batch script to zip a folder without using external softwares

Question

I have folder with the following structure

folder subfolder(empty) subfolder file1.bat file2.bat file3.bat

How do I go about writing a batch file to zip the contents of the above folder without using external softwares like winrar or 7zip?

I tried the below code. But it would copy the contents to the specified temp folder without the empty folder and when attempting to zip the folder it would only zip file1 and file2 and ignore rest of the contents.

I would like to be able to zip the folder as it is without affecting the structure.

I could not find the reason for the issue. Any help is appreciated.

set FILETOZIP=D:OutputZipFilesTestWorkDemo


set TEMPDIR=D:OutputZipFilesTempDir
rmdir %TEMPDIR%
mkdir %TEMPDIR%
xcopy /s %FILETOZIP% %TEMPDIR%

echo Set objArgs = WScript.Arguments > _zipIt.vbs
echo InputFolder = objArgs(0) >> _zipIt.vbs
echo ZipFile = objArgs(1) >> _zipIt.vbs
echo CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject").CreateTextFile(ZipFile, True).Write "PK" ^& Chr(5) ^& Chr(6) ^& String(18, vbNullChar) >> _zipIt.vbs
echo Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application") >> _zipIt.vbs
echo Set source = objShell.NameSpace(InputFolder).Items >> _zipIt.vbs
echo objShell.NameSpace(ZipFile).CopyHere(source) >> _zipIt.vbs
echo wScript.Sleep 2000 >> _zipIt.vbs

CScript  _zipIt.vbs  %TEMPDIR%  D:OutputZipFilessomeArchive.zip

pause

Answer 1

As npocmaka said, Windows can't add a single empty folder to a zip file either through scripting or drag-and-dropping.

But you've inspired me. I decided to write a zip utility in JScript, just to see whether I could. To address your current problem, I added a check for empty folders. If an empty folder is encountered, this script will create a new child folder within called "(empty)". It was either that, add a 0-byte file, or throw an error and skip adding the folder.

Anyway, if you'd like to try it, save this script with a .bat extension and run it. Granted, it's not as simple as your VBscript, but it's got better logging, error handling, and timing; and it can zip individual files as well as folders.

@if (@a==@b) @end   /* JScript ignores this multiline comment

:: zip.bat file/folder1 [file/folder2 [file/folder3 etc...]] [-o outfile.zip]
:: creates a zip file

@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

if "%~1"=="" (
    echo Usage: %~nx0 [-o outfile.zip] "file1 or folder1" ["file2 or folder2"] etc.
    echo If -o is not used, the zip file is named based on the first infile.
    goto :EOF
)

:: convert wildcards to individual filenames
for %%I in (%*) do (
    echo(%%I | findstr "[*?]" >NUL && (
        for /f "tokens=*" %%x in ('dir /b %%I') do set "args=!args! "%%~fx""
    ) || set "args=!args! "%%~I""
)

if "!args!" equ "" (
    echo(%* does not exist.
    goto :EOF
)
cscript /nologo /e:Jscript "%~f0" !args!

goto :EOF

:: end of batch portion / begin JScript portion */
var files = [], outfile,
    fso = new ActiveXObject("scripting.filesystemobject"),
    shl = new ActiveXObject("shell.application");

function chr(n) { return String.fromCharCode(n); }

for (var i=0; i<WSH.Arguments.length; i++) {
    if (WSH.Arguments(i).toLowerCase() == '-o') outfile = WSH.Arguments(++i);
    else files.push(WSH.Arguments(i));
}
if (!outfile) try { outfile = files[0].split(/[/\]/)[0] + '.zip'; }
catch(e) { outfile = 'archive.zip'; } // Probably never see this, but just in case.

WSH.Echo('Creating ' + outfile);

var zip = fso.CreateTextFile(outfile);
zip.Write("PK" + chr(5) + chr(6));
for (var i=18; i>0; i--) zip.Write(chr(0));
zip.Close()
zip = shl.NameSpace(fso.GetFile(outfile).Path);

for (var i=0; i<files.length; i++) {
    try {
        if (fso.FileExists(files[i])) {
            var file = fso.GetFile(files[i]);
        } else if (fso.FolderExists(files[i])) {
            var file = fso.GetFolder(files[i]);
            if (!shl.NameSpace(file.Path).Items().Count) {
                // Windows can't add an empty folder to a zip file, but
                // it *can* add a folder that contains an empty folder.
                shl.NameSpace(file.Path).NewFolder('(empty)');
            }
        } else {
            throw "Unable to locate " + files[i];
        }
        var folder = shl.NameSpace(file.ParentFolder + '\'),
        zipThis = folder.ParseName(fso.GetFileName(files[i]));
    }
    catch(e) {
        var output = 'Skipping ' + files[i] + ': ';
        output += (typeof e === 'string') ? e : (
            e.description ? e.description : 'error ' + e.number + ' (unspecified error)'
        );
        WSH.Echo(output);
        files.splice(i--,1);
        continue;
    }
    WSH.StdOut.Write('Compressing ' + fso.GetFileName(file) + '... ');
    zip.CopyHere(zipThis);
    while (zip.Items().Count <= i) {
        WSH.Sleep(50);
    }
    WSH.Echo('Done.  (' + zip.Items().Count + ' of ' + files.length + ')');
}

if (!zip.Items().Count) {
    fso.DeleteFile(fso.GetFile(outfile));
    WSH.Echo('Zip file is empty.  Deleting.');
}

The advantage of using JScript over VBScript here is that there's no need to echo out to _zipIt.vbs. JScript affords the ability to be evaluated inline as a hybrid of a batch script. Your vbscript you plundered has another issue, in that it arbitrarily calls WScript.Sleep 2000, regardless of how much time is needed to complete the copy. If you're copying large files, 2 seconds might not be enough time. And it's wasteful if you're copying something small.