| XCOPY |
|
| Copies directories, their subdirectories, and files (except hidden and |
| system files). |
|
| With this command, you can copy all the files in a directory, including the |
| files in the subdirectories of that directory. |
|
| Syntax |
|
| XCOPY source [destination] [/Y|/-Y] [/A|/M] [/D:date] [/P] [/S] [/E] |
| [/V] [/W] |
|
| Parameters |
|
| source |
| Specifies the location and names of the files you want to copy. Source |
| must include either a drive or a path. |
|
| destination |
| Specifies the destination of the files you want to copy. Destination can |
| include a drive letter and colon, a directory name, a filename, or a |
| combination. |
|
| Switches |
|
| /Y |
| Indicates that you want XCOPY to replace existing file(s) without |
| prompting you for confirmation. By default, if you specify an existing |
| file as the destination file, XCOPY will ask you if you want to |
| overwrite the existing file. (Previous versions of MS-DOS would simply |
| replace the existing file.) If the XCOPY command is part of a batch |
| file, XCOPY will behave as in previous versions. Specifying this switch |
| overrides all defaults and the current setting of the COPYCMD |
| environment variable. |
|
| /-Y |
| Indicates that you want XCOPY to prompt you for confirmation when |
| replacing an existing file. Specifying this switch overrides all |
| defaults and the current setting of the COPYCMD environment variable. |
|
| /A |
| Copies only source files that have their archive file attributes set. |
| This switch does not modify the archive file attribute of the source |
| file. For information about how to set the archive file attribute, see |
| the ATTRIB command. |
|
| /M |
| Copies source files that have their archive file attributes set. Unlike |
| the /A switch, the /M switch turns off archive file attributes in the |
| files specified in source. For information about how to set the archive |
| file attribute, see the ATTRIB command. |
|
| /D:date |
| Copies only source files modified on or after the specified date. Note |
| that the format of date depends on the COUNTRY setting you are using. |
|
| /P |
| Prompts you to confirm whether you want to create each destination |
| file. |
|
| /S |
| Copies directories and subdirectories, unless they are empty. If you |
| omit this switch, XCOPY works within a single directory. |
|
| /E |
| Copies any subdirectories, even if they are empty. |
|
| /V |
| Verifies each file as it is written to the destination file to make sure |
| that the destination files are identical to the source files. |
|
| /W |
| Displays the following message and waits for your response before |
| starting to copy files: |
|
| Press any key to begin copying file(s) |
|
| Related Command |
|
| For information about copying individual files, see the COPY command. For |
| information about copying disks, see the DISKCOPY command. |
|
|
| XCOPY--Notes |
|
| Default value for destination |
|
| If you omit destination, the XCOPY command copies the files to the current |
| directory. |
|
| Specifying whether destination is a file or directory |
|
| If destination does not contain an existing directory and does not end with |
| a backslash (\), XCOPY prompts you with a message in the following format: |
|
| Does destination specify a file name |
| or directory name on the target |
| (F = file, D = directory)? |
|
| Press F if you want the file(s) to be copied to a file. Press D if you want |
| the file(s) to be copied to a directory. |
|
| Setting the COPYCMD environment variable |
|
| You can set the COPYCMD environment variable to specify whether you want the |
| COPY, MOVE, and XCOPY commands to prompt you for confirmation before |
| overwriting a file in all cases, whether issued from the command prompt or |
| from a batch file. |
|
| To force the COPY, MOVE, and XCOPY commands to prompt you before overwriting |
| in all cases, set the COPYCMD environment variable /-Y. To force these |
| commands to overwrite in all cases without prompting you, set the COPYCMD |
| environment variable to /Y. |
|
| Typing any of these commands with the /Y or /-Y switch overrides all |
| defaults and the current setting of the COPYCMD environment variable. |
|
| XCOPY does not copy hidden and system files |
|
| In older versions of MS-DOS, XCOPY copied hidden and system files. This is |
| not the case in MS-DOS 6.2. To remove the hidden or system attribute from a |
| file, use the ATTRIB command. |
|
| XCOPY sets archive attribute for destination files |
|
| XCOPY creates files with the archive attribute set, whether or not this |
| attribute was set in the source file. For more information about file |
| attributes, see the ATTRIB command. |
|
| XCOPY vs. DISKCOPY |
|
| If you have a disk that contains files in subdirectories and you want to |
| copy it to a disk that has a different format, you should use the XCOPY |
| command instead of DISKCOPY. Since the DISKCOPY command copies disks track |
| by track, it requires that your source and destination disks have the same |
| format. XCOPY has no such requirement. In general, use XCOPY unless you need |
| a complete disk image copy. However, XCOPY will not copy hidden or system |
| files such as IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS. Therefore, use DISKCOPY to make copies |
| of system disks. |
|
| XCOPY exit codes |
|
| The following list shows each exit code and a brief description of its |
| meaning: |
|
| 0 |
| Files were copied without error. |
|
| 1 |
| No files were found to copy. |
|
| 2 |
| The user pressed CTRL+C to terminate XCOPY. |
|
| 4 |
| Initialization error occurred. There is not enough memory or disk space, |
| or you entered an invalid drive name or invalid syntax on the command |
| line. |
|
| 5 |
| Disk write error occurred. |
|
| You can use the ERRORLEVEL parameter on the IF command line in a batch |
| program to process exit codes returned by XCOPY. For more information, see |
| the topic XCOPY--Examples . |
|
|
| XCOPY--Examples |
|
| The following example copies all the files and subdirectories (including any |
| empty subdirectories) from the disk in drive A to the disk in drive B: |
|
| xcopy a: b: /s /e |
|
| The following example uses the /D: and /V switches: |
|
| xcopy a: b: /d:01/18/93 /s /v |
|
| In this example, only files on the disk in drive A that were written on or |
| after 01/18/93 are copied to the disk in drive B. Once the files are written |
| to the disk in drive B, the XCOPY command compares the files on the two |
| disks to make sure they are the same. |
|
| You can create a batch program to perform XCOPY operations and use the batch |
| IF command to process the exit code in case an error occurs. For example, |
| the following batch program uses replaceable parameters for the XCOPY source |
| and destination parameters: |
|
| @echo off |
| rem COPYIT.BAT transfers all source |
| rem files in all directories on the source |
| rem drive (%1) to the destination drive (%2) |
|
| xcopy %1 %2 /s /e |
|
| if errorlevel 4 goto lowmemory |
| if errorlevel 2 goto abort |
| if errorlevel 0 goto exit |
|
| :lowmemory |
| echo Insufficient memory to copy files or |
| echo invalid drive or command-line syntax. |
| goto exit |
|
| :abort |
| echo You pressed CTRL+C to end the copy operation. |
| goto exit |
|
| :exit |
|
| To use this batch program to copy all files in the C:\PRGMCODE directory and |
| its subdirectories to drive B, type the following command: |
|
| copyit c:\prgmcode b: |
|
| The command interpreter substitutes C:\PRGMCODE for %1 and B: for %2, then |
| uses XCOPY with the /E and /S switches. If XCOPY encounters an error, the |
| batch program reads the exit code and goes to the label indicated in the |
| appropriate IF ERRORLEVEL statement. MS-DOS displays the appropriate message |
| and exits from the batch program. |
|
|
