August, 2007

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I remove all the non-alphabetic characters in a string? -- CD Hey, CD. You know, typically the Scripting Guys don’t play favorites; we treat all our readers and all the questions we receive exactly the same. (OK, so, technically...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I understand that, in Windows Vista, I can write a script that will cause a scheduled task to immediately execute. How do I do that? -- KW Hey, KW. Before we answer today’s question, we’d like to take a moment to say a few things...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I “rotate” a text file 180 degrees? I need the last line in the file to become the first line, the first line in the file to become the last line, and all the lines in between to switch places as well. -- BJM Hey, BJM. You...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I get a list of my appointments for a specific month (for example, all my appointments for December, 2007)? -- HG Hey, HG. We’ll get to your question in just a moment. Before we do that, however, the Scripting Guy who writes...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I find all the files in a directory tree that contain a specified phrase? -- PB Hey, PB. OK, so picture this: for the first time in a couple of months, the Scripting Guy who writes this column and the Scripting Son are playing...

Hey, Scripting Guy! We have a spreadsheet where people enter a bunch of data. In order for this data to be used in another application, none of the values can exceed 999; if we have a value like 1234, that’s supposed to be entered as 999, the maximum...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I need to check the size of a folder once every hour; if the folder has exceeded a specified size, I then need to delete the oldest file in that folder. How can I do that? -- JC Hey, JC. You know, a lot of you are thinking, “Gee...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I get the GUID for a user account if all I know is the user’s logon name and domain? -- IU Hey, IU. You know, one of the great things about the Scripting Guy who writes this column is – well, OK, right off the top of our...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I copy data from one Excel spreadsheet to another Excel spreadsheet? -- AC Hey, AC. You know, we’re going to let you in on a little secret here: the Scripting Guy who writes this column is a tad bit tired this morning. That...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I tell if a specific wireless network adapter is connected to the network? -- MS Hey, MS. You know, this is a sad day for the Scripting Guy who writes this column. After 10 days of eating Italian pastries, visiting the ruins...

Hey, Scripting Guy! In a logon script, how can I report back disk quota information (like amount of space used and amount of space remaining) for the logged-on user? -- HY Hey, HY. You know, today is shaping up as another tough day for the Scripting...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I copy the folder structure of a folder (that is, a folder and all its subfolders) without copying the files as well? -- AS Hey, AS. If you’re one of the many people who simply can’t get through the day without knowing what...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I replace text in an Excel spreadsheet? -- PD Hey, PD. We’ll talk about replacing text in an Excel spreadsheet in just a moment. But first, let’s address the question that’s on everyone’s mind: what is the Scripting Guy...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I combine lines in a text file? -- JN Hey, JN. So you need to know how to combine lines in a text file, huh? Well, to tell you the truth, we’re kind of in a hurry today; the Scripting Guy who writes this column is getting...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I insert a manual line break into a Microsoft Word document? -- YR Hey, YR. Greetings ( saluti ) from Rome, the Eternal City! You know, according to legend, Rome was founded thousands of years ago by the twins Romulus and...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I determine if the number of files in a series of folders exceeds a specified value? -- DP Hey, DP. Buongiorno. Le come sta? Tutto bene? What does all that mean? Io non so; Io non parlo Italiano. In other words: I don...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I save all the items in my Sent Items folder that are more than one month old? -- RS Hey, RS. You know, we’d like to answer this question; we really would. However, the Scripting Guy who writes this column is leaving on...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I copy two files to each of the shared folders on a computer? -- DL Hey, DL. If you don’t subscribe to the Scripting Newswire (and surely everyone subscribes to the Scripting Newswire ) you might have missed the announcement...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I search for formatted text in a Word document and then apply HTML tags to that text? -- ES Hey, ES. You know, it’s funny that you should ask this question. Just last night at the dinner table, the Scripting Guy who writes...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I prompt a user to enter a starting number and ending number, then create a sequential series of folders based on those two numbers? -- PM Hey, PM. We had some time to kill this afternoon, so we thought we’d see what we...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I rename all the .JPG files in a folder so that the date the picture was taken is included in the file name? -- NH Hey, NH. Welcome to Hey, Scripting Guy! , the only daily scripting column on TechNet that is written without...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I query Active Directory for a list of all the accounts that were created on or between two dates? -- PG Hey, PG. You know, August is a propitious month for the Scripting Guys and this column: after all, today’s edition...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I was using a script written by one of my colleagues, and I noticed that any time this script displayed a message box a sound was played as well. How can I play a sound each time I display a message box? -- KI Hey, KI. You’ll have...