Drip files one at a time for processing with a Windows batch script

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 12:14:00 +0000

Ever have a collection of files that you need to send off to something else for processing, but need to process the files one at a time waiting for the completion of each (signaled by a file’s existence because you have no hook to the return code of the originating process) before continuing with the next?

No? Just me? 🤣 Anyway, here’s a script that takes an array of files, copies them to a directory for a different app to process, waits for that process to end (by looking for the file with a done extension added) before continuing on with the next.

@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

set IMPORTDIR=X:\App\Process\

rem List your files here (one per line)
set FILES[0]=X:\Data\File1.csv
set FILES[1]=X:\Data\File2.csv
set FILES[2]=X:\Data\File3.csv

rem Set the number of files
set NUMFILES=3

set SLEEP_SECONDS=5

for /L %%I in (0,1,%NUMFILES%-1) do (
    call :WAITLOOP "!FILES[%%I]!"
)

echo All files processed.
exit /b

:WAITLOOP
rem Get the base name (without extension) and directory
set "FULLFILE=%~1"
set "BASEDIR=%~dp1"
set "BASENAME=%~n1"

if "%BASENAME%"=="" (
    rem This is important so we actually terminate
    goto :EOF
)

rem Compose the .done filename
set "DONEFILE=%IMPORTDIR%%BASENAME%.csv.done"

if exist "%DONEFILE%" (
    echo Removing previous done file.
    del "%DONEFILE%"
)

copy "%FULLFILE%" "%IMPORTDIR%%BASENAME%.csv"

:LOOP
if exist "%DONEFILE%" (
    echo File found: %DONEFILE%
    goto :EOF
) else (
    echo Waiting for file: %DONEFILE%
    timeout /t %SLEEP_SECONDS% /nobreak >nul
    goto LOOP
)

Just update the details as needed, but the above is tested and works!

Windows Batch on MarkJacobsen.net

Drip files one at a time for processing with a Windows batch script