Batch File Help

[ineedhelp]

Hi. I have been trying to write this batch file (command prompt. bat file) for days now. It is due tomorrow. I am taking a degree in Computer Networking and We got asked to write a batch file. I cannot grasp computer syntax, I just find programming so difficult. I, have however, after so many hours, cans of red bull, stress, close to giving up, wrote a batch file that meets the criteria of whats been asked. All that is left now is for me to include FOR and IF into my program. Basically, my batch file Has 6 ERRORLEVELS, the 6th being quit, and 1 through 4 display a movie from a certain year simply using the findstr command. I have been trying for 8 hours to try and get my 5th errorlevel functioning. What I need it to do is Ask the User for Input. Basically saying "Please Enter A letter between A and Z to search through the list of movies". I have the list of movies sitting on my Floppy Disk, there is the title and then in brackets the year. So basically

Beautiful Boxer (2005)
Moonshine (2006)

^^ that is a small part of my List.txt.

The code I have right now is


:BROWSE
Echo Enter Letter to search movie starting with that letter: %%i
for %%i in (A:\Movie_List\List.txt) do findstr /b /i /c:"%%i" >> moviesfound.txt
if not errorlevel=1 (type moviesfound.txt)
else echo Sorry, No Movies Start with %%i in the List
del moviesfound.txt
goto :begin



In my findstr I have put /b so that is searches for the start of the text. Therefore I will get movies starting with that letter. So when My user enters the letter, it outputs the results to a file called moviesfound.txt, and then I am showing the contents of that file I have written to in my batch file. Please Guys, I know it says you should try yourself before asking homework questions, but I have tried so hard. I just don't know how to do this. Do I need the Set /p? I just need the user to enter some sort of temporary variable, then that variable to be searched for in findstr. Thanks

[Jordan]

Can you post what you have, the entire batch file please?

[ineedhelp]

@echo off
Echo Welcome to the Movie Batch File
:begin
echo.
echo.
ECHO Press 1 to List Last Years Major Movies
ECHO Press 2 to List Major Movies From Two Years Ago
ECHO Press 3 to List Major Movies From 3 Years Ago
ECHO Press 4 to List All Major Movies released Between 2004 and the Current Year
ECHO Press 5 to Search for a Movie Based on the First Letter
ECHO Press 6 to Quit

REM Default choice is set to Quit after a duration of 15 seconds
:begin
echo.
choice /c:123456 /n /T:6,15 Please Select an Option: 
echo.
echo.
IF ERRORLEVEL == 6 GOTO QUIT
IF ERRORLEVEL == 5 GOTO BROWSE
IF ERRORLEVEL == 4 GOTO ALL
IF ERRORLEVEL == 3 GOTO THREE
IF ERRORLEVEL == 2 GOTO TWO
IF ERRORLEVEL == 1 GOTO LAST

:LAST
Echo Major Movies Released from Last Year are;
echo.
echo.
findstr /c:"2006" A:\Movie_List\List.txt >> moviesfound.txt
type moviesfound.txt
del moviesfound.txt
echo.
echo. 
echo [Please Select another option]
goto :begin


:TWO
Echo Major Movies Released from Two Years Ago are;
echo.
echo.
findstr /c:"2005" A:\Movie_List\List.txt >> moviesfound.txt
type moviesfound.txt
del moviesfound.txt
echo.
echo. 
echo [Please Select another option]
goto :begin


:THREE
Echo Major Movies Released from Three Years Ago are;
echo.
echo.
findstr /c:"2004" A:\Movie_List\List.txt >> moviesfound.txt
type moviesfound.txt
del moviesfound.txt
echo.
echo. 
echo [Please Select another option]
goto :begin

:ALL
echo @echo off > allmovies.bat
echo echo Here are all the major movies released within the last 3 years: >> allmovies.bat
echo echo. >> allmovies.bat
echo findstr /c:"(" A:\Movie_List\List.txt >> allmovies.bat

call allmovies.bat > A:\Movie_List\allmoviesfound.txt
del allmovies.bat
echo Please check the allmoviesfound text file in A:\Movie_List
echo for a full listing
echo.
type A:\Movie_List\allmoviesfound.txt
echo.
echo. 
echo [Please Select another option]
goto :begin

:BROWSE
set /P lettervar="Enter the First Letter of Movie "
if %lettervar% in (A:\Movie_List\List.txt) do findstr /b /i /c:"%lettervar%" >> 

moviesfound.txt
else echo Sorry, No Movies Start with %lettervar% in the List
del moviesfound.txt
goto :begin


:QUIT
echo.
echo Thank You for using the Movie program
echo Goodbye!

[ineedhelp]

Hi. Thats the entire batch file. I want to run that variable that the user inputs and do findstr using it, and return the results with any movie that starts with the letter the user specified. I am pretty sure my syntax is wrong. Any ideas?

[ineedhelp]

ok I got it working using...


:BROWSE
Echo %1 will be searched...
echo.
for %%i in (.\Movie_List\List.txt) do findstr /b /i /c:"%1" %%i >> moviesfound.txt
if not errorlevel=1 (type moviesfound.txt) else echo There are no movies that start with letter '%1'
del moviesfound.txt
goto :begin



I don't know how u guys do this programming/scripting. It's rocket science to me. I hope I never need to do another one of these.