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Copy-Item

Tue Jan 29, 2019 10:19 pm

NAME Copy-Item



SYNOPSIS

Copies an item from one location to another.





SYNTAX

Copy-Item [[-Destination] <String>] [-Confirm] [-Container] [-Credential <PSCredential>] [-Exclude <String[]>] [-Filter <String>] [-Force]

[-FromSession <PSSession>] [-Include <String[]>] -LiteralPath <String[]> [-PassThru] [-Recurse] [-ToSession <PSSession>] [-UseTransaction]

[-WhatIf] [<CommonParameters>]



Copy-Item [-Path] <String[]> [[-Destination] <String>] [-Confirm] [-Container] [-Credential <PSCredential>] [-Exclude <String[]>] [-Filter

<String>] [-Force] [-FromSession <PSSession>] [-Include <String[]>] [-PassThru] [-Recurse] [-ToSession <PSSession>] [-UseTransaction] [-WhatIf]

[<CommonParameters>]





DESCRIPTION

The Copy-Item cmdlet copies an item from one location to another location in the same namespace. For instance, it can copy a file to a folder, but

it cannot copy a file to a certificate drive.



This cmdlet does not cut or delete the items being copied. The particular items that the cmdlet can copy depend on the Windows PowerShell provider

that exposes the item. For instance, it can copy files and directories in a file system drive and registry keys and entries in the registry drive.



This cmdlet can copy and rename items in the same command. To rename an item, enter the new name in the value of the Destination parameter. To

rename an item and not copy it, use the Rename-Item cmdlet.





PARAMETERS

-Confirm [<SwitchParameter>]

Prompts you for confirmation before running the cmdlet.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value False

Accept pipeline input? False

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Container [<SwitchParameter>]

Indicates that this cmdlet preserves container objects during the copy operation.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value False

Accept pipeline input? False

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Credential <PSCredential>

Specifies a user account that has permission to perform this action. The default is the current user.



Type a user name, such as User01 or Domain01\\User01, or enter a PSCredential object, such as one generated by the Get-Credential cmdlet. If

you type a user name, you will be prompted for a password.



This parameter is not supported by any providers installed with Windows PowerShell.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value None

Accept pipeline input? True (ByPropertyName)

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Destination <String>

Specifies the path to the new location. To rename a copied item, include the new name in the value.



Required? false

Position? 1

Default value None

Accept pipeline input? True (ByPropertyName)

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Exclude <String[]>

Specifies, as a string array, an item or items that this cmdlet excludes from the operation. Wildcards are permitted.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value None

Accept pipeline input? False

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Filter <String>

Specifies a filter in the provider's format or language. The value of this parameter qualifies the Path parameter. The syntax of the filter,

including the use of wildcards, depends on the provider. Filters are more efficient than other parameters, because the provider applies them

when the cmdlet gets the objects, rather than have Windows PowerShell filter the objects after they are retrieved.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value None

Accept pipeline input? False

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Force [<SwitchParameter>]

Indicates that this cmdlet will copy items that cannot otherwise be changed, such as copying over a read-only file or alias.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value False

Accept pipeline input? False

Accept wildcard characters? false



-FromSession <PSSession>

Specifies the PSSession object from which a remote file is being copied. When you use this parameter, the Path and LiteralPath parameters

refer to the local path on the remote machine.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value None

Accept pipeline input? False

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Include <String[]>

Specifies, as a string array, only those items upon which the cmdlet will act, excluding all others.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value None

Accept pipeline input? False

Accept wildcard characters? false



-LiteralPath <String[]>

Specifies a path to the item. The value of the LiteralPath parameter is used exactly as it is typed. No characters are interpreted as

wildcards. If the path includes escape characters, enclose it in single quotation marks. Single quotation marks tell Windows PowerShell not to

interpret any characters as escape sequences.



Required? true

Position? named

Default value None

Accept pipeline input? True (ByPropertyName)

Accept wildcard characters? false



-PassThru [<SwitchParameter>]

Returns an object representing the item with which you are working. By default, this cmdlet does not generate any output.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value False

Accept pipeline input? False

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Path <String[]>

Specifies, as a string array, the path to the items to copy.



