How to copy a directory structure but only include certain files using windows batch files

Question

As the title says  how can I recursively copy a directory structure but only include some files  E g given the following directory structure   folder1   folder2     folder3       data zip       info txt       abc xyz     folder4     folder5       data zip       somefile exe       someotherfile dll   The files data zip and info txt can appear everywhere in the directory structure  How can I copy the full directory structure  but only include files named data zip and info txt  all other files should be ignored    The resulting directory structure should look like this   copy of folder1   folder2     folder3       data zip       info txt     folder4     folder5       data zip

User · Accepted Answer

You don t mention if it has to be batch only  but if you can use ROBOCOPY  try this   ROBOCOPY C  Source C  Destination data zip info txt  E   EDIT  Changed the  S parameter to  E to include empty folders

User · Answer

I am fine with regular expressions  lazy and averse to installs  so I created a batch file that creates the directory and copies with vanilla DOS commands  Seems laborious but quicker for me than working out robocopy    Create your list of source files with complete paths  including drive letter if nec  in a text file  Switch on regular expressions in your text editor  Add double quotes round each line in case of spaces - search string      replace string   1   and click replace all Create two lines per file - one to create the directory  one to copy the file  qqq will be replaced with destination path  - search string      replace string md qqq 1 nxcopy  1 qqq 1 n and click replace all Remove the filename from the destination paths     search               n replace     n Replace in the destination path  in this example A  src and B  dest   Turn OFF regular expressions  search qqq A  src  replace B  dest  and click replace all    md will create nested directories  copy would probably behave identically to xcopy in this example  You might want to add  Y to xcopy to suppress overwrite confirms  You end up with a batch file like so   md  B  dest a b c   xcopy  C  src a b c e xyz   B  dest a b c e xyz    repeated for every file in your original list  Tested on Win7

User · Answer

try piping output of find  ie  the file path  into cpio   find   -type f -name    jpg    cpio -p -d -v targetdir    cpio checks timestamp on target files -- so its safe and fast   remove -v for faster op  once you get used to it

User · Answer

If Powershell is an option  you can do this   Copy-Item c  sourcePath d  destinationPath -filter data zip -recurse   The main disadvantage is it copies all folders  even if they will end up being empty because no files match the filter you specify  So you could end up with a tree full of empty folders  in addition to the few folders that have the files you want

User · Answer

XCOPY  S folder1 data zip copy of folder1   XCOPY  S folder1 info txt copy of folder1   EDIT  If you want to preserve the empty folders  which  on rereading your post  you seem to  use  E instead of  S

User · Answer

XCOPY  S folder1 data zip copy of folder1   XCOPY  S folder1 info txt copy of folder1   EDIT  If you want to preserve the empty folders  which  on rereading your post  you seem to  use  E instead of  S

User · Answer

To copy all text files to G  and preserve directory structure   xcopy   txt  s G

User · Answer

try piping output of find  ie  the file path  into cpio   find   -type f -name    jpg    cpio -p -d -v targetdir    cpio checks timestamp on target files -- so its safe and fast   remove -v for faster op  once you get used to it

User · Answer

With find and cp only   mkdir  tmp targetdir cd sourcedir find   -type f -name    zip  -exec cp -p --parents     tmp targetdir     find   -type f -name    txt  -exec cp -p --parents     tmp targetdir

User · Answer

With find and cp only   mkdir  tmp targetdir cd sourcedir find   -type f -name    zip  -exec cp -p --parents     tmp targetdir     find   -type f -name    txt  -exec cp -p --parents     tmp targetdir

User · Answer

Under Linux and other UNIX systems  using the tar command would do this easily     tar cvf  tmp full-structure tar  data zip  info txt   Then you d cwd to the target and      tar xvf  tmp full-structure tar    Of course you could pipe the output from the first tar into the 2nd  but seeing it work in steps is easier to understand and explain   I m missing the necessary cd  to new path  in the following command - I just don t recall how to do it now  Someone else can add it  hopefully     tar cvf -   data zip  info txt    tar xvf -    Tar  gnutar  is available on Windows too  but I d probably use the xcopy method myself on that platform

