I want to move the file "file_to_move.txt"in each folder to their respective "done"-folder.
so the file_to_move.txt in C:\Temp\test\folder1 is moved to C:\Temp\test\folder1\done
and file_to_move.txt in C:\Temp\test\folder2 is moved to C:\Temp\test\folder2\done
...and so on, preferably with a %date%_%time% added to the file-name.
if a folder (like folder4 in the example below) does not have a file_to_move.txt, the script should just ignore it and move on.
folder structure example:
C:\Temp\test\DONE
C:\Temp\test\folder1
C:\Temp\test\folder1\done
C:\Temp\test\folder1\some_other_folder
C:\Temp\test\folder1\some_other_file.txt
C:\Temp\test\folder1\file_to_move.txt
C:\Temp\test\folder2
C:\Temp\test\folder2\done
C:\Temp\test\folder2\some_other_folder
C:\Temp\test\folder2\some_other_file.txt
C:\Temp\test\folder2\file_to_move.txt
C:\Temp\test\folder3
C:\Temp\test\folder3\done
C:\Temp\test\folder3\some_other_folder
C:\Temp\test\folder3\some_other_file.txt
C:\Temp\test\folder3\file_to_move.txt
C:\Temp\test\folder4
C:\Temp\test\folder4\done
C:\Temp\test\folder4\some_other_folder
C:\Temp\test\folder4\some_other_file.txt
I have experimented with a Powershell script even if I'm not very good at it and I dont know it can be done in a standard batch-script.
I have tried this so far:
In a batch-script:
SET ThisScriptsDirectory=%~dp0
SET PowerShellScriptPath=%ThisScriptsDirectory%bin\movescript.ps1
PowerShell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "& '%PowerShellScriptPath%'"
in the movescript.ps1:
Move-Item C:\Temp\test\*\file_to_move.txt C:\Temp\test\*\done\file_to_move_$(get-date -f yyyyMMdd_HHmmss).txt
But this is not working.
I guess it's not precise enough to work.
As a bonus, can the whole thing be done within the basic script or must we use the external .PS1-file?
You can use the Get-ChildItem cmdlet with a filter to retrieve all file_to_move.txt files recursively from a path. Use the Foreach-Object (alias foreach) to iterate over them and combine the new path using the Join-Path cmdlet. To Copy the Item, you can use the Copy-Item cmdlet:
$itemsToCopy = Get-ChildItem -Path c:\Temp\Test -Filter file_to_move.txt -Recurse
$itemsToCopy | foreach {
$newPath = Join-Path $_.DirectoryName 'done'
New-Item -Path $newPath -ItemType directory -Force | out-null
$_ | Copy-Item -Destination $newPath
}
If you want to add a Timestamp, you could use the Get-Date cmdlet and invoke the ToString method with your desired format on it, example:
(Get-Date).ToString("yyyy-dd-M_HH-mm-ss")
Output:
2016-05-4_15-06-02
You can now concat the filenames using a format string and the $_.Basename and $_.Extension property within your foreach loop. I will leave this as an exercise to you.
I wrote a quick robocopy script to search a directory and move video files that match certain criteria (size, name, extension). It works great except it will not search sub-directories. I tried the /s flag but that moves over the entire directory. I only want the files in those directories. Is there an easy way to plug the robocopy portion into a Get-Child or a loop in powershell? Thanks!
robocopy C:\psTesting\sourceDrive\ C:\psTesting\movieFolder\ *.mp4 *.avi *.mkv /min:600000000 /mov /np
Easiest way that I can think is to make a function for it. This should do what you want:
Function PSRoboCopy{
[cmdletbinding()]
Param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true,ValueFromPipelinebyPropertyName=$True)]
[Alias('SourceFile')]
[String[]]$FullName,
[string]$Destination,
[string]$Options
)
Process{
$FileIn = Split-Path $FullName -Leaf
$FolderIn = Split-Path $FullName
& robocopy $FolderIn $Destination $FileIn $Options
}
}
Get-ChildItem 'C:\psTesting\sourceDrive\*' -Include '*.mp4','*.avi','*.mkv' -Recurse | Where{$_.length -gt 600000000} | PSRoboCopy -Destination 'C:\psTesting\movieFolder\' -Options "/mov /np"
That lets you pipe a file object directly into it and specify your destination and any options you want.
