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Hello,
I am a new to Powershell and I have been given a task to copy all folders/subfolders files from source to destination using csv file in powershell.
I have managed to pull files from source to one destination but what if I need to copy the same file structure (including folder/subfolder) from source to destination (creation of same folder/subfolder) where no folder structure is created prior using csv and powershell?
This is the script below I used to copy files from source to destination but how about creating a similar folders and subfolders in destination with this.
CSV:
path
C:\folder1
C:\folder3
C:\folder5
Script:
Import-Csv C:\Scripts\source.csv | ForEach-Object{Get-ChildItem -Path $_.path |
Sort-Object -Property CreationTime -Descending |
Copy-Item -Destination 'C:\testfolder' -recurse -Force -Verbose}
Thanks in advance
Akshay
There is no need to use Get-ChildItem or Sort-Object. Just copy the folder and use -recurse to process the subfolders.
Try this.
Import-Csv C:\Scripts\source.csv | ForEach-Object{Copy-Item -Path $_.path c:\testfolder -Recurse}
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(185.6, 91%, 27%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ESA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
That worked.!
Thanks a lot :)
How can I add log file for this copy? and
Will it work with huge number of files as well?
for example we have 4000-5000 number of files to copy from one folder to another
How can I add log file for this copy?
You could use the -Verbose switch to get a list of what was copied, but with thousands of files, that be a bit much.
Import-Csv C:\Temp\Files.csv | ForEach-Object {
"{0} Processing {1}" -f (get-date), $_.path
Copy-Item -Path $_.path c:\test -Recurse -force -Verbose
"{0} Processing Complete." -f (get-date)
}
Will it work with huge number of files as well?
I have not done any performance tests on Copy-Item. Normally with a huge number of files I would use Robocopy with the /mir switch. That way if the copy process was interrupted, when you rerun it, robocopy with recognize that files already exist in the destination folder and not recopy them. And if a file were deleted in the source, it also get deleted in the destination. That's the "mirror" part. Robocopy is also multithreaded, so it should run fast. It also produces nice output that can be saved in a log with the /log switch.
Import-Csv C:\Temp\Files.csv | ForEach-Object {
$fldr = Get-Item $_.path # So we can get the name.
$dest = "c:\test\" + $fldr.name + "\" # Build destination folder name
Robocopy.exe $_.path $dest /mir /l # /l will list files/folders. Remove /l to do the actual copy
}
HI, I tried the robocopy script and it works but it can't get the subfolders.
I used /e but still it doesn't copy subfolders to destination
I tried the robocopy script and it works but it can't get the subfolders.
I can't help you if you don't show any error messages or the command output.
It works for me.
PS C:\> Import-Csv C:\Temp\Files.csv | ForEach-Object {
"Processing {0}" -f $_.path
$fldr = Get-Item $_.path # So we can get the name.
