How to test if a file is a directory in a batch script?

Is there any way to find out if a file is a directory?

I have the file name in a variable. In Perl I can do this:

if(-d $var) { print "it's a directory\n" }

<h2>The NUL technique seems to only work on 8.3 compliant file names.</h2>

<h3>(In other words, `D:\Documents and Settings` is "bad" and `D:\DOCUME~1` is "good")</h3>

---------------

I think there is some difficulty using the "NUL" tecnique when there are SPACES in the directory name, such as "Documents and Settings."

I am using Windows XP service pack 2 and launching the cmd prompt from %SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe

Here are some examples of what DID NOT work and what DOES WORK for me:

(These are all demonstrations done "live" at an interactive prompt. I figure that you should get things to work there before trying to debug them in a script.)

**This DID NOT work:**

`D:\Documents and Settings>if exist "D:\Documents and Settings\NUL" echo yes`

**This DID NOT work:**

`D:\Documents and Settings>if exist D:\Documents and Settings\NUL echo yes`

**This DOES work (for me):**

`D:\Documents and Settings>cd ..`

`D:\>REM get the short 8.3 name for the file`

`D:\>dir /x`

` Volume in drive D has no label.`
` Volume Serial Number is 34BE-F9C9`

` Directory of D:\`
<BR>
`09/25/2008 05:09 PM <DIR> 2008`<BR>
`09/25/2008 05:14 PM <DIR> 200809~1.25 2008.09.25`<BR>
`09/23/2008 03:44 PM <DIR> BOOST_~3 boost_repo_working_copy`<BR>
`09/02/2008 02:13 PM 486,128 CHROME~1.EXE ChromeSetup.exe`<BR>
`02/14/2008 12:32 PM <DIR> cygwin`<BR>

[[Look right here !!!! ]]<br>
`09/25/2008 08:34 AM <DIR> DOCUME~1 Documents and Settings`<BR>

`09/11/2008 01:57 PM 0 EMPTY_~1.TXT empty_testcopy_file.txt`<BR>
`01/21/2008 06:58 PM <DIR> NATION~1 National Instruments Downloads`<BR>
`10/12/2007 11:25 AM <DIR> NVIDIA`<BR>
`05/13/2008 09:42 AM <DIR> Office10`<BR>
`09/19/2008 11:08 AM <DIR> PROGRA~1 Program Files`<BR>
`12/02/1999 02:54 PM 24,576 setx.exe`<BR>
`09/15/2008 11:19 AM <DIR> TEMP`<BR>
`02/14/2008 12:26 PM <DIR> tmp`<BR>
`01/21/2008 07:05 PM <DIR> VXIPNP`<BR>
`09/23/2008 12:15 PM <DIR> WINDOWS`<BR>
`02/21/2008 03:49 PM <DIR> wx28`<BR>
`02/29/2008 01:47 PM <DIR> WXWIDG~2 wxWidgets`<BR>
` 3 File(s) 510,704 bytes`<BR>
` 20 Dir(s) 238,250,901,504 bytes free`<BR>

`D:\>REM now use the \NUL test with the 8.3 name`

`D:\>if exist d:\docume~1\NUL echo yes`

`yes`

**This works, but it's sort of silly, because the dot already implies i am in a directory:**

`D:\Documents and Settings>if exist .\NUL echo yes`

Here's a script that uses FOR to build a fully qualified path, and then pushd to test whether the path is a directory. Notice how it works for paths with spaces, as well as network paths.

@echo off
if [%1]==[] goto usage

for /f "delims=" %%i in ("%~1") do set MYPATH="%%~fi"
pushd %MYPATH% 2>nul
if errorlevel 1 goto notdir
goto isdir

:notdir
echo not a directory
goto exit

:isdir
popd
echo is a directory
goto exit

:usage
echo Usage: %0 DIRECTORY_TO_TEST

:exit

Sample output with the above saved as "isdir.bat":

C:\>isdir c:\Windows\system32
is a directory

C:\>isdir c:\Windows\system32\wow32.dll
not a directory

C:\>isdir c:\notadir
not a directory

C:\>isdir "C:\Documents and Settings"
is a directory

C:\>isdir \
is a directory

C:\>isdir \\ninja\SharedDocs\cpu-z
is a directory

C:\>isdir \\ninja\SharedDocs\cpu-z\cpuz.ini
not a directory

I use this:

if not [%1] == [] (
pushd %~dpn1 2> nul
if errorlevel == 1 pushd %~dp1
)

Further to my previous offering, I find this also works:

if exist %1\ echo Directory

No quotes around %1 are needed because the caller will supply them.
This saves one entire keystroke over my answer of a year ago ;-)

Under Windows 7 and XP, I can't get it to tell files vs. dirs on mapped drives. The following script:

<pre>
@echo off
if exist c:\temp\data.csv echo data.csv is a file
if exist c:\temp\data.csv\ echo data.csv is a directory
if exist c:\temp\data.csv\nul echo data.csv is a directory
if exist k:\temp\nonexistent.txt echo nonexistent.txt is a file
if exist k:\temp\something.txt echo something.txt is a file
if exist k:\temp\something.txt\ echo something.txt is a directory
if exist k:\temp\something.txt\nul echo something.txt is a directory
</pre>

produces:

<pre>
data.csv is a file
something.txt is a file
something.txt is a directory
something.txt is a directory
</pre>

So beware if your script might be fed a mapped or UNC path. The pushd solution below seems to be the most foolproof.

This works perfectly

if exist "%~1\" echo Directory

we need to use %~1 to remove quotes from %1, and add a backslash at end. Then put thw whole into qutes again.

Based on [this article](

[To see links please register here]

) titled "How can a batch file test existence of a directory" it's "not entirely reliable".


BUT I just tested this:

@echo off
IF EXIST %1\NUL goto print
ECHO not dir
pause
exit
:print
ECHO It's a directory
pause

and it seems to work

This is the code that I use in my BATCH files

```
@echo off
set param=%~1
set tempfile=__temp__.txt
dir /b/ad > %tempfile%
set isfolder=false
for /f "delims=" %%i in (temp.txt) do if /i "%%i"=="%param%" set isfolder=true
del %tempfile%
echo %isfolder%
if %isfolder%==true echo %param% is a directory

```

A very simple way is to check if the child exists.

If a child does not have any child, the `exist` command will return false.

IF EXIST %1\. (
echo %1 is a folder
) else (
echo %1 is a file
)

You may have some false negative if you don't have sufficient access right (I have not tested it).