Required? true

Position? 0

Default value None

Accept pipeline input? True (ByPropertyName, ByValue)

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Recurse [<SwitchParameter>]

Indicates that this cmdlet performs a recursive copy.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value False

Accept pipeline input? False

Accept wildcard characters? false



-ToSession <PSSession>

Specifies the PSSession object to which a remote file is being copied. When you use this parameter, the Path and LiteralPath parameters refer

to the local path on the remote machine.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value None

Accept pipeline input? False

Accept wildcard characters? false



-UseTransaction [<SwitchParameter>]

Includes the command in the active transaction. This parameter is valid only when a transaction is in progress. For more information, see

Includes the command in the active transaction. This parameter is valid only when a transaction is in progress. For more information, see



Required? false

Position? named

Default value False

Accept pipeline input? False

Accept wildcard characters? false



-WhatIf [<SwitchParameter>]

Shows what would happen if the cmdlet runs. The cmdlet is not run.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value False

Accept pipeline input? False

Accept wildcard characters? false



<CommonParameters>

This cmdlet supports the common parameters: Verbose, Debug,

ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, WarningAction, WarningVariable,

OutBuffer, PipelineVariable, and OutVariable. For more information, see

about_CommonParameters (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113216).



INPUTS

System.String

You can pipe a string that contains a path to this cmdlet.





OUTPUTS

None or an object representing the copied item.

When you use the PassThru parameter, this cmdlet returns an object that represents the copied item. Otherwise, this cmdlet does not generate

any output.





NOTES





* This cmdlet is similar to the cp or copy commands in other shells.



This cmdlet is designed to work with the data exposed by any provider. To list the providers available in your session, type `Get-PsProvider`.

For more information, see about_Providers.



*



Example 1: Copy a file to the specified directory



PS C:\\>Copy-Item "C:\\Wabash\\Logfiles\\mar1604.log.txt" -Destination "C:\\Presentation"



This command copies the mar1604.log.txt file to the C:\\Presentation directory. The command does not delete the original file.

Example 2: Copy the contents of a directory to another directory



PS C:\\>Copy-Item "C:\\Logfiles" -Destination "C:\\Drawings" -Recurse



This command copies the entire contents of the Logfiles directory into the Drawings directory. If the LogFiles directory contains files in

subdirectories, those subdirectories will be copied with their file trees intact. The Container parameter is set to true by default. This

preserves the directory structure.

Example 3: Copy the contents of a directory to another directory and create the destination directory if it does not exist



PS C:\\>Copy-Item C:\\Logfiles -Destination C:\\Drawings\\Logs -Recurse



This command copies the contents of the C:\\Logfiles directory to the C:\\Drawings\\Logs directory. It creates the \\Logs subdirectory if it does not

already exist.

Example 4: Copy a file to the specified directory and rename the file



PS C:\\>Copy-Item "\\\\Server01\\Share\\Get-Widget.ps1" -Destination "\\\\Server12\\ScriptArchive\\Get-Widget.ps1.txt"



This command uses the Copy-Item cmdlet to copy the Get-Widget.ps1 script from the \\\\Server01\\Share directory to the \\\\Server12\\ScriptArchive

directory. As part of the copy operation, the command also changes the item name from Get-Widget.ps1 to Get-Widget.ps1.txt, so it can be attached

to email messages.

Example 5: Copy a file to a remote computer



PS C:\\>$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName "Server01" -Credential "Contoso\\PattiFul"

PS C:\\> Copy-Item "D:\\Folder001\\test.log" -Destination "C:\\Folder001_Copy\\" -ToSession $Session



The first command creates a session to the remote computer named Server01 with the credential of Contoso\\PattiFul and stores the results in the

variable named $Session.



The second command uses the Copy-Item cmdlet to copy test.log from the D:\\Folder001 folder to the C:\\Folder001_Copy folder on the remote computer

using the session information stored in the $Session variable. This command does not delete the original file.

Example 6: Copy the entire contents of a folder to a remote computer



PS C:\\>$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName "Server02" -Credential "Contoso\\PattiFul"

PS C:\\> Copy-Item "D:\\Folder002\\" -Destination "C:\\Folder002_Copy\\" -ToSession $Session



The first command creates a session to the remote computer named Server01 with the credential of Contoso\\PattiFul and stores the results in the

variable named $Session.



