run batch file xcopy from .NET (C#) and get the result

Question

I have a simple batch file:

xcopy source1 dest1
xcopy source2 dest2

I would like to run this from a .NET application, and get the result of the process (as far as I know xcopy returns 0 on success and 1 on fail), to check whether it was successful (both files copied) or not. How can I do that?

Thanks

still a very basic question :) I mean I'm sure google has the answer and there are plenty of SO answers on that. — Jean-François Fabre, Oct 21 '16 at 08:08
Possible duplicate of [system() to c# without calling cmd.exe](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2794386/system-to-c-sharp-without-calling-cmd-exe) — Jean-François Fabre, Oct 21 '16 at 08:10
Better duplicate would be http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4251694/how-to-start-a-external-executable-from-c-sharp-and-get-the-exit-code-when-the-p (as this actually shows how to get the exitcode) — sgmoore, Oct 21 '16 at 08:30

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 21 '16 at 08:12

There are three questions in this

How do I execute an external command
How to receive the output
How do I parse the result

1: Running a DOS - Command is pretty easy:

System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("xcopy","source1 dest1");

2: Now you have two possibilities to retrieve the output. The first is to change your command to "xcopy source1 dest1 >output.txt" and read the txt-file afterwards. The second is to run the thread differently:

var proc = new Process {
    StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo {
        FileName = "xcopy",
        Arguments = "source1 dest1",
        RedirectStandardOutput = true
    }
};
proc.Start();
string response=string.Empty;
while (!proc.StandardOutput.EndOfStream) {
    response += proc.StandardOutput.ReadLine();
}

now response contains the response of your copy command. Now all you have to do is to parse the return value (3).

If you got problems with the last part, search on SO or write a new question for it.

It was a "file already exist" problem. Now it works, thanks again! — pharkasbence, Oct 21 '16 at 08:46

run batch file xcopy from .NET (C#) and get the result

1 Answers1