Get-ChildItem and Copy-Item explanation

Question

Why does

gci $from -Recurse | copy-item -Destination  $to -Recurse -Force -Container

not behave in the same way as

copy-item $from $to -Recurse -Force

?

I think it should be the same, but somehow it's not. Why?

what is the difference? the second script is not copying recursively? here one guy helped me using % foreach to copy all output http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17972783/how-to-use-the-copy-item-cmdlet-correctly — RayofCommand, Feb 13 '14 at 11:26

websch01ar · Answer 1 · 2016-03-09T16:38:29.000

21

You are not looping over each item in the collection of files/folders, but passing the last value to the pipe. You need to use Foreach-item or % to the Copy-Item command. From there, you also do not need the second -recurse switch as you already have every item in the GCI.

try this:

gci $from -Recurse | % {copy-item -Path $_ -Destination  $to -Force -Container }

edited Mar 09 '16 at 16:38

answered Feb 13 '14 at 11:33

websch01ar

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shouldn't `gci $from -Recurse` get all files from directory and them pipe thru – Dejan Dakić Feb 13 '14 at 13:55
Isn't the copy-item missing a `$_`? This is not running for me in PS 5.0 The actual command is: `gci $from -Recurse | % { copy-item $_ -Destination $to -Force }` – kumarharsh Mar 09 '16 at 12:01
1

You are correct kumar_harsh that I neglected the $_ in my original answer. I've made this slight revisions. – websch01ar Mar 09 '16 at 16:38

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 25 '14 at 23:49

3

Here is what worked for me

Get-ChildItem -Path .\ -Recurse -Include *.txt | %{Join-Path -Path $_.Directory -ChildPath $_.Name } | Copy-Item -Destination $to

answered Nov 25 '14 at 23:49

Manish Kumar

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No need to `Join-Path`, use `$_.FullName` in `Copy-Item` instead. – WhatIsHeDoing Aug 20 '18 at 10:40

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 11 '19 at 10:46

2

This works for me:

Get-ChildItem 'c:\source\' -Recurse | % {Copy-Item -Path $_.FullName -Destination 'd:\Dest\' -Force -Container }

answered Oct 11 '19 at 10:46

Andy Wrench

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Please include an explanation of why this answers the question. – Dragonthoughts Oct 11 '19 at 11:05
perhaps it doesn't directly but might be helpful to those wishing to understand more about the various ways in which you can achieve the same outcome in different ways. – Andy Wrench Jan 09 '21 at 12:23

score -1 · Answer 4 · edited Oct 10 '15 at 09:37

-1

The switches are wrong. They should be:

gci -Path $from -Recurse | copy-item -Destination  $to -Force -Container

edited Oct 10 '15 at 09:37

Peter Mortensen

30,738
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answered May 26 '15 at 06:20

Josh K

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score -1 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 23 '15 at 11:47

-1

To loop all items, this should work:

gci -Path $from -Recurse | % { $_ | copy-item -Destination  $to -Force -Container}

Just do the foreach and pipe each item again.

answered Sep 23 '15 at 11:47

Gauss

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Get-ChildItem and Copy-Item explanation

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