User · Answer

An alternate solution that copies one file at a time and does not require ROBOCOPY    echo off setlocal enabledelayedexpansion  set  SOURCE DIR C  Source  set  DEST DIR C  Destination  set FILENAMES TO COPY data zip info txt  for  R   SOURCE DIR     F IN   FILENAMES TO COPY   do       if exist    F            set FILE DIR    dpF         set FILE INTERMEDIATE DIR  FILE DIR  SOURCE DIR            xcopy  E  I  Y    F    DEST DIR  FILE INTERMEDIATE DIR             The outer for statement generates any possible path combination of subdirectory in SOURCE DIR and name in FILENAMES TO COPY  For each existing file xcopy is invoked  FILE INTERMEDIATE DIR holds the file s subdirectory path within SOURCE DIR which needs to be created in DEST DIR

User · Answer

That s only two simple commands  but I wouldn t recommend this  unless the files that you DON T need to copy are small  That s because this will copy ALL files and then remove the files that are not needed in the copy   xcopy  E  I folder1 copy of folder1 for  F  tokens 1 delims    i in   dir  B  S  A -D copy of files    find  V  info txt     find  V  data zip    do del  Q   i    Sure  the second command is kind of long  but it works   Also  this approach doesn t require you to download and install any third party tools  Windows 2000  BATCH has enough commands for this

User · Answer

For those using Altap Salamander  2 panels file manager    in the Options of the Copy popup  just specify the file names or masks  Easy

User · Answer

That s only two simple commands  but I wouldn t recommend this  unless the files that you DON T need to copy are small  That s because this will copy ALL files and then remove the files that are not needed in the copy   xcopy  E  I folder1 copy of folder1 for  F  tokens 1 delims    i in   dir  B  S  A -D copy of files    find  V  info txt     find  V  data zip    do del  Q   i    Sure  the second command is kind of long  but it works   Also  this approach doesn t require you to download and install any third party tools  Windows 2000  BATCH has enough commands for this

User · Answer

XCOPY  S folder1 data zip copy of folder1   XCOPY  S folder1 info txt copy of folder1   EDIT  If you want to preserve the empty folders  which  on rereading your post  you seem to  use  E instead of  S

User · Answer

To do this with drag and drop use winzip there s a dir structure preserve option  Simply create a new  zip at the directory level which will be your root and drag files in

User · Answer

Similar to Paulius  solution  but the files you don t care about are not copied then deleted    echo OFF     Replace c  temp with the directory where folder1 resides  cd c  temp     You can make this more generic by passing in args for the source and destination folders  for  f  usebackq    I in   dir  b  s  a -d folder1   do  echo    nxI   find  V  data zip    find  v  info txt   gt  gt  exclude list txt xcopy folder1 copy of folder1  EXCLUDE exclude list txt  E  I

User · Answer

Using WinRAR command line interface  you can copy the file names and or file types to an archive  Then you can extract that archive to whatever location you like  This preserves the original file structure   I needed to add missing album picture files to my mobile phone without having to recopy the music itself  Fortunately the directory structure was the same on my computer and mobile   I used      rar a -r C  Downloads music rar X  music Folder jpg    C  Downloads music rar   Archive to be created X  music    Folder containing music files Folder jpg   Filename I wanted to copy   This created an archive with all the Folder jpg files in the proper subdirectories   This technique can be used to copy file types as well  If the files all had different names  you could choose to extract all files to a single directory  Additional command line parameters can archive multiple file types   More information in this very helpful link http   cects com using-the-winrar-command-line-tools-in-windows

User · Answer

That s only two simple commands  but I wouldn t recommend this  unless the files that you DON T need to copy are small  That s because this will copy ALL files and then remove the files that are not needed in the copy   xcopy  E  I folder1 copy of folder1 for  F  tokens 1 delims    i in   dir  B  S  A -D copy of files    find  V  info txt     find  V  data zip    do del  Q   i    Sure  the second command is kind of long  but it works   Also  this approach doesn t require you to download and install any third party tools  Windows 2000  BATCH has enough commands for this

