How to copy only the folder content of a directory in powershell script with robocopy

Question

I am trying to copy only the folders that are within a directory, the script provided in the answer to this question copies all content within the directory: How can i only copy folders with robocopy in powershell?

The code from this answer is provided below:

Get-ChildItem 'C:\temp\test' |
ForEach-Object {
    $newname = ($_.BaseName -Replace '[^\x20-\x5D,\x60-\x7E]+', '-')
    if (($_.GetType()).Name -eq "DirectoryInfo"){
        write-host "folder"
    }
    write-host $_.BaseName
    write-host $newname
    robocopy.exe "C:\temp\test\$($_.BaseName)" "C:\temp\test\copy\$newname"
}

I meant that you take a look at the /CREATE option of robocopy (which is likely unsuitable since it also creates zero-length files), or at the xcopy command and its /T option (maybe together with /E), which is intended to create the destination directory tree without copying any files... — aschipfl
– aschipfl, Commented Sep 11, 2019 at 15:14

Travis Acton · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-11 14:19:41Z

3

You are looking to use the parameters: /E = copy directories even if empty /XF . = Exclude, in this case all files, ie anything with "." in the filename, eg. all files

Example of use:

    $Source = "C:\temp\test"
    $Destination = "C:\temp\test2"
    $robocopyOptions = "/E /XF *.*"
    # filelist is required but we will ignore it anyway with parameters we are passing
    $fileList = ''
    robocopy.exe $Source $Destination $fileList $robocopyOptions.split(' ')

answered Sep 11, 2019 at 14:19

Travis Acton

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aschipfl · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-11 15:23:02Z

1

As an alternative to robocopy you might also use the xcopy command, which features an option /T to create the destination directory tree without copying any files. Here is an excerpt of the help text when you enter xcopy /? into a command prompt window:

  /T           Creates directory structure, but does not copy files. Does not
               include empty directories or subdirectories. /T /E includes
               empty directories and subdirectories.

So you could use the following command line:

xcopy.exe /T /E /I "C:\temp\test\folder" "C:\temp\test\copy"

answered Sep 11, 2019 at 15:23

aschipfl

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1 Comment

Adam Ledger Over a year ago

yeah great they both work fine but robocopy.exe is slightly faster

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