Copy directories when their name matches -Like txt files

Question

I am trying to copy a bunch of directories. I have text files which have a similar name and I need to match the directories to those text files to determine which directories to copy.

This is what I have done and I can't figure out how to fix it. I am going around in circles.

$destination = "..\..\$args\Images\"
$txtfiles = Get-ChildItem $destination -Include *.txt
$source = "..\..\..\Images\" | ?{ $_.PSIsContainer } | Where-Object { $_.Name -Like "*$txtfiles*" } | Copy-Item $destination

An example of a txt file: 1e03655b-0aac-48b2-82f3-75942084af7a.txt

and folder: name.1e03655b-0aac-48b2-82f3-75942084af7a

So I need to find the folders that match the txt files and copy the folder to the txt file directory.

Thanks

TheMadTechnician · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-31T22:39:46.703

0

You want to expand the BaseName properties of those text files (to cut off the .txt part) and have an array of strings such as:

1e03655b-0aac-48b2-82f3-75942084af7a
1e03655b-0aac-48b2-82f3-75942084af7b
1e03655b-0aac-48b2-82f3-75942084af8g
1e03655b-0aac-48b2-82f3-75942084afba

Then your $source = line needs to pull a directory listing and not just pipe a string down the pipeline, and then I would suggest matching the directory names with a regex match, and checking to see if that match is -in $txtfiles.

$destination = "..\..\$args\Images\"
$txtfiles = Get-ChildItem $destination -Filter *.txt | Select -ExpandProperty BaseName
$source = "..\..\..\Images\"
GCI $source -Directory | ?{ $_.Name -match "(\w{8}-\w{4}-\w{4}-\w{4}-\w{12})$" } | %{If($Matches[1] -in $txtfiles){Copy-Item $_.FullName $destination}}

edited Jul 31 '14 at 22:39

answered Jul 31 '14 at 21:57

TheMadTechnician

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Thanks for your quick reply. This doesn't work for me. No errors. – strange_things_happen Jul 31 '14 at 22:14
That's because the FileSystem provider is dumb as a box of rocks. I changed -Include to -Filter and it works now. – TheMadTechnician Jul 31 '14 at 22:21
I still can't seem to get it to work. Getting error this time - `Copy-Item: A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument '..\..\passed_directory\Images\'.` – strange_things_happen Jul 31 '14 at 22:39
Sorry, I retyped it instead of copy/paste and evidently fat fingered it. I had a `-` in the 'Copy-Item - $_.FullName $destination' command before the source path that was screwing it up. With that removed it works. Really sorry about that. – TheMadTechnician Jul 31 '14 at 22:41
OK, it copies the directories, but not the contents. – strange_things_happen Jul 31 '14 at 22:52
You didn't say anything about copying files. There are files in the folders? Add -Recurse to the end of the Copy-Item command – TheMadTechnician Jul 31 '14 at 23:00
Yeah sorry, my bad. Yeah I got it working with recurse. I still get errors though, can't seem to find the source. But it is doing what I need it to despite the error. – strange_things_happen Jul 31 '14 at 23:11
If you would like to update your question with the code you are using, and what the error is I'll see what I can figure out. Aside from that there's always `-ErrorAction SilentlyContinue` – TheMadTechnician Jul 31 '14 at 23:18
It's OK, my fault again. Everything work's as expected. Excellent, thank you. – strange_things_happen Jul 31 '14 at 23:30

Copy directories when their name matches -Like txt files

1 Answers1