User · Answer

Under Linux and other UNIX systems  using the tar command would do this easily     tar cvf  tmp full-structure tar  data zip  info txt   Then you d cwd to the target and      tar xvf  tmp full-structure tar    Of course you could pipe the output from the first tar into the 2nd  but seeing it work in steps is easier to understand and explain   I m missing the necessary cd  to new path  in the following command - I just don t recall how to do it now  Someone else can add it  hopefully     tar cvf -   data zip  info txt    tar xvf -    Tar  gnutar  is available on Windows too  but I d probably use the xcopy method myself on that platform

User · Answer

Similar to Paulius  solution  but the files you don t care about are not copied then deleted    echo OFF     Replace c  temp with the directory where folder1 resides  cd c  temp     You can make this more generic by passing in args for the source and destination folders  for  f  usebackq    I in   dir  b  s  a -d folder1   do  echo    nxI   find  V  data zip    find  v  info txt   gt  gt  exclude list txt xcopy folder1 copy of folder1  EXCLUDE exclude list txt  E  I

User · Answer

To do this with drag and drop use winzip there s a dir structure preserve option  Simply create a new  zip at the directory level which will be your root and drag files in

User · Answer

XCOPY  S folder1 data zip copy of folder1   XCOPY  S folder1 info txt copy of folder1   EDIT  If you want to preserve the empty folders  which  on rereading your post  you seem to  use  E instead of  S

User · Answer

I am fine with regular expressions  lazy and averse to installs  so I created a batch file that creates the directory and copies with vanilla DOS commands  Seems laborious but quicker for me than working out robocopy    Create your list of source files with complete paths  including drive letter if nec  in a text file  Switch on regular expressions in your text editor  Add double quotes round each line in case of spaces - search string      replace string   1   and click replace all Create two lines per file - one to create the directory  one to copy the file  qqq will be replaced with destination path  - search string      replace string md qqq 1 nxcopy  1 qqq 1 n and click replace all Remove the filename from the destination paths     search               n replace     n Replace in the destination path  in this example A  src and B  dest   Turn OFF regular expressions  search qqq A  src  replace B  dest  and click replace all    md will create nested directories  copy would probably behave identically to xcopy in this example  You might want to add  Y to xcopy to suppress overwrite confirms  You end up with a batch file like so   md  B  dest a b c   xcopy  C  src a b c e xyz   B  dest a b c e xyz    repeated for every file in your original list  Tested on Win7

User · Answer

For those using Altap Salamander  2 panels file manager    in the Options of the Copy popup  just specify the file names or masks  Easy

User · Answer

An alternate solution that copies one file at a time and does not require ROBOCOPY    echo off setlocal enabledelayedexpansion  set  SOURCE DIR C  Source  set  DEST DIR C  Destination  set FILENAMES TO COPY data zip info txt  for  R   SOURCE DIR     F IN   FILENAMES TO COPY   do       if exist    F            set FILE DIR    dpF         set FILE INTERMEDIATE DIR  FILE DIR  SOURCE DIR            xcopy  E  I  Y    F    DEST DIR  FILE INTERMEDIATE DIR             The outer for statement generates any possible path combination of subdirectory in SOURCE DIR and name in FILENAMES TO COPY  For each existing file xcopy is invoked  FILE INTERMEDIATE DIR holds the file s subdirectory path within SOURCE DIR which needs to be created in DEST DIR

User · Answer

Similar to Paulius  solution  but the files you don t care about are not copied then deleted    echo OFF     Replace c  temp with the directory where folder1 resides  cd c  temp     You can make this more generic by passing in args for the source and destination folders  for  f  usebackq    I in   dir  b  s  a -d folder1   do  echo    nxI   find  V  data zip    find  v  info txt   gt  gt  exclude list txt xcopy folder1 copy of folder1  EXCLUDE exclude list txt  E  I

User · Answer

Similar to Paulius  solution  but the files you don t care about are not copied then deleted    echo OFF     Replace c  temp with the directory where folder1 resides  cd c  temp     You can make this more generic by passing in args for the source and destination folders  for  f  usebackq    I in   dir  b  s  a -d folder1   do  echo    nxI   find  V  data zip    find  v  info txt   gt  gt  exclude list txt xcopy folder1 copy of folder1  EXCLUDE exclude list txt  E  I

