How to get wallet.dat balance from command line?

[codekrash]

I have many bitcoin core wallets from years ago (encrypted). How do I check their balance from command line? Loading each one in bitcoin core GUI is a painfully slow process that will take weeks/months.
At the very least, how can I extract addresses so I can check them online for their balance?
Been struggling with pywallet..
Thanks,

[DaveF]

How many wallet.dat files? Dozens? How many addresses?

You can remove the blockchain data and take the machine offline.
Then open each wallet one at a time and use dumpwallet to get the addresses. It will be quick since it does not have to scan the blockchain.

Copy the addresses notepad and then check in a block explorer.

-Dave

[NotATether]

Start the bitcoind program instead of bitcoin-qt and use bitcoin-cli loadwallet <wallet-name> followed by bitcoin-cli -rpcwallet <wallet-name> getbalance.

The -rpcwallet option needs to be passed so Core knows which wallet you want to get the balance for.

Example:

Code:

notatether@localhost$ bitcoin-cli loadwallet defaultman
{
  "name": "defaultman",
  "warning": ""
}
notatether@localhost$ bitcoin-cli getbalance
error code: -19
error message:
Wallet file not specified (must request wallet RPC through /wallet/<filename> uri-path).
Try adding "-rpcwallet=<filename>" option to bitcoin-cli command line.
notatether@localhost$ bitcoin-cli -rpcwallet="defaultman" getbalance
0.00000000
notatether@localhost$ 

[nc50lc]

I have many bitcoin core wallets from years ago (encrypted). How do I check their balance from command line? Loading each one in bitcoin core GUI is a painfully slow process that will take weeks/months.

The command line will be as slow as the GUI when it comes with scanning a wallet file once you've loaded it, so querying for the balance using Bitcoin-cli will have the same pace as Bitcoin-qt.

At the very least, how can I extract addresses so I can check them online for their balance?

If they were previously scanned with balance and history, then there should be readable addresses after the string: name" when you open them with a text editor.
But that won't show you the correct balance of the wallet, just a hint that it may be hodling some bitcoins.
If the wallet has clear history (eg. when previously used -zapwallettxes), all you'll see are 'jumbled' strings.