Find Count of Files in a Folder at the Command Prompt

So you want to find a count of the number of files in a directory using the command prompt or a batch file, etc. Here is a really easy way to do it.

Just run the dir command and pipe the results to the find command, using the count parameter:

dir|find /c ".tif"
  

This will return a count of all the TIF files in your folder. You could replace ".tif" with whatever extension you want, such as ".pdf"


What about a folder with multiple types of files in it? Just add the /b parameter to the dir command to get the bare filenames, and then just look for the single period in the find command, like so:

dir /b|find /c "."


An alternate version that would count all the files in the directory and any sub directories (by adding the /s parameter to the dir command) would be:

dir /b /s|find /c "."


The above won't work if the filenames have other periods in them, like some.name.txt, but for the average filename, this should work just fine.


Lastly, here is the approach that will work with filenames, like some.name.txt, that have multiple periods in them, because it counts the lines, not the periods, in the output:

dir /b /a-d | find /c /v ""


That last one came from Joey:

Go Visit Joey's explanation...



Hope this helps someone out there...


Keywords: batch file, batch script counting files in a folder

SQL Server 2005 Restore Database Error: The operating system returned the error '5(Access is denied.)'

I was trying to restore some old SQL Server 2005 databases to get some data they contained, when I ran into this error:

System.Data.SqlClient.SqlError: The operating system returned the error '5(Access is denied.)' while attempting 'RestoreContainer::ValidateTargetForCreation' on 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\test.mdf'. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo)

Your error message may look similar, except for the file location on the C drive, or whatever drive you are using.

After some frustration, I figured out the problem. I was actually trying to write my .mdf and .ldf files in a folder where they should not be located. That is why "Access is Denied" and it should be! You should write the files where your other database files are written. (If you need to find where they are, in SQL 2005, set up your Restore Database popup to restore from a currently active database, then go to the Options page on the left, and under "Restore the database files as:" look at "Restore As" which will contain the correct file location.)

In my error case, this location was not where my currently active databases where located, but was set to:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\

Your settings may be similar. In my case, this was definitely the wrong location, in fact, the wrong drive!

So to fix my situation, (and hopefully yours), I had to choose a new path and location for my .mdf and .ldf files. This is where the newly restored database files will be stored. (Which should be in the same folder as your other active databases):

1. Starting from the Restore Database popup, look to the left and choose the Options page (in SQL 2005), then look for "Restore the database files as" right in the middle of the page.
2. Just look to the right of the Restore As cell (on the Restore Database Options page), and click on the edit box symbol, which will bring up the Locate Database Files popup. Choose the correct path to the directory where you want the .mdf file to be stored, then enter the correct filename. Do the same for the .ldf file. 

Once I did this for both files, I was able to restore the database successfully. My assumption is that this will be similar for issues with SQL 2008 and 2012, etc.

Hope this helps you...