Powershell move file with backup (like mv --backup=numbered) - powershell

Question

I'm looking if there's a PS command that'd be equal to mv --backup=numbered, and can't find anything.
In essence, move 'file' to 'file.old', but if 'file.old' exists, 'file' should be moved to 'file.old.2'.
For now the closest I found is from this link: https://www.pdq.com/blog/copy-individual-files-and-rename-duplicates/:
$SourceFile = "C:\Temp\File.txt"
$DestinationFile = "C:\Temp\NonexistentDirectory\File.txt"
If (Test-Path $DestinationFile) {
    $i = 0
    While (Test-Path $DestinationFile) {
        $i += 1
        $DestinationFile = "C:\Temp\NonexistentDirectory\File$i.txt"
    }
} Else {
    New-Item -ItemType File -Path $DestinationFile -Force
}
Copy-Item -Path $SourceFile -Destination $DestinationFile -Force
It seems quite awful to have this amount of code. Is there anything simpler available?

Answer 1

Indeed there is no built-in function to do that. However, it should not be a problem to use a function of your own for that purpose.
How about this:
function Copy-FileNumbered {
[CmdletBinding()]
Param(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true, Position = 0)]
[ValidateScript({Test-Path -Path $_ -PathType Leaf})]
[string]$SourceFile,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true, Position = 1)]
[string]$DestinationFile
)
# get the directory of the destination file and create if it does not exist
$directory = Split-Path -Path $DestinationFile -Parent
if (!(Test-Path -Path $directory -PathType Container)) {
New-Item -Path $directory -ItemType 'Directory' -Force
}
$baseName = [System.IO.Path]::GetFileNameWithoutExtension($DestinationFile)
$extension = [System.IO.Path]::GetExtension($DestinationFile) # this includes the dot
$allFiles = Get-ChildItem $directory | Where-Object {$_.PSIsContainer -eq $false} | Foreach-Object {$_.Name}
$newFile = $baseName + $extension
$count = 1
while ($allFiles -contains $newFile) {
$newFile = "{0}({1}){2}" -f $baseName, $count, $extension
$count++
}
Copy-Item -Path $SourceFile -Destination (Join-Path $directory $newFile) -Force
}
This will create a new file in the destination like File(1).txt
Of course, if you rather have names like File.2.txt, just change the format template "{0}({1}){2}" to "{0}.{1}{2}"
Use the function like
$SourceFile = "C:\Temp\File.txt"
$DestinationFile = "C:\Temp\NonexistentDirectory\File.txt"
Copy-FileNumbered -SourceFile $SourceFile -DestinationFile $DestinationFile