Copying files from multiple (specified) folder paths to another directory while maintaining file structure

Question

I am trying to copy multiple files from one directory to another with PowerShell. I would like to:

Maintain the folder/file structure.
Copy all files within specific folders.

Hypothetical structure:

Source Folder
    \User 1
        \Folder 1
            \Files
        \Folder 2
            \Files
        \Folder 3
            \Files
    \User 2
        \Folder 3
            \Files
    \User 3
        \Folder 2
            \Files
    \User 4
        \Folder 3
            \Files
        \Folder 4
            \Files

Possible Scenario:

I want to copy files where users have a Folder 1 and Folder 2.

Expected Result:

Destination Folder
    \User 1
        \Folder 1
            \Files
        \Folder 2
            \Files
    \User 3
        \Folder 2
            \Files

This is the code I have so far:

$FolderName = '\\Folder 1\\'
$source = 'C:\CDPTest\Live'
$target = 'C:\CDPTest\DevTest'
$source_regex = [regex]::Escape($source)

(gci $source -Recurse | where {-not ($_.PSIsContainer)} | select -Expand FullName) -match $FolderName |
    foreach {
        $file_dest = ($_ | Split-Path -Parent) -replace $source_regex, $target
        if (-not (Test-Path $file_dest)) {mkdir $file_dest}
    }

As you can see the match is only going to return one file path based on the current code, what I am trying to do is extend this to match several folder names.

What I have tried:

Running this code with a different FolderName in a separate PowerShell file with no success.
Using an array of folder names for matching.
Using the -and/-or operators to extend the match function.

Hi, thanks for the reply, I had tried robocopy to no avail, I went with PowerShell as I thought it was more robust. I will have another try at robocopy. — P.Kandor
– P.Kandor, Commented Mar 22, 2017 at 12:25
With robocopy you exclude what you don't want copied, so try robocopy $source $target /s /xd "User 2" "User 4". — Ansgar Wiechers
– Ansgar Wiechers, Commented Mar 22, 2017 at 12:49
Thanks again for the reply, I was trying to avoid exclude and use include as there are a lot of potential folder names compared to 5 that I need. — P.Kandor
– P.Kandor, Commented Mar 22, 2017 at 13:08
You can build an exclude list like this: $include = 'User 1', 'User 3'; ls $source | ? { $include -notcontains $_.Name } — Ansgar Wiechers
– Ansgar Wiechers, Commented Mar 22, 2017 at 13:32

P.Kandor · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-24 11:37:06Z

1

Thanks to all of the replies to this question, you have all helped to point me in the right direction. This is the solution I went with:

#Used for time-stamped logs (requires C:\Root\RobocopyLogs\ to exist)
#$log can be added after '$dest$'
#$dateTime = Get-Date -Format g
#$currentDateTime = get-date -format "MM.dd.yyyy-HH.mm.ss.fff"
#$log = "/log:C:\Root\RobocopyLogs\$currentDateTime.txt"

# Set up variables
$sourceRootDirectory = "C:\Root\Source"
$userDirectories = $sourceRootDirectory+"\*\"
$dest = "C:\Root\Destination"
$excludeExceptions = @("Folder 1",
"Folder 2",
"Folder 3",
"Folder 4",
"Folder 5")

# Get the exclusion list from the source
$excludedFolderArray = (gci $userDirectories -Exclude $excludeExceptions)
$excludedFileArray = $excludedFolderArray |
    Where-Object {$_.PSIsContainer -eq $False}

Robocopy $sourceRootDirectory $dest /FFT /MIR /XA:H /R:1 /W:5 /XD $excludedFolderArray /XF $excludedFileArray

I was getting an issue when syncing with robocopy where if a file was placed in the root folder it would be copied over. I had to create a separate list of files to be excluded from the root.

edited Mar 24, 2017 at 11:37

answered Mar 24, 2017 at 11:31

P.Kandor

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1 Comment

user6811411 Over a year ago

Congrats then. be aware that the -Exclude parameter of Get-ChildItem is only valid for leafs, you can't exclude parts of the path this way.

user6811411 · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-22 19:34:09Z

0

While robocopy might still be the best approach,
this script identifies the folders to copy first (with an or | RegEx) and then constructs the destination folder and creates it if necessary. (untested)

$FolderName = [regex]('\\Folder 1$|\\Folder 2$')
$source = 'C:\CDPTest\Live'
$target = 'C:\CDPTest\DevTest'
Get-ChildItem $source -Recurse | 
  Where-Object {$_.PSIsContainer -and $_.FullName -match $FolderName} |
    Foreach-Object {
      $targetFolder = Join-Path $target ($_.FullName -replace [RegEx]::escape($source),'')
      if (!(Test-Path $targetFolder)) {mkdir $targetFolder|Out-Null}
      Copy-Item -Path $_ -Filter * -Destination $targetFolder
    }

answered Mar 22, 2017 at 19:34

user6811411

1 Comment

P.Kandor Over a year ago

Thank you for taking the time to reply, your comment was of great help. I have posted my solution.

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