Copy and Rename Files Modified in Last Day Using Powershell

Question

I am trying to copy over files from a source folder to a destination folder. I would like to only copy files that have been modified in the last 20 mins. While I am copying I would also like to append the date and time to the end of the file name. The script I currently have is:

$DestinationFolder = "C:\Output\"
$timespan = new-timespan -minutes 20
$Files = Get-ChildItem "C:\Input\*" -File
foreach ($File in $Files) {
    if ($File.LastWriteTime -gt $timespan)
    {
        Copy-Item -Path $_.FullName -Destination $DestinationFolder$($_.BaseName)_$ ($_.LastWriteTime.ToString('yyyyMMdd_hhmmss'))$($_.Extension)
    }
}

I am getting error messages in powershell when I attempt to test my scipt:

Could not compare "07/21/2017 07:31:01" to "00:20:00". Error: "Cannot convert the "00:20:00" value of type "System.TimeSpan" to type "System.DateTime"." At line:2 char:9 + if ($File.LastWriteTime -gt $timespan) + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ComparisonFailure

What errors are you getting? Error messages in PowerShell are ***usually*** pretty informative, both as to what is wrong and where it's wrong. If you include the error messages in your question, it will be easier to assist you. — Jeff Zeitlin, Jul 24 '17 at 17:59

Bacon Bits · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-24T18:37:06.617

You're comparing a DateTime with a TimeSpan. That doesn't make sense. A datetime is a point in time. A timespan is a duration. You need to compare two dates.

Try:

$DestinationFolder = "C:\Output\"
$Cutoff = (Get-Date).AddMinutes(-20)
Get-ChildItem "C:\Input\*" -File | Where-Object {
    $_.LastWriteTime -gt $Cutoff
} | ForEach-Object {
    $DestinationFileName = '{0}_{1:yyyyMMdd_HHmmss}{2}' -f $_.BaseName, $_.LastWriteTime, $_.Extension
    $DestinationFullFileName = Join-Path -Path $