Windows – Batch file to copy folder structure

Since the folders are unique and non-sequential, I will assume you know in advance what they are.

You can use xcopy for this or robocopy

This is with xcopy

xcopy "c:\myfile.txt" "c:\parent\subfolder1\" /z /i
xcopy "c:\myfile.txt" "c:\parent\subfolder2\" /z /i 
xcopy "c:\myfile.txt" "c:\parent\subfolder3\" /z /i
xcopy "c:\myfile.txt" "c:\parent\subfolder4\" /z /i
xcopy "c:\myfile.txt" "c:\parent\subfolder5\" /z /i

xcopy "c:\myfile2.txt" "c:\parent\subfolder1\" /z /i
xcopy "c:\myfile2.txt" "c:\parent\subfolder2\" /z /i
xcopy "c:\myfile2.txt" "c:\parent\subfolder3\" /z /i
xcopy "c:\myfile2.txt" "c:\parent\subfolder4\" /z /i
xcopy "c:\myfile2.txt" "c:\parent\subfolder5\" /z /i

Save the code to notepad, and save as. Name it Copy.bat (note the .bat), Run it. All done.

Copy Files and Folder Structure Recursively between a Date Range

You can use PowerShell and Get-ChildItem to get the LastWriteTime attribute values of files recursively in a starting source directory.

For the source files that have the LastWriteTime attribute value within the date range, you can replace the source folder value with the destination folder value, and then use Copy-Item with the -Recurse -Force parameters to create the matching structure and copy over the files.

Note: I wrote this in both batch script logic and PowerShell script logic below for you.

Batch

Important: Just set the topmost variable values (src= and dest=) for the source and destination folders, and also for the to and from date values for the range you need (Date_From= and Date_To=) in MM/DD/YYYY format as set in those values in the below script example.

SET "src=c:\source\original"
SET "dest=c:\temp\new"
SET "Date_From=01/01/2017"
SET "Date_To=02/26/2017"

CALL :PSScript "%src%" "%dest%" "%Date_From%" "%Date_To%"

SET PowerShellDir=C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0
CD /D "%PowerShellDir%"
Powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "& '%PSScript%'"
IF EXIST "%PSScript%" DEL /Q /F "%PSScript%"
EXIT

:PSScript
SET PSScript=%temp%\~tmp%~n0.ps1
IF EXIST "%PSScript%" DEL /Q /F "%PSScript%"

ECHO $src       ^= "%~1";                                                                            >>"%PSScript%"
ECHO $dest      ^= "%~2";                                                                            >>"%PSScript%"
ECHO $Date_From ^= "%~3";                                                                            >>"%PSScript%"
ECHO $Date_To   ^= "%~4";                                                                            >>"%PSScript%" 

ECHO $Date_From ^=[datetime]$Date_From;                                                              >>"%PSScript%"
ECHO $Date_To   ^=[datetime]$Date_To;                                                                >>"%PSScript%"

ECHO $srcFiles ^= ^(Get-ChildItem -Path $src -Recurse^);                                             >>"%PSScript%"
ECHO $srcFiles ^| %% {If^(^($_.LastWriteTime -ge $Date_From^) -or ^($_.LastWriteTime -le $Date_To^)^)>>"%PSScript%"
ECHO                 {                                                                               >>"%PSScript%"
ECHO                     $dPath ^= ^($_.FullName.Replace^($src,$dest^)^);                            >>"%PSScript%"
ECHO                     Copy-Item $_.FullName -destination $dPath -Recurse -Force;                  >>"%PSScript%"
ECHO                 }                                                                               >>"%PSScript%"
ECHO               };                                                                                >>"%PSScript%"
GOTO :EOF

PowerShell

Important: Just set the topmost variable values ($src= and $dest=) for the source and destination folders, and also for the to and from date values for the range you need ($Date_From= and $Date_To=) in MM/DD/YYYY format as set in those values in the below script example.

$src  = "c:\source\original";
$dest = "c:\temp\new";
$Date_From = "01/01/2017";
$Date_To   = "02/26/2017";

$Date_From = [datetime]$Date_From;
$Date_To   = [datetime]$Date_To;

$srcFiles = (Get-ChildItem -Path $src -Recurse);
$srcFiles | % {If(($_.LastWriteTime -ge $Date_From) -or ($_.LastWriteTime -le $Date_To))
                {
                    $dPath = ($_.FullName.Replace($src,$dest));
                    Copy-Item $_.FullName -destination $dPath -Recurse -Force ; 
                }
              };

Further Resources

• Call
• PowerShell Data Types
• Get-ChildItem
• If

• ForEach-Object

  Standard Aliases for Foreach-Object: the '%' symbol, ForEach

• Replace()

• Copy-Item