For instance you want to save the list of all the movies contained in your drive's particular folder to an Excel sheet you can follow the following instructions:
- Go to cmd prompt (shortcut: windows button+r).
- Reach the known directory which contains all the required files. For this you can use the 'cd' command,i.e, change directory and reach the folder.
- Now you can use the pipe commands in cmd prompt to export a given list. In windows cmd prompt the '>' is acts as the pipe command. Now I'll teach you how to write this export command:
type:
dir \s \b> c:\newFile.txt - (optional) Further many possible options are there to customize your exported file format and contents. I'll tell you more
If you type '\dir?'
This Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory.
DIR [drive:][path][filename] [/A[[:]attributes]] [/B] [/C] [/D] [/L] [/N]
[/O[[:]sortorder]] [/P] [/Q] [/R] [/S] [/T[[:]timefield]] [/W] [/X] [/4]
[drive:][path][filename]
Specifies drive, directory, and/or files to list.
/A Displays files with specified attributes.
attributes D Directories R Read-only files
H Hidden files A Files ready for archiving
S System files I Not content indexed files
L Reparse Points - Prefix meaning not
/B Uses bare format (no heading information or summary).
/C Display the thousand separator in file sizes. This is the
default. Use /-C to disable display of separator.
/D Same as wide but files are list sorted by column.
/L Uses lowercase.
/N New long list format where filenames are on the far right.
/O List by files in sorted order.
sortorder N By name (alphabetic) S By size (smallest first)
E By extension (alphabetic) D By date/time (oldest first)
G Group directories first - Prefix to reverse order
/P Pauses after each screenful of information.
/Q Display the owner of the file.
/R Display alternate data streams of the file.
/S Displays files in specified directory and all subdirectories.
/T Controls which time field displayed or used for sorting
timefield C Creation
A Last Access
W Last Written
/W Uses wide list format.
/X This displays the short names generated for non-8dot3 file
names. The format is that of /N with the short name inserted
before the long name. If no short name is present, blanks are
displayed in its place.
/4 Displays four-digit years
Switches may be preset in the DIRCMD environment variable. Override
preset switches by prefixing any switch with - (hyphen)--for example, /-W. - Now open Microsoft Excel, and import the exported file named 'newFile.txt' into a new sheet.