Move pdf files matching a substring in powershell - powershell

Question

I need to move the pdf file from location1 to location2 based on the substring (between the last & second last '.') fetched from text filename at location3. I cannot rename the pdf files at location1 during run time, as it have hundreds of thousands of pdf files & I need only few matching the substring pattern.
location3:
A_b_c_d_e_f_1.2.3.4.5.txt
G_h_i_j_k_6.7.8.9.txt
l_m_n_o_p_2.7.8.4.txt
location1:
5_rha_thye_lej.pdf
9_tyoe_hslel_hlssls.pdf
4_shl_heoe_keie_ekye.pdf
I achieved to get the substring from txt file name but moving the pdf matching the pattern is causing the problem.
$files = Get-ChildItem "location3" -Filter *.txt
forEach ($n in $files) {
$substring = $n.Name.split(".")[-2]
write-host $substring }
Move-Item (Join-Path location1\$substring) -Destination location2

Answer 1

I had to read this question a few times and i hope I understand what you want:
in location3 there are .txt files that have a filename ending in a number just before the extension, after a .
find pdf files in location1 that have a filename starting with any of those numbers, followed by an underscore
move these files to location2
If that is correct, you could do:
$location1 = 'D:\Test\sourcefiles' # the source folder where the .pdf files are
$location2 = 'D:\Test\destination' # the destination to move the .pdf files to
$location3 = 'D:\Test' # where the .txt files are
# first test if the destinationfolder $location2 exists. If not create it
if (!(Test-Path -Path $location2 -PathType Container)) {
$null = New-Item -Path $location2 -ItemType Directory
}
# get an array of numbers taken from the textfile names in location3
$numbers = Get-ChildItem -Path $location3 -Filter '*.txt' -File |
Where-Object {$_.BaseName -match '\.(\d+)$'} | ForEach-Object { $matches[1] }
# next, loop through the sourcefolder $location1
Get-ChildItem -Path $location1 -Filter '*_*.pdf' -File | # find .pdf files that contain an underscore in the name
Where-Object { $numbers -contains ($_.Name -split '_')[0] } | # that have a name starting with one of the numbers we got above, followed by an underscore
Move-Item -Destination $location2