How to get most recent file in a directory without using a FOR loop?-CodePudding

I'm trying to write a batch file that returns the most recent file in a directory without using a for loop. I tried a lot but it's not working.

So is there a approach that we can get the most recent file without using for loop?

@echo off  
cd D:\Applications  
for /f "delims=" %%i in ('dir /b/a-d/od/t:c') do set RECENT="%%~nxi"  
echo ..... starting jar........  
start java -jar %RECENT%  
echo ....jar started.....  
exit 0

The execution gets stuck at start java and it does not go to next line or exit 0.

CodePudding user response：

I'm not sure why you don't want to use the most powerful command in cmd, but for the sake of answering your question:

dir /o-d /b "C:\my folder\*" >tmp
<tmp set /p "latest="
del tmp
echo the latest file is %latest%

CodePudding user response：

There can be used the following code using command FOR:

@echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions DisableDelayedExpansion
cd /D "D:\Applications" 2>nul || (echo ERROR: Directory D:\Applications does not exist.& goto EndBatch)
for /F "eol=| delims=" %%i in ('dir /A-D /B /O-D /TC 2^>nul') do set "RECENT=%%i" & goto StartJava
echo WARNING: Could not find any file in directory: