0,1!"
if "!first!"=="#" set "first=!temp:~0,1!"
set "temp=!first!!temp:~1!"
(
    endlocal
    set "result=%temp%"
    goto :eof
)

The function :FirstUp use the trick of searching for the first character in the helper string with the %var:*x=% syntax.

This removes all chars before the first occurrence (therefore I double all chars) So, in first you got for the word "vox", "VWWXXYYZZ", then I simply take the first char of %first% to get the capital and append the rest of the original string without after the first char.

Answer 2

Personally I'd rewrite it as a python or vbscript:

Quick / crude vbscript concept code, not particularly efficient but hopefully read-able:

Function MakeDirectories (strRootFolder, strParentFolder, strArrayFolderNames)

    on error resume next
    err.clear

    Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

    strParentFolder = strRootFolder & "\" & strParentFolder

    if not objFSO.FolderExists(strParentFolder) then
        objFSO.CreateFolder(strParentFolder)
    end if

    if err.number then
        MakeDirectories = false    
        exit function
    end if

    dim strNewFolder

    for each strfolderName in strArrayFolderNames
        strNewFolder = strParentFolder & "\" & ProperNames(strFolderName)
        if not objFSO.FolderExists(strNewFolder) then
            objFSO.CreateFolder(strNewFolder)
        end if
    next

    if err.number then
        MakeDirectories = false    
    else    
        MakeDirectories = True
    end if

End function

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

function Proper ( strText )

    Proper = ucase(left(strText,1)) & lcase(mid(strText,2))

end function    

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Function ProperNames ( strText )

    if instr(strText," ") > 0 then
        dim temp, i
        temp = split(strText, " ")
        for i = lbound(temp) to ubound(temp)
            temp(i) = Proper(temp(i))
        next    
        ProperNames = join(temp, " ")
    else
        ProperNames = Proper(strText)
    end if    

End Function    

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Sub Main ( )

    dim strLastName, strFirstName

    strLastName = InputBox("Please enter the client's last name:")
    if strLastName = "" then exit sub

    strFirstName = InputBox("Please enter the client's first name:")
    if strLastName = "" then exit sub

    ''  a better alternative might be to put the desired folder 
    ''  into a text file and have the program read said data
    dim strArrayFolderNames(9)
    strArrayFolderNames(0) = "Budget"
    strArrayFolderNames(1) = "Business Registration"
    strArrayFolderNames(2) = "Correspondence"
    strArrayFolderNames(3) = "Financial Info"
    strArrayFolderNames(4) = "Forms"
    strArrayFolderNames(5) = "Illustrations"
    strArrayFolderNames(6) = "Loans & Investments"
    strArrayFolderNames(7) = "Personal Info"
    strArrayFolderNames(8) = "Recommendations"
    strArrayFolderNames(9) = "Tax Misc"

    dim strDelimeter, strRootFolder, strParentFolder

    strDelimeter     = "-" '' I suggest avoiding the use of ","
    strRootFolder    = "C:\docs\temp"
    strParentFolder  = Proper(strLastName) & strDelimeter & Proper(strFirstName)

    If MakeDirectories(strRootFolder, strParentFolder, strArrayFolderNames) then
        wscript.echo ("Folders all made.")
    else
        wscript.echo ("Error: one or more folders was not created.")
    end if

End Sub

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Main ()

Finally, I suggest you don't use commas in folder names, it will save you admin grief down the road.

Michael.