$dest = "c:\test\" + $fldr.name + "\" # Build destination folder name
Robocopy.exe $_.path $dest /mir /l # /l will list files/folders. Remove /l to do the actual copy
}
Processing C:\Temp\foo1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ROBOCOPY :: Robust File Copy for Windows
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Started : Friday, September 17, 2021 10:47:59 AM
Source : C:\Temp\foo1\
Dest : c:\test\foo1\
Files : *.*
Options : *.* /L /S /E /DCOPY:DA /COPY:DAT /PURGE /MIR /R:1000000 /W:30
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Dir 3 C:\Temp\foo1\
New File 1111 foo1.sln
New File 173 MyZippedFile.zip
New File 92 SomeTextFile.txt
New Dir 0 C:\Temp\foo1\.vs\
New Dir 0 C:\Temp\foo1\.vs\foo1\
New Dir 1 C:\Temp\foo1\.vs\foo1\v15\
New File 47104 .suo
New Dir 5 C:\Temp\foo1\foo1\
New File 188 App.config
New File 5146 foo1.vbproj
New File 2207 Form1.Designer.vb
New File 5817 Form1.resx
New File 892 Form1.vb
New Dir 0 C:\Temp\foo1\foo1\bin\
New Dir 4 C:\Temp\foo1\foo1\bin\Debug\
New File 14336 foo1.exe
New File 188 foo1.exe.config
New File 42496 foo1.pdb
New File 651 foo1.xml
New Dir 7 C:\Temp\foo1\foo1\My Project\
New File 1486 Application.Designer.vb
New File 510 Application.myapp
New File 1148 AssemblyInfo.vb
New File 2771 Resources.Designer.vb
New File 5612 Resources.resx
New File 2971 Settings.Designer.vb
New File 279 Settings.settings
New Dir 0 C:\Temp\foo1\foo1\obj\
New Dir 11 C:\Temp\foo1\foo1\obj\Debug\
New File 1443 DesignTimeResolveAssemblyReferences.cache
New File 6906 DesignTimeResolveAssemblyReferencesInput.cache
New File 14336 foo1.exe
New File 180 foo1.Form1.resources
New File 42496 foo1.pdb
New File 180 foo1.Resources.resources
New File 42 foo1.vbproj.CoreCompileInputs.cache
New File 570 foo1.vbproj.FileListAbsolute.txt
New File 1012 foo1.vbproj.GenerateResource.cache
New File 10411 foo1.vbprojAssemblyReference.cache
New File 651 foo1.xml
New Dir 1 C:\Temp\foo1\foo1\obj\Debug\TempPE\
New File 6144 My Project.Resources.Designer.vb.dll
New Dir 1 C:\Temp\foo1\foo1\v15\
New File 47104 .suo
New Dir 0 C:\Temp\foo1\foo1\v15\Server\
New Dir 4 C:\Temp\foo1\foo1\v15\Server\sqlite3\
New File 0 db.lock
New File 4096 storage.ide
New File 32768 storage.ide-shm
New File 2.7 m storage.ide-wal
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Copied Skipped Mismatch FAILED Extras
Dirs : 14 14 0 0 0 0
Files : 37 37 0 0 0 0
Bytes : 2.99 m 2.99 m 0 0 0 0
Times : 0:00:00 0:00:00 0:00:00 0:00:00
Ended : Friday, September 17, 2021 10:47:59 AM
Processing C:\Temp\foo2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ROBOCOPY :: Robust File Copy for Windows
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Started : Friday, September 17, 2021 10:47:59 AM
Source : C:\Temp\foo2\
Dest : c:\test\foo2\
Files : *.*
Options : *.* /L /S /E /DCOPY:DA /COPY:DAT /PURGE /MIR /R:1000000 /W:30
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Dir 1 C:\Temp\foo2\
New File 70793 PALFunctions.vb
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Copied Skipped Mismatch FAILED Extras
Dirs : 1 1 0 0 0 0
Files : 1 1 0 0 0 0
Bytes : 69.1 k 69.1 k 0 0 0 0
Times : 0:00:00 0:00:00 0:00:00 0:00:00
Ended : Friday, September 17, 2021 10:47:59 AM
So it did worked for me. but I guess I am also getting parent folder even when I only type subfolder in the path
And using this I getting all the folders and subfolders instead of getting few subfolders (substructure1 and substructure3) and for mentioned path in csv
CSV:
Code:
Import-Csv C:\Scripts\source.csv | ForEach-Object {
"Processing {0}" -f $_.path
$fldr = Get-Item $_.path
$dest = "c:\testfolder\" + $fldr.name + "\"
Robocopy.exe $_.path $dest /e
}
Just for learning, what ""Processing {0}" -f $_.path" is for? I get the rest of the code but dont understand that
For some reason I am not able to paste the script process here as it is exceeding 1600 character limit even though I paste it as code
Your initial question only shows one level of folders.
If you want to copy C:\Source\Folder1\MySubfolder to C:\Destination then you need to modify the script depending on if you want the end result to be in C:\Destination\Folder1\MySubfolder or C:\Destination\MySubfolder
I don't know what all is in your CSV file. Does every entry start with C:\Source or do you have different source folders?