We got hit by virus, it changed all common file extension to .kmybamf (.txt >> .txt.kmybamf ) and if I delete .kmybamf , the file got damaged.....
So I made a list of all files that got damaged. now I'm trying to overwrite them by previous version. Anyone knows how to do it in Powershell?
I can do it in cmd similar to this
subst X: \localhost\D$\#GMT-2011.09.20-06.00.04_Data
robocopy Z: D:\Folder\ /E /COPYALL
But I want to do it in one shot in Powershell, It has to be a "if .kmybamf found, then restore previous version." and powershell seems like has no such cmdlet for restoring previous version of files or folders.
$fileList = Get-Content -Path "\\localhost\D$\#GMT-2011.09.20-06.00.04_Data"
$destinationFolder = "D:\Folder\"
foreach ($file in $fileList)
{
Copy-Item -Path $file -Destination $destinationFolder -Force
}
This will also work but I find it less readable
Get-Content -Path "\\localhost\D$\#GMT-2011.09.20-06.00.04_Data" | ForEach-Object { Copy-Item -Path $_ -Destination "D:\Folder" -Force }
Get-Content is for reading the text from the files, to read the files from a folder you would have to use Get-Childitem
I'm writing a simple script to delete USMT migration folders after a certain amount of days:
## Server List ##
$servers = "Delorean","Adelaide","Brisbane","Melbourne","Newcastle","Perth"
## Number of days (-3 is over three days ago) ##
$days = -3
$timelimit = (Get-Date).AddDays($days)
foreach ($server in $servers)
{
$deletedusers = #()
$folders = Get-ChildItem \\$server\USMT$ | where {$_.psiscontainer}
write-host "Checking server : " $server
foreach ($folder in $folders)
{
If ($folder.LastWriteTime -lt $timelimit -And $folder -ne $null)
{
$deletedusers += $folder
Remove-Item -recurse -force $folder.fullname
}
}
write-host "Users deleted : " $deletedusers
write-host
}
However I keep hitting the dreaded Remove-Item : The specified path, file name, or both are too long. The fully qualified file name must be less than 260 characters, and the directory name must be less than 248 characters.
I've been looking at workarounds and alternatives but they all revolve around me caring what is in the folder.
I was hoping for a more simple solution as I don't really care about the folder contents if it is marked for deletion.
Is there any native Powershell cmdlet other than Remove-Item -recurse that can accomplish what I'm after?
I often have this issue with node projects. They nest their dependencies and once git cloned, it's difficult to delete them. A nice node utility I came across is rimraf.
npm install rimraf -g
rimraf <dir>
Just as CADII said in another answer: Robocopy is able to create paths longer than the limit of 260 characters. Robocopy is also able to delete such paths. You can just mirror some empty folder over your path containing too long names in case you want to delete it.
For example:
robocopy C:\temp\some_empty_dir E:\temp\dir_containing_very_deep_structures /MIR
Here's the Robocopy reference to know the parameters and various options.
I've created a PowerShell function that is able to delete a long path (>260) using the mentioned robocopy technique:
function Remove-PathToLongDirectory
{
Param(
[string]$directory
)
# create a temporary (empty) directory
$parent = [System.IO.Path]::GetTempPath()
[string] $name = [System.Guid]::NewGuid()
$tempDirectory = New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path (Join-Path $parent $name)
robocopy /MIR $tempDirectory.FullName $directory | out-null
Remove-Item $directory -Force | out-null
Remove-Item $tempDirectory -Force | out-null
}
Usage example:
Remove-PathToLongDirectory c:\yourlongPath
This answer on SuperUser solved it for me: https://superuser.com/a/274224/85532
Cmd /C "rmdir /S /Q $myDir"
I learnt a trick a while ago that often works to get around long file path issues. Apparently when using some Windows API's certain functions will flow through legacy code that can't handle long file names. However if you format your paths in a particular way, the legacy code is avoided. The trick that solves this problem is to reference paths using the "\\?\" prefix. It should be noted that not all API's support this but in this particular case it worked for me, see my example below:
The following example fails:
PS D:\> get-childitem -path "D:\System Volume Information\dfsr" -hidden
Directory: D:\System Volume Information\dfsr
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a-hs 10/09/2014 11:10 PM 834424 FileIDTable_2
-a-hs 10/09/2014 8:43 PM 3211264 SimilarityTable_2
PS D:\> Remove-Item -Path "D:\System Volume Information\dfsr" -recurse -force
Remove-Item : The specified path, file name, or both are too long. The fully qualified file name must be less than 260
characters, and the directory name must be less than 248 characters.
