xcopy file rename suppress Does xxx specify a file name message

Question

This seems pretty simple and maybe I m just overlooking the proper flag  but how would I  in one command  copy a file from one directory to another and rename it in the destination directory   Here s my command   if exist  bin development whee config example    if not exist  TestConnectionExternal bin Debug whee config      xcopy  bin development whee config example             TestConnectionExternal bin Debug whee config    It prompts me with the following every time      Does TestConnectionExternal bin Debug whee config specify a file name   or directory name on the target  F   file  D   directory     I want to suppress this prompt  the answer is always F

User · Answer

I had a similar issue and both robocopy and xcopy did not help, as I wanted to suppress the comments and use a different destination filename. I found

type filename.txt > destfolder\destfilename.txt

working as per my requirements.

User · Answer

Place an asterisk    at the end of the destination path to skip the dispute of D and F    Example       xcopy  compressedOutput xml         Execute   Scripts APIAutomation Libraries rerunlastfailedbuild xml

User · Answer

The right thing to do if you wanna copy just file and change it s name at destination is       xcopy  f  y  bin development example exe     TestConnectionExternal bin Debug NewName exe     And it s Gonna work fine

User · Answer

Since you re not actually changing the filename  you can take out the filename from the destination and there will be no questions   xcopy bin development whee config example TestConnectionExternal bin Debug    Y   This approach works well when the destination directory is guaranteed to exist  and when the source may equally be a file or directory

User · Answer

Work Around  use ReName    and Name it some Cryptic Name  then ReName it to its Proper Name  C   CD  C  Users Public Documents My Web Sites AngelFire Zoe    XCopy  D  I  V  Y   C  Users Public Documents My Web Sites HostGator   ZoeBeans cop htm   Ren  cop htm   christ-our-passover htm

User · Answer

So  there is a simple fix for this   It is admittedly awkward  but it works  xcopy will not prompt to find out if the destination is a directory or file IF the new file filename  already exists   If you precede your xcopy command with a simple echo to the new filename  it will overwrite the empty file   Example  echo  gt newfile txt xcopy oldfile txt newfile txt  Y

User · Answer

Another option is to use a destination wildcard  Note that this only works if the source and destination filenames will be the same  so while this doesn t solve the OP s specific example  I thought it was worth sharing   For example   xcopy  y  bin development whee config example   TestConnectionExternal bin Debug       will create a copy of the file  whee config example  in the destination directory without prompting for file or directory    Update  As mentioned by  chapluck   You can change      to   newFileName      It persists file extension but allows to rename  Or more hacky    newFileName   newExt    to change extension

User · Answer

You cannot specify that it s always a file  If you don t need xcopy s other features  why not just use regular copy

User · Answer

Just go to http   technet microsoft com en-us library bb491035 aspx   Here s what the MAIN ISSUE is      If Destination does not contain an existing directory and does not end with a backslash     the following message appears        Does destination specify a file name  or directory name on the target   F   file  D   directory     You can suppress this message by using the  i command-line option  which causes xcopy to assume that the destination is a directory if the source is more than one file or a directory   Took me a while  but all it takes is RTFM

User · Answer

XCOPY with   at the end of the target to copy files whether they exist or not in destination XCOPY with   at the end of the target to copy folders and contents whether exist or not in destination  Alternatively  RoboForm SOURCE DEST FILE for files RoboForm SOURCE DEST for folders

User · Answer

I suggest robocopy instead of copy or xcopy   Used as command or in GUI on clients or servers   Tolerant of network pauses and you can choose to ignore file attributes when copying of copy by file attributes   Oh  and it supports multi-core machines so files are copied much faster in  parallel  with each other instead of sequentially   robocopy can be found on MS TechNet

User · Answer

Does xxxxxxxxxxxx specify a file name or directory name on the target   F   file  D   directory   D  if a File    echo F  if a Directory  echo D

User · Answer

Back to the original question    xcopy  bin development whee config example   TestConnectionExternal bin Debug whee config    could be done with two commands eg   mkdir  c  mybackup TestConnectionExternal bin Debug whee config     xcopy  bin development whee config example   c  mybackup TestConnectionExternal bin Debug whee config     By simply appending       to the path of the destination file the destination directory is created if it not already exists  In this case   c  mybackup TestConnectionExternal bin Debug     which is the parent directory of the non-existing directory   c  mybackup TestConnectionExternal bin Debug whee config       At least for WIN7 mkdir does not care if the directory    c  mybackup TestConnectionExternal bin Debug whee config     really exists

User · Answer

I met same issue when try to copy file with new name only if file does not exist in destination or exist  with new name   but is older  The solution is to add   char at end of destination file name  Example   xcopy  C  src whee config txt   C  dest bee config txt    D  Y

User · Answer

xcopy will allow you to copy a single file into a specifed folder it just wont allow you to define a destination name  If you require the destination name just rename it before you copy it   ren  bin development whee config example  whee config  xcopy  R Y  bin development whee config             TestConnectionExternal bin Debug

User · Answer

For duplicating large files  xopy with  J switch is a good choice  In this case  simply pipe an F for file or a D for directory  Also  you can save jobs in an array for future references  For example    MyScriptBlock         Param   SOURCE   DESTINATION        F    XCOPY  SOURCE  DESTINATION  J Y       DESTINATION IS FILE  COPY WITHOUT PROMPT IN DIRECT BUFFER MODE   JOBS   START-JOB -SCRIPTBLOCK  MyScriptBlock -ARGUMENTLIST  SOURCE  DESTIBNATION  JOBS   WAIT-JOB   REMOVE-JOB   Thanks to Chand with a bit modifications    https   stackoverflow com users 3705330 chand

User · Answer

I use   echo f   xcopy  f  y srcfile destfile   to get around it

User · Answer

Don t use the xcopy  use copy instead  it doesn t have this issue   xcopy is generally used when performing recursive copies of multiple files folders  or when you need the verification prompting features it offers  For single file copies  the copy command works just fine

User · Answer

This is from Bills answer   Just to be really clear for others    If you are copying ONE file from one place to another AND you want the full directory structure to be created  use the following command    xcopy  C  Data Images 2013 08 12 85e4a707-2672-481b-92fb-67ecff20c96b jpg   C  Target Data  Images 2013 08 12 85e4a707-2672-481b-92fb-67ecff20c96b jpg      Yes  put a backslash at the end of the file name and it will NOT ask you if it s a file or directory  Because there is only ONE file in the source  it will assume it s a file

User · Answer

There is some sort of undocumented feature in XCOPY  you can use   xcopy  bin development whee config example   c  mybackup TestConnectionExternal bin Debug whee config    i tested it just today   -

User · Answer

Use copy instead of xcopy when copying files   e g    copy  bin development whee config example             TestConnectionExternal bin Debug whee config

User · Answer

xcopy src dest  I  REM This assumes dest is a folder and will create it  if it doesnt exists

[command-line] xcopy file, rename, suppress "Does xxx specify a file name..." message

Examples related to command-line

Examples related to command-prompt

Examples related to xcopy