how to copy multiple files to a folder using xcopy

Question

would you please let me kno how can I copy multiple directories located in different locations to a backup directoy

sources(directories) are D:\share\t1 , D:\new\t3 , C:\media\t4 F:\save\bank destination directory is C:\shared\backup

thanks in advance

Persist

possible duplicate of Copy Files with Their Folder into another Directory using XCopy – Neoteny

Answer 1

Why not a for loop? I love it and it is the best fit for this arcane question:

 For %%a in (
 "D:\share\t1"
 "D:\new\t3"
 "C:\media\t4"
 "F:\save\bank"
  ) do (
xcopy /s /d "%%~a" "c:\shared\backup"
  )

Garb

If you enclose the paths in double quotes and use "%%~a" then this allows the user to use long pathname elements as well as short pathnames. – Grettagreuze

Thank a million, this for loop works perfect , only one small issue that I'm sure can be fixed by using another option but I'm not expert as you – Persist

What "small issue" , please explain. – Garb

sorry for clicking enter mistakenly , Thank a million, this for loop works perfect , only one small issue that I'm sure can be fixed by using another option but I'm not expert as you . this loop copies over all "files" which are under those 4 directories to destination I want to copy over t1 directory and all content underneath of it , thanks again – Persist

@Garb Thank a million, this for loop works perfect , only one small issue that I'm sure can be fixed by using another option but I'm not expert as you . this loop copies over all "files" which are under those 4 directories to destination I want to copy over t1 directory and all content underneath of it , thanks again – – Persist

You mean: copy D:\share\t1 with subfolders, all other without subfolders? – Garb

no , I need to copy D:\share\t1 with subfolders , files (eveything under it + copy D:\new\t3 with subfolders and files + copy C:\media\t4 with subfolders and files + copy F:\save\bank with subfolders and files , I just did some search for options to use with xcopy, I believ /e shall do the job ,but it doesn't . xcopy /s /d /e "%%~a" "c:\shared\backup" copies over the subfolders and files under t1 but not "t1" itself (t1 is just an example, i want copy over all 4 in same fashion) – Persist

if I give the command xcopy /s /d "d:\share\t1" "c:\shared\backup"it copies all files in t1 and all files in all subfolders of t1 to "c:\shared\backup". I tested it here. – Garb

@Garb if i give xcopy /d /s /e /i /h /r "d:\share\t1" "c:\shared\backup\t1 then it works for one copy but dont know how to use it in your loop to pick "t1" (folder name) from source to create the same structure in destination – Persist

If you use the option /d only older files will be overwritten by newer ones, see help xcopy on the command line. And with my Windows version (XP) the folder t1 was created sucessfully. – Garb

Answer 2

You can use a for loop to do this.

Try:

 For %%a in (D:\share\t1,D:\new\t3,C:\media\t4,F:\save\bank) do xcopy %%a c:\shared\backup

Skewback

No, you don't. This is a hard-coded list of folder names. There's no advantage (or need) for a loop; you can achieve the same thing g with r separate lines, and make it easier to read and maintain. The loop is only necessary if the content is variable. – Neoteny

@Ken White - you're right. I think this is plenty easy to read but I write a lot of batch files. I updated my answer. – Skewback