How can I check the size of a file in a Windows ba

Question

I want to have a batch file which checks what the filesize is of a file.

If it is bigger than %somany% kbytes, it should redirect with GOTO to somewhere else.

Example:

[check for filesize]
IF %file% [filesize thing Bigger than] GOTO No
echo Great! Your filesize is smaller than %somany% kbytes.
pause
exit
:no
echo Um... You have a big filesize.
pause
exit

Answer 1

I like @Anders answer because the explanation of the %~z1 secret sauce. However, as pointed out, that only works when the filename is passed as the first parameter to the batch file.

@Anders worked around this by using FOR, which, is a great 1-liner fix to the problem, but, it's somewhat harder to read.

Instead, we can go back to a simpler answer with %~z1 by using CALL. If you have a filename stored in an environment variable it will become %1 if you use it as a parameter to a routine in your batch file:

@echo off
setlocal
set file=test.cmd
set maxbytesize=1000

call :setsize %file%

if %size% lss %maxbytesize% (
    echo File is less than %maxbytesize% bytes
) else (
    echo File is greater than %maxbytesize% bytes
)
goto :eof

:setsize
set size=%~z1
goto :eof

Answer 2

As usual, VBScript is available for you to use.....

Set objFS = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set wshArgs = WScript.Arguments
strFile = wshArgs(0)
WScript.Echo objFS.GetFile(strFile).Size & " bytes"

Save as filesize.vbs and enter on the command-line:

C:\test>cscript /nologo filesize.vbs file.txt
79 bytes

Use a for loop (in batch) to get the return result.

Answer 3

%~z1 expands to the size of the first argument to the batch file. See

C:\> call /?

and

C:\> if /?

Simple example:

@ECHO OFF
SET SIZELIMIT=1000
SET FILESIZE=%~z1

IF %FILESIZE% GTR %SIZELIMIT% Goto No

ECHO Great! Your filesize is smaller than %SIZELIMIT% kbytes.
PAUSE
GOTO :EOF

:No
ECHO Um ... You have a big filesize.
PAUSE
GOTO :EOF

Answer 4

Create a one line batch file GetFileSize.bat containing

GetFileSize=%~z1

then call it

call GetFileSize  myfile.txt
if (%GetFileSize) == ()     goto No_File
if (%GetFileSize) == (0)    goto No_Data
if (%GetFileSize) GTR 1000  goto Too_Much_Data
rem Etc.

You can even create your test file on the fly to eliminate the pesky required file, note the double percent in the echo statement:

echo set GetFileSize=%%~z1 > %temp%\GetFileSize.bat
call %temp%\GetFileSize  myfile.txt
if (%GetFileSize) GTR 1000  goto Too_Much_Data
rem etc

This latter solution is antispaghetti. So nice. However, more disk writes. Check use count.

Answer 5

Important to note is the INT32 limit of Batch: 'Invalid number. Numbers are limited to 32-bits of precision.'

Try the following statements:

IF 2147483647 GTR 2147483646 echo A is greater than B (will be TRUE)
IF 2147483648 GTR 2147483647 echo A is greater than B (will be FALSE!)

Any number greater than the max INT32 value will BREAK THE SCRIPT! Seeing as filesize is measured in bytes, the scripts will support a maximum filesize of about 255.9999997615814 MB !

Answer 6

I prefer to use a DOS function. Feels cleaner to me.

SET SIZELIMIT=1000
CALL :FileSize %1 FileSize
IF %FileSize% GTR %SIZELIMIT% Echo Large file

GOTO :EOF

:FileSize
SET %~2=%~z1

GOTO :EOF