How to delete registry strings in specified key if string contains value?

Question

I have a generic registry key that has various strings dumped in it by programs:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Folders

How can I use a batch file to read the strings in the key, and if a string contains the word 'example' as part of the name, I want it to be deleted.

Answer 1

try this:

@ECHO OFF &SETLOCAL
SET "key=HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Folders"
SET "search=example"
FOR /f "delims=" %%a IN ('reg query "%key%" ^| find "%search%"') DO REG delete "%key%" /v "%%~a"