User · Answer

If Powershell is an option  you can do this   Copy-Item c  sourcePath d  destinationPath -filter data zip -recurse   The main disadvantage is it copies all folders  even if they will end up being empty because no files match the filter you specify  So you could end up with a tree full of empty folders  in addition to the few folders that have the files you want

User · Answer

Using WinRAR command line interface  you can copy the file names and or file types to an archive  Then you can extract that archive to whatever location you like  This preserves the original file structure   I needed to add missing album picture files to my mobile phone without having to recopy the music itself  Fortunately the directory structure was the same on my computer and mobile   I used      rar a -r C  Downloads music rar X  music Folder jpg    C  Downloads music rar   Archive to be created X  music    Folder containing music files Folder jpg   Filename I wanted to copy   This created an archive with all the Folder jpg files in the proper subdirectories   This technique can be used to copy file types as well  If the files all had different names  you could choose to extract all files to a single directory  Additional command line parameters can archive multiple file types   More information in this very helpful link http   cects com using-the-winrar-command-line-tools-in-windows

User · Answer

Thanks To Previous Answers      This script named  r4k4copy cmd     echo off for   p in  SOURCE DIR DEST DIR FILENAMES TO COPY  do set   p  cls echo    Copy Files Including Folder Tree echo    http   stackoverflow com rem      questions 472692 how-to-copy rem     -a-directory-structure-but-only rem     -include-certain-files-using-windows echo    ReScripted by r4k4 echo  if   1      goto  NoParam if   2      goto  NoParam if   3      goto  NoParam setlocal enabledelayedexpansion set SOURCE DIR  1 set DEST DIR  2 set FILENAMES TO COPY  3 for  R   SOURCE DIR     F IN   FILENAMES TO COPY   do   if exist    F    set FILE DIR    dpF set FILE INTERMEDIATE DIR  FILE DIR  SOURCE DIR    xcopy  E  I  Y    F    DEST DIR  FILE INTERMEDIATE DIR       goto  eof  NoParam echo  echo Syntax   0  Source DIR   Dest DIR   FileName  echo Eg       0 D  Root E  Root Lev1 Lev2 Lev3   JPG echo Means   Copy   JPG from D  Root to E  Root Lev1 Lev2 Lev3   It accepts variable of  Source    Destination   and  FileName   It also can only copying specified type of files or selective filenames   Any improvement are welcome

User · Answer

To copy all text files to G  and preserve directory structure   xcopy   txt  s G

User · Answer

Thanks To Previous Answers      This script named  r4k4copy cmd     echo off for   p in  SOURCE DIR DEST DIR FILENAMES TO COPY  do set   p  cls echo    Copy Files Including Folder Tree echo    http   stackoverflow com rem      questions 472692 how-to-copy rem     -a-directory-structure-but-only rem     -include-certain-files-using-windows echo    ReScripted by r4k4 echo  if   1      goto  NoParam if   2      goto  NoParam if   3      goto  NoParam setlocal enabledelayedexpansion set SOURCE DIR  1 set DEST DIR  2 set FILENAMES TO COPY  3 for  R   SOURCE DIR     F IN   FILENAMES TO COPY   do   if exist    F    set FILE DIR    dpF set FILE INTERMEDIATE DIR  FILE DIR  SOURCE DIR    xcopy  E  I  Y    F    DEST DIR  FILE INTERMEDIATE DIR       goto  eof  NoParam echo  echo Syntax   0  Source DIR   Dest DIR   FileName  echo Eg       0 D  Root E  Root Lev1 Lev2 Lev3   JPG echo Means   Copy   JPG from D  Root to E  Root Lev1 Lev2 Lev3   It accepts variable of  Source    Destination   and  FileName   It also can only copying specified type of files or selective filenames   Any improvement are welcome

User · Answer

That s only two simple commands  but I wouldn t recommend this  unless the files that you DON T need to copy are small  That s because this will copy ALL files and then remove the files that are not needed in the copy   xcopy  E  I folder1 copy of folder1 for  F  tokens 1 delims    i in   dir  B  S  A -D copy of files    find  V  info txt     find  V  data zip    do del  Q   i    Sure  the second command is kind of long  but it works   Also  this approach doesn t require you to download and install any third party tools  Windows 2000  BATCH has enough commands for this

[windows] How to copy a directory structure but only include certain files (using windows batch files)

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