At line:1 char:1
+ Remove-Item -Path "D:\System Volume Information\dfsr" -recurse -force
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : WriteError: (D:\System Volume Information\dfsr:String) [Remove-Item], PathTooLongExcepti
on
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : RemoveItemIOError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RemoveItemCommand
PS D:\>
However, prefixing the path with "\\?\" makes the command work successfully:
PS D:\> Remove-Item -Path "\\?\D:\System Volume Information\dfsr" -recurse -force
PS D:\> get-childitem -path "D:\System Volume Information\dfsr" -hidden
PS D:\>
If you have ruby installed, you can use Fileman:
gem install fileman
Once installed, you can simply run the following in your command prompt:
fm rm your_folder_path
This problem is a real pain in the neck when you're developing in node.js on Windows, so fileman becomes really handy to delete all the garbage once in a while
This is a known limitation of PowerShell. The work around is to use dir cmd (sorry, but this is true).
http://asysadmin.tumblr.com/post/17654309496/powershell-path-length-limitation
or as mentioned by AaronH answer use \?\ syntax is in this example to delete build
dir -Include build -Depth 1 | Remove-Item -Recurse -Path "\\?\$($_.FullName)"
If all you're doing is deleting the files, I use a function to shorten the names, then I delete.
function ConvertTo-ShortNames{
param ([string]$folder)
$name = 1
$items = Get-ChildItem -path $folder
foreach ($item in $items){
Rename-Item -Path $item.FullName -NewName "$name"
if ($item.PSIsContainer){
$parts = $item.FullName.Split("\")
$folderPath = $parts[0]
for ($i = 1; $i -lt $parts.Count - 1; $i++){
$folderPath = $folderPath + "\" + $parts[$i]
}
$folderPath = $folderPath + "\$name"
ConvertTo-ShortNames $folderPath
}
$name++
}
}
I know this is an old question, but I thought I would put this here in case somebody needed it.
There is one workaround that uses Experimental.IO from Base Class Libraries project. You can find it over on poshcode, or download from author's blog. 260 limitation is derived from .NET, so it's either this, or using tools that do not depend on .NET (like cmd /c dir, as #Bill suggested).
Combination of tools can work best, try doing a dir /x to get the 8.3 file name instead. You could then parse out that output to a text file then build a powershell script to delete the paths that you out-file'd. Take you all of a minute. Alternatively you could just rename the 8.3 file name to something shorter then delete.
For my Robocopy worked in 1, 2 and 3
First create an empty directory lets say c:\emptydir
ROBOCOPY c:\emptydir c:\directorytodelete /purge
rmdir c:\directorytodelete
This is getting old but I recently had to work around it again. I ended up using 'subst' as it didn't require any other modules or functions be available on the PC this was running from. A little more portable.
Basically find a spare drive letter, 'subst' the long path to that letter, then use that as the base for GCI.
Only limitation is that the $_.fullname and other properties will report the drive letter as the root path.
Seems to work ok:
$location = \\path\to\long\
$driveLetter = ls function:[d-z]: -n | ?{ !(test-path $_) } | random
subst $driveLetter $location
sleep 1
Push-Location $driveLetter -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Get-ChildItem -Recurse
subst $driveLetter /D
That command is obviously not to delete files but can be substituted.
PowerShell can easily be used with AlphaFS.dll to do actual file I/O stuff
without the PATH TOO LONG hassle.
For example:
Import-Module <path-to-AlphaFS.dll>
[Alphaleonis.Win32.Filesystem.Directory]::Delete($path, $True)
Please see at Codeplex: https://alphafs.codeplex.com/ for this .NET project.
I had the same issue while trying to delete folders on a remote machine.
