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Hey, Scripting Guy! I have two text files that contain numbers. I need to write a script that can determine whether a given number exists in both of these text files. If it does, I need to delete that line from each of the two files. How do I do that? -- KT Hey, KT. Before we get started today, we...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I read one of your columns on replacing text in a file and I found it very useful. However, I have a somewhat more-complicated need: I want to replace text that includes both double quote marks and a tab character. How can I do that? -- FC Hey, FC. Your know, as anyone who’s ever...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I copy selected columns from a CSV file to an Excel file? -- MdP Hey, MdP. One thing that people always worry about (and rightly so) is that one of these days the Scripting Guys will do something that tears a hole in the space-time continuum. Some of you might be concerned...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I convert a tilde-delimited file to Microsoft Excel format? -- JN Hey, JN. You know, to tell you the truth we’re beginning to rethink our approach to this column. After all, usually we tell people how easy things are, and how – without much effort – they can write a script...

Hey, Scripting Guy! In a text file, how can I extract the information that appears between the string HOSTNAME= and a blank space? -- B Hey, B. You’ll have to pardon us if we seem a little sluggish today; we’re still recovering from all the fun and excitement of Windows PowerShell Week. What if you...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I write a script that will clear the contents of any file that I drag and drop on the script icon? -- SN Hey, SN. Say, you didn’t by any chance misplace a few hundred thousand insects did you? OK; just thought we’d ask. This past weekend the Scripting Guy who writes this...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a comma-separated values file that has data similar to this: data1",""data2"","data3",""data4"". As you can see, some of the items are enclosed by two sets of double quote marks (like ""data2""). How can I remove one of those sets of double quote marks, leaving the item looking...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I move the oldest file in the folder C:\Upload to C:\Download? -- DD Hey, DD. Funny you should mention the word “oldest.” The Scripting Guy who writes this column recently attended a family reunion and, for the first time ever, came face-to-face with the whole idea of getting...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a script for installing a printer that I give to my end users. When the script finishes, I’d like it to be able to delete itself. How can I get a script to delete itself? -- EA Hey, EA. You know, that’s an interesting idea: disposable scripts, just like disposable razors...

Hey, Scripting Guy! We have a custom in-house application that writes data to a log file. The problem is that the data often has a bunch of blank spaces before and after it. How can I remove all the blank spaces that come before and after my data? -- KS Hey, KS. You might find this hard to believe...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have an HTA where information gets written to a text area. How can I print just the information found in that text area? -- DS Hey, DS. We want you to level with us here: are the Scripting Guys dead? We ask that because we saw the movie The Sixth Sense a few years ago and we...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have some text files that include Unicode characters. When I try to open those files using a script all I get back is gibberish. How can I open a text file as Unicode? -- FA Hey, FA. You know, the truly great magicians don’t concoct elaborate tricks that rely on trap doors, secret...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I count the number of words in a text file? -- LA Hey, LA. You know, this is one of those questions where the Scripting Guys outsmarted themselves. (Not that outsmarting the Scripting Guys is particularly hard to do, mind you.) For one thing, we’re writing this column on...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I read just the last line of a text file? -- BM Hey, BM. You know, if you’ve ever wondered how Hey, Scripting Guy! differs from other daily columns (like, say, Dear Abby ), well, here’s one way. Suppose someone writes Dear Abby and says this: Dear Abby: My life is all...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a script that runs off a CD and copies a bunch of files to a computer. However, in order to copy the files I need to know the complete file path, including the drive letter. How can I determine the drive letter for the drive my script is currently running on? -- RKG Hey...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Each day we have a program that creates a file with a name similar to this: backup_20050607.bak. How can I delete the previous day’s file? -- JC Hey, JC. Hmmm, a script that goes out and automatically deletes whatever happened the day before. Boy, could we have used a script like...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I read a text file on a remote computer? -- BM Hey, BM. We have a confession to make: we’re using you and your question for our own nefarious purposes. Earlier this week we answered a question about reading the last line in a group of text files; in our answer we promised...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I run a script to unhide all the files in a folder? -- GA Hey, GA. You know, when one of the Scripting Guys was a bit younger he and the other kids in his neighborhood spent countless hours playing variations on hide-and-seek; in fact, this Scripting Guy still has vivid...

Hey, Scripting Guy! You’ve shown us how to search a text file for a single word or phrase, but how can I search a text file for two phrases? I need to know if a file contains either Windows 2000 or Windows XP . -- JR Hey, JR. You know, it’s hard enough to get the Scripting Guys to do one thing; getting...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I add a line to the top of a text file? -- FT Hey, FT. You know, at one point in his career Sir Arthur Conan Doyle actually killed off Sherlock Holmes, figuring he’d written everything anyone could ever write about the master detective. Public outcry soon made him change...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I determine the size of the My Documents folder? -- SC Hey, SC. The My Document folder is actually just another folder on the hard disk, one with a path similar to this: C:\Documents and Settings\kenmyer\My Documents. Of course, the actual path will vary depending on the...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I tell whether or not a Web page is accessible? -- JW Hey, JW. To tell you the truth, these are the kinds of questions we hate, questions where we don’t know the answer off the top of our heads but where it seems like there ought to be a way to do this. Sometimes in the...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Can I edit.INI files using a script? -- MZ Hey, MZ. Yes, you can edit .INI files (or any kind of text files, for that matter) using a script. The method you have to use might not be the most elegant process in the world, but it’ll work. And that’s all we really care about, right...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I create a CSV file? -- LF Hey, LF. For those of you who aren’t up on your acronyms, CSV is short for comma-separated-values file, a text file in which individual elements are separated by commas. For example, say you have a CSV file consisting of user first names, last...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a text file that contains a bunch of IP addresses. I’d like to be able to read these addresses from a script, and then use them to connect to those computers. Is that possible? -- RL Hey, RL. You bet you can do this, and here’s how. First, make sure your text file looks...