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How to Split a String by a Delimiter in Batch Script

Parsing structured data is a core task in scripting. A common format for this data is a single string where values are separated by a specific character, known as a delimiter (e.g., apple,banana,cherry or 192.168.1.10). To use this data, you need to split the string into its individual components. While Windows Batch has no direct SPLIT() function, it has a powerful and versatile command, FOR /F, that is perfectly designed for this task.

This guide will teach you how to use the FOR /F command with its delims and tokens options to split any string. You will learn how to extract specific parts and how to loop through all the parts of a string with an unknown number of elements.

The Core Command: FOR /F​

The FOR /F command is the primary text-parsing tool in batch scripting. It is designed to read and tokenize strings line by line. When we give it a single string to process, it treats it as a one-line file.

The key options for splitting are:

  • delims=...: This option specifies the delimiter character(s). For example, delims=, tells it to split the string wherever it sees a comma.
  • tokens=...: This option specifies which of the resulting pieces (tokens) you want to capture.
    • tokens=1,2,3: Captures the first three tokens. The first goes into the main loop variable (e.g., %%A), the second into the next alphabetical variable (%%B), and the third into %%C.
    • tokens=*: A special wildcard that captures all tokens into the first variable.
    • tokens=2*: A combination that captures the second token into %%A and all remaining tokens into %%B.

Basic Example: Splitting a Comma-Separated String​

Let's parse a simple data string containing a user's ID, username, and role.

@ECHO OFF
SET "UserData=101,JohnDoe,Administrator"

ECHO Original String: "%UserData%"
ECHO.

REM --- Use FOR /F to split the string ---
FOR /F "tokens=1,2,3 delims=," %%A IN ("%UserData%") DO (
    SET "UserID=%%A"
    SET "Username=%%B"
    SET "UserRole=%%C"
)

ECHO User ID:  %UserID%
ECHO Username: %Username%
ECHO Role:     %UserRole%

Output:

Original String: "101,JohnDoe,Administrator"

User ID:  101
Username: JohnDoe
Role:     Administrator

Let's see how the the command FOR /F "tokens=1,2,3 delims=," %%A IN ("%UserData%") performs the split in the script above:

  1. IN ("%UserData%"): It takes our string "101,JohnDoe,Administrator" as its input.
  2. delims=,: It uses the comma as its knife to slice the string. This results in three pieces (tokens): 101, JohnDoe, and Administrator.
  3. tokens=1,2,3: It specifies that we want to capture the first three tokens.
  4. %%A: The FOR command assigns the first token (101) to the main loop variable, %%A.
  5. It then automatically assigns the subsequent tokens to the next letters of the alphabet: %%B gets JohnDoe and %%C gets Administrator.

Iterating Through All Parts of a String​

What if you don't know how many parts your string will have? You can use a clever nested loop to process every token, one by one.

@ECHO OFF
SET "FruitList=apple banana cherry date"

ECHO --- Iterating through all fruits ---

REM The outer FOR /F with "tokens=*" captures the whole list.
FOR /F "tokens=*" %%L IN ("%FruitList%") DO (
    REM The inner FOR loop iterates through each word in the list.
    FOR %%F IN (%%L) DO (
        ECHO Fruit: %%F
    )
)

Output:

--- Iterating through all fruits ---
Fruit: apple
Fruit: banana
Fruit: cherry
Fruit: date
note

The default delimiter for FOR is a space, so we don't need delims= here.

Common Pitfalls and How to Solve Them​

Problem: The String Contains Empty Fields​

This is the most significant limitation of FOR /F. By default, it skips over empty tokens.

For example, if you try to parse "field1,,field3" with tokens=1,2,3 delims=,, %%A will get field1, but %%B will get field3 because the empty token between the two commas is ignored.

Solution: There is no simple, pure-batch solution for this. It requires very complex, multi-stage parsing. For any data that might contain empty fields, it is highly recommended to use PowerShell, which can handle this correctly.

powershell -Command "('field1,,field3' -split ',')[1]"
note

This PowerShell command would correctly identify that the second element is empty.

Problem: Handling Multiple Delimiters​

You can specify more than one delimiter character in the delims= option. FOR /F will treat any character in the set as a delimiter.

Let's split a path-like string that uses both \ and /.

@ECHO OFF
SET "Path=C:/Users/Admin/Documents"
FOR /F "tokens=1,2,3,4 delims=/\ " %%A IN ("%Path%") DO (
    ECHO Part 1: %%A, Part 2: %%B, Part 3: %%C, Part 4: %%D
)

Practical Example: Parsing a Version Number​

This script takes a version string like 10.2.3-beta and splits it into its major, minor, and patch components.

@ECHO OFF
SET "Version=10.2.3-beta"
ECHO Full Version: %Version%

REM --- Split by the dot delimiter ---
FOR /F "tokens=1,2,3 delims=." %%A IN ("%Version%") DO (
    SET "Major=%%A"
    SET "Minor=%%B"
    SET "PatchAndLabel=%%C"
)

REM --- The third token might still have a label, so split it by the hyphen ---
FOR /F "tokens=1 delims=-" %%P IN ("%PatchAndLabel%") DO (
    SET "Patch=%%P"
)

ECHO Major: %Major%
ECHO Minor: %Minor%
ECHO Patch: %Patch%

Output:

Full Version: 10.2.3-beta
Major: 10
Minor: 2
Patch: 3

Conclusion​

The FOR /F command is the indispensable "Swiss Army knife" of text parsing in Windows Batch. Its delims and tokens options give you complete control for splitting strings into their component parts.

  • Use delims= to specify the character(s) to split by.
  • Use tokens= to select which of the resulting pieces you want to capture.
  • Remember that FOR /F cannot reliably handle empty tokens, and for such cases, PowerShell is the better tool.

By mastering this one command, you can handle a huge variety of data parsing and manipulation tasks directly in your batch scripts.

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