The second command uses the Copy-Item cmdlet to copy the entire contents from the D:\\Folder002 folder to the C:\\Folder002_Copy directory on the

remote computer using the session information stored in the $Session variable. The subfolders will be copied with their file trees intact.

Example 7: Recursively copy the entire contents of a folder to a remote computer



PS C:\\>$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName "Server04" -Credential "Contoso\\PattiFul"

PS C:\\> Copy-Item "D:\\Folder003\\" -Destination "C:\\Folder003_Copy\\" -ToSession $Session -Recurse



The first command creates a session to the remote computer named Server01 with the credential of Contoso\\PattiFul and stores the results in the

variable named $Session.



The second command uses the Copy-Item cmdlet to copy the entire contents from the D:\\Folder003 folder to the C:\\Folder003_Copy directory on the

remote computer using the session information stored in the $Session variable. The subfolders will be copied with their file trees intact. Since

this command uses the Recurse parameter, the operation will create the Folder003_Copy folder if it does not already exist.

Example 8: Copy a file to a remote computer and then rename the file



PS C:\\>$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName "Server04" -Credential "Contoso\\PattiFul"

PS C:\\> Copy-Item "D:\\Folder004\\scriptingexample.ps1" -Destination "C:\\Folder004_Copy\\scriptingexample_copy.ps1" -ToSession $Session



The first command creates a session to the remote computer named Server01 with the credential of Contoso\\PattiFul and stores the results in the

variable named $Session.



The second command uses the Copy-Item cmdlet to copy scriptingexample.ps1 from the D:\\Folder004 folder to the C:\\Folder004_Copy folder on the

remote computer using the session information stored in the $Session variable. As part of the copy operation, the command also changes the item

name from scriptingexample.ps1 to scriptingexample_copy.ps1, so it can be attached to email messages. This command does not delete the original

file.

Example 9: Copy a remote file to the local computer



PS C:\\>$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName "Server01" -Credential "Contoso\\PattiFul"

PS C:\\> Copy-Item "C:\\MyRemoteData\\test.log" -Destination "D:\\MyLocalData\\" -FromSession $Session



The first command creates a session to the remote computer named Server01 with the credential of Contoso\\PattiFul and stores the results in the

variable named $Session.



The second command uses the Copy-Item cmdlet to copy test.log from the remote C:\\MyRemoteData\\ to the local D:\\MyLocalData folder using the

session information stored in the $Session variable. This command does not delete the original file.

Example 10: Copy the entire contents of a remote folder to the local computer



PS C:\\>$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName "Server01" -Credential "Contoso\\PattiFul"

PS C:\\> Copy-Item "C:\\MyRemoteData\\scripts" -Destination "D:\\MyLocalData\\" -FromSession $Session



The first command creates a session to the remote computer named Server01 with the credential of Contoso\\PattiFul and stores the results in the

variable named $Session.



The second command uses the Copy-Item cmdlet to copy the entire contents from the remote C:\\MyRemoteData\\scripts folder to the local

D:\\MyLocalData folder using the session information stored in the $Session variable. If the scripts folder contains files in subfolders, those

subfolders will be copied with their file trees intact.

Example 11: Recursively copy the entire contents of a remote folder to the local computer



PS C:\\>$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName "Server01" -Credential "Contoso\\PattiFul"

PS C:\\> Copy-Item "C:\\MyRemoteData\\scripts" -Destination "D:\\MyLocalData\\scripts" -FromSession $Session



The first command creates a session to the remote computer named Server01 with the credential of Contoso\\PattiFul and stores the results in the

variable named $Session.



The second command uses the Copy-Item cmdlet to copy the entire contents from the remote C:\\MyRemoteData\\scripts folder to the local

D:\\MyLocalData\\scripts folder using the session information stored in the $Session variable. Since this command uses the Recurse parameter, the

operation will create the scripts folder if it does not already exist .If the scripts folder contains files in subfolders, those subfolders will

be copied with their file trees intact.



RELATED LINKS

Online Version: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=821574

Clear-Item

Get-Item

Invoke-Item

Move-Item

New-Item

Remove-Item

Rename-Item

Set-Item

Get-PSProvider