Scripts

MyDefrag comes with a collection of completely automatic scripts that cover the needs of most users, see the

Using MyDefrag chapter. You will only have to look at scripting if you have special wishes.

Script language reference
A simple script
Zones
Running a script
Commandline
The "Settings.MyD" script
Other things to know about scripts

Script language reference

The MyDefrag scripting language was specially designed for defragmentation and optimization purposes. It is not a programming language, but a parameter passing language, and is therefore very straightforward and easy to use yet allows for some very complex and sophisticated disk optimizations. The program checks every script before running it, there is absolutely no way that you can damage your disks by making a mistake in a script.

VolumeSelect

VolumeBoolean

VolumeActions

FileSelect

FileBoolean

FileActions

Settings

Variables

Macros

STRING

NUMBER

DATETIME

Formal script grammar

A simple script

Scripts are text files that tell MyDefrag what to do. The lines in the text file are executed one by one, from top to bottom. Here is a small example of a script:

A small example script.

Slowdown(80)
VolumeSelect
  All
VolumeActions
  FileSelect
    All
  FileActions
    Defragment()
  FileEnd
VolumeEnd

--> see:  Settings
--> see:  VolumeSelect
--> see:  VolumeBoolean
--> see:  VolumeActions
--> see:  FileSelect
--> see:  FileBoolean
--> see:  FileActions

This example script begins with a setting, in this case the Slowdown() setting. After the setting there is a VolumeSelect-VolumeActions-VolumeEnd statement. There can be more than 1 of these in a script, but most scripts will have only 1. The VolumeSelect statement is the basic workhorse in a script, it specifies which volumes (disks) are to be processed (in this case "All") and the actions to perform on those volumes.

Inside the VolumeSelect statement is a FileSelect-FileActions-FileEnd statement. Most VolumeSelect statements will have more than 1 FileSelect statements, this is just a basic example. The FileSelect specifies which files are to be processed (in this case "All") and what to do with them (in this case "Defragment").

So, this small example script will set the Slowdown setting, and will Defragment all the files on all the volumes.

Zones

MyDefrag organizes all the files on a volume into "zones". The first zone is placed at the beginning of the volume, the second zone after the first zone, the third zone after that, etcetera. In the script you select the files that go into each zone and what actions are performed on those files.

A script with 2 zones.

VolumeSelect
  All
VolumeActions

  # First zone: MP3 files
  FileSelect
    FileName("*.mp3")
  FileActions
    SortByName(Ascending)
  FileEnd

  # Second zone: Other files
  FileSelect
    All
  FileActions
    FastFill()
  FileEnd

VolumeEnd

This script defines 2 zones, first a zone with all the mp3 files, and then a zone with all the other stuff on the volume. The first zone will be sorted by name by the SortByName() function, the second zone will FastFill the gaps.

Items (files, directories) are placed in the first possible zone. In the above example we select "All" files for the second zone, but this actually means "all remaining files". The mp3 files have already been placed in the first zone and are therefore not selected again.

Running a script

There are many ways to run a MyDefrag script:

Make sure the script is in the "Scripts" folder in the MyDefrag installation directory, and that it has a Title and a Description. It will then show up in the MyDefrag chooser, when you run MyDefrag.
Double-click a script. You can for example place your script on the desktop, or you can use Windows Explorer to navigate to the folder that contains your script. The MyDefrag installer creates an association between the ".MyD" extension and the MyDefrag script interpreter, so double-clicking a script will automatically open the interpreter and run the script.
Drag-and-drop a script onto the MyDefrag interpreter (the MyDefrag icon on your desktop).
Enter the name of a MyDefrag script on a commandline just like an executable program. For example "Weekly.MyD". You can do the same in all places where you can enter the name of a program, such as .BAT files, .CMD files, or in any kind of programming language that can execute Windows commandlines (for example the PHP system() function).
Run the MyDefrag interpreter ("MyDefrag.exe") with the name of a script as a parameter, for example "MyDefrag.exe Weekly.MyD".
Create a shortcut to the MyDefag.exe interpreter, then open the properties of the shortcut and add the name of a script to the end of the "target" line.
Create a scheduled task, see How do I schedule a task, to run automatically every day?

Commandline

The MyDefrag script interpreter ("c:\Program Files\MyDefrag v4.3.1\MyDefrag.exe") accepts the following commandline parameters. The parameters can also be used with scripts, for example "Weekly.MyD -v C:".

Parameter Description

[-r] FILENAME

Run a MyDefrag script.

The interpreter will look for the FILENAME in various directories. For more information see the RunScript command.
The "-r" is optional if the filename matches "*.MyD".

For example:

MyDefrag.exe -r Weekly.MyD

[-m] NAME=VALUE

Set a macro.

See the Macros for more information.
The DOS commandline has a maximum length, depending on the Windows version, and this puts a cap on the number of commandline macros you can define. MyDefrag itself has no limits to the size, the number, or the content of macros.
The "-m" is optional, but should be used to prevent clashes with FILENAME and VOLUME.

For example:

MyDefrag.exe -m SELECT=All

[-v] VOLUME

The volumes to be processed.

Wildcards "*" and "?" can be used to select a set of volumes.
Default is to process all volumes.
This only works if your script uses the CommandlineVolumes volumeboolean.
The "-v" is optional, but should be used to prevent clashes with FILENAME and macros.

For example:

MyDefrag.exe -v C: -v D:

Weekly -v F:

-d N

Select a debug level. This will control the messages that are written to the debug logfile. The number N is a value from 0 to 6:
0 = Fatal errors.
1 = same as 0 plus warning messages and basic information messages.
2 = same as 1 plus scripting and volume analyasis information messages.
3 = same as 5 plus scripting high-detail information messages.
4 = same as 2 plus moving items information messages.
5 = same as 4 plus moving items high-detail information messages.
6 = same as 5 plus volume analysis high-detail information messages.
For example:

MyDefrag.exe -d 3

Also see: the

Debug setting.
Note: The debug logfile is highly technical. See the

WriteLogfile and

AppendLogfile script commands to create a logfile more suitable for users.

The "Settings.MyD" script

MyDefrag will run a configuration script called "Settings.MyD" before running your script. It contains default settings, translations for all the text messages that MyDefrag can show on the display, and more. The script has the exact same syntax as a regular script and can contain the exact same commands.

Other things to know about scripts

Scripts are flat text files and can be changed with any text editor, for example the "Notepad" Windows accesorie.
Right-click a MyD script and choose "Edit". This special menu item is created by the MyDefrag installer and will open the script with Notepad.
Script files can be Unicode, UTF-8, or ASCII.
MyDefrag ignores all whitespace, the indentation of the lines is only there for clarification. You can even put multiple commands on a single line, if you want.
Scripts are case-insensitive. You can write "VolumeSelect", but also "volumeselect", "VOLUMESELECT", or whatever.
Scripts can contain the following comments:
- Anything between "/*" and "*/"
- Anything on the same line after "//"
- Anything on the same line after "REM"
- Anything on the same line after "#"
- Anything on the same line after "--"
The MyDefrag scripting language is a (very complex) way to pass settings and parameters into MyDefrag. It was not designed to be programming language. Therefore there are no commands for if-then, while, goto, and many other things commonly found in programming languages. If you need stuff like that then I suggest that you use your favorite programming language to generate a MyDefrag script.