replace - Trying to remove all spaces, tabs, carriage returns using VBScript -

i trying assign results of command below variable. goal obtain pid number.

service_name: msftpsvc         type               : 10  win32_own_process         state              : 3  stop_pending                                 (stoppable, not_pausable, accepts_shutdown)         win32_exit_code    : 0  (0x0)         service_exit_code  : 0  (0x0)         checkpoint         : 0x0         wait_hint          : 0x0         pid                : 7888         flags              : 

if have better idea let me know. trying remove spaces, tabs, carriage returns, etc... search "pid:" string , "flags" , copy pid number.

i haven't been able remove spaces , have in 1 single string. here code:

dim wshshell set wshshell = wscript.createobject("wscript.shell") dim commandtorun, scriptstdout, scriptstderr, exitcode dim results  commandtorun = "sc.exe queryex msftpsvc" exitcode     = execscript(commandtorun)  results = replace(scriptstdout, vbcrlf, "") 'this works results = replace(results, vbtab, "")       'nothing happens results = trim(results)                     'nothing happens  function execscript(command)   dim wshshellexec   set wshshellexec = wshshell.exec("cmd /c " & command)   dim errorread   scriptstdout=""   scriptstderr=""   while wshshellexec.status = 0     while not wshshellexec.stdout.atendofstream       scriptstdout=scriptstdout&wshshellexec.stdout.readall()     loop     while not wshshellexec.stderr.atendofstream       errorread = true       scriptstderr=scriptstdout&wshshellexec.stderr.readall()     loop   loop   execscript=wshshellexec.exitcode   wscript.echo scriptstdout   set wshshellexec=nothing end function 

thank you

there not tabs in output, , trim removes spaces beginning , end of string, not somewhere in middle. since in case there no spaces before service_name or after last colon of multiline string there's nothing trim remove.

it's better kind of replacement regular expression:

set re = new regexp re.pattern = "\s+" re.global  = true  results = trim(re.replace(scriptstdout, " ")) 

the above replace consecutive whitespace (linebreaks, tabs, spaces, etc.) single space, , remove remaining leading or trailing space.

however, since actual goal obtain pid of service, i'd recommend drop approach entirely , switch wmi:

set wmi = getobject("winmgmts://./root/cimv2")  qry = "select * win32_service name = 'msftpsvc'" each svc in wmi.execquery(qry)   pid = svc.processid next  wscript.echo pid