Nothing helped but... I found one trick :
# 1:let's create an empty folder
md ".\Empty" -erroraction silentlycontinue
# 2: let's MIR to the folder to delete : this will empty the folder completely.
robocopy ".\Empty" $foldertodelete /MIR /LOG+:$logname
# 3: let's delete the empty folder now:
remove-item $foldertodelete -force
# 4: we can delete now the empty folder
remove-item ".\Empty" -force
Works like a charm on local or remote folders (using UNC path)
Adding to Daniel Lee's solution,
When the $myDir has spaces in the middle it gives FILE NOT FOUND errors considering set of files splitted from space. To overcome this use quotations around the variable and put powershell escape character to skip the quatations.
PS>cmd.exe /C "rmdir /s /q <grave-accent>"$myDir<grave-accent>""
Please substitute the proper grave-accent character instead of <grave-accent>
SO plays with me and I can't add it :). Hope some one will update it for others to understand easily
Just for completeness, I have come across this a few more times and have used a combination of both 'subst' and 'New-PSDrive' to work around it in various situations.
Not exactly a solution, but if anyone is looking for alternatives this might help.
Subst seems very sensitive to which type of program you are using to access the files, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, seems to be the same with New-PSDrive.
Any thing developed using .NET out of the box will fail with paths too long. You will have to move them to 8.3 names, PInVoke (Win32) calls, or use robocopy
Is there a way of doing the following in PowerShell?
xcopy \\m1\C$\Online\*.config \\m2\C$\Config-Backup /s
I have tried this:
Copy-Item \\m1\C$\Online\* -Recurse -Destination \\m2\C$\Config-Backup -include *.config
But it does nothing, probably because there are no configuration files in the root. How do I do it?
If you would like to use native PowerShell (with a third party .NET module :P) and also don't want to let long file paths (> 255 characters) halt the copy, you can use this:
# Import AlphaFS .NET module - http://alphafs.codeplex.com/
Import-Module C:\Path\To\AlphaFS\DLL\AlphaFS.dll
# Variables
$SourcePath = "C:\Temp"
$DestPath = "C:\Test"
# RecursePath function.
Function RecursePath([string]$SourcePath, [string]$DestPath){
# for each subdirectory in the current directory..
[Alphaleonis.Win32.Filesystem.Directory]::GetDirectories($SourcePath) | % {
$ShortDirectory = $_
$LongDirectory = [Alphaleonis.Win32.Filesystem.Path]::GetLongPath($ShortDirectory)
# Create the directory on the destination path.
[Alphaleonis.Win32.Filesystem.Directory]::CreateDirectory($LongDirectory.Replace($SourcePath, $DestPath))
# For each file in the current directory..
[Alphaleonis.Win32.Filesystem.Directory]::GetFiles($ShortDirectory) | % {
$ShortFile = $_
$LongFile = [Alphaleonis.Win32.Filesystem.Path]::GetLongPath($ShortFile)
# Copy the file to the destination path.
[Alphaleonis.Win32.Filesystem.File]::Copy($LongFile, $LongFile.Replace($SourcePath, $DestPath), $true)
}
# Loop.
RecursePath $ShortDirectory $DestPath
}
}
# Execute!
RecursePath $SourcePath $DestPath
Please note this code was stripped out of a much larger project of mine, but I gave it a quick test and it seems to work. Hope this helps!
Start-Process xcopy "\\m1\C$\Online\*.config \\m2\C$\Config-Backup /s" -NoNewWindow
:P
The new AlphaFS 2.0 makes this really easy.
Example: Copy a directory recursively
# Set copy options.
PS C:\> $copyOptions = [Alphaleonis.Win32.Filesystem.CopyOptions]::FailIfExists
# Set source and destination directories.
PS C:\> $source = 'C:\sourceDir'
PS C:\> $destination = 'C:\destinationDir'
# Copy directory recursively.
PS C:\> [Alphaleonis.Win32.Filesystem.Directory]::Copy($source, $destination, $copyOptions)
AlphaFS on GitHub
Look into robocopy. It's not a native PowerShell command, but I call it from PowerShell scripts all the time. Works similarly to xcopy only it's way more powerful.