As written the script should copy the subfolder to C:\Destination\MySubfolder. Did it do that?
Did you really want it in C:\Destination\Folder1\MySubfolder?
Just for learning, what ""Processing {0}" -f $_.path" is for?
It's just one way to format a string and insert variables into the text. That way we can see what the content of the variable is. See the section on Format String.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(278.4, 34%, 36%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ENM%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
can someone help me, I get this error:
PS C:\temp\Nikhilesh_temp_images> .\newcopy.ps1
Get-Item : Cannot bind argument to parameter 'Path' because it is null.
At C:\temp\Nikhilesh_temp_images\newcopy.ps1:14 char:28
+ $fldr = Get-Item -Path $_.path # So w ...
+ ~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidData: (:) [Get-Item], ParameterBindingValidationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentValidationErrorNullNotAllowed,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetItemComm
and
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ROBOCOPY :: Robust File Copy for Windows
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Started : Wednesday, 29 March 2023 05:13:24 PM
Source : C:\temp\copy_images\
Dest -
Files : *.*
Options : *.* /S /E /DCOPY:DA /COPY:DAT /PURGE /MIR /R:1000000 /W:30
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ERROR : No Destination Directory Specified.
Simple Usage :: ROBOCOPY source destination /MIR
This is my code from script
Import-Csv C:\temp\Nikhilesh_temp_images\Corporate\webimages.csv | ForEach-Object {
$fldr = Get-Item $_.path # So we can get the name.
$dest = "C:\temp\copy_images\" + $fldr.name + "\" # Build destination folder name
Robocopy.exe $_.path $dest /mir /l # /l will list files/folders. Remove /l to do the actual copy
}
Well if you look at the robocopy output you will see that Dest is blank. Without knowing what the contents of your csv file are, it's going to be hard to help you. Display the contents of the $_.path and $fldr.name variables are to verify what you are looking at.
this is what my csv content looks like. I have added 2 entries only but there are thousands of entries like this
| URL |
| C:\temp\copy_images\Corporate\04_820pxtest2.jpg |
| C:\temp\copy_images\Corporate\04_820pxtest1.jpg |
I was able to copy now, but now what is happening robocopy is not reading csv provided to it, instead it is copying entire folder content to destination,can you help me here.
Below is my csv content now:
path,name
C:\temp\Nikhilesh_temp_images\Corporate,fair_lady.png
C:\temp\Nikhilesh_temp_images\Corporate,fair_lady2.png
C:\temp\Nikhilesh_temp_images\Corporate,fair_lady3.png
Below is my final output:
Below is my powershell script:
Import-Csv "C:\temp\Nikhilesh_temp_images\webimages.csv" | ForEach-Object {
$fldr = Get-Item $_.path # So we can get the name.
$dest = "C:\\temp\\copy_images\\" + $fldr.name + "\" # Build destination folder name
Robocopy.exe $_.path $dest /mir # /l will list files/folders. Remove /l to do the actual copy
}
instead it is copying entire folder content to destination,
Well, yeah, that's robocopy's main function.
It looks like each row in your csv identifies a file that is split into PATH (folder name) and NAME (individual file name) values. So your script is piping the contents of the csv to a foreach loop which is going to process the same PATH value (C:\temp\Nikhilesh_temp_images\Corporate) three times.
Based on your csv contents, it appears that your intent is to copy each file listed in it. In that case you should use copy-item and not robocopy.
Import-Csv "C:\temp\Nikhilesh_temp_images\webimages.csv" | ForEach-Object {
$fldr = Get-Item $_.path # So we can get the name.
$Source = $_.path + "\" + $_.name
"Source file is $source"
# update dest to your desired folder name. This what I used to test.
$dest = "C:\temp\Nikhilesh_temp_images\copy_images\" + $fldr.name + "\" # Build destination folder name
"Destination folder is $dest"
if ((test-path $dest) -eq $false) { # does the folder exist?
New-Item -Path $dest -ItemType Directory # No, create it
}
Copy-Item -Path $Source -Destination $dest
}
thanks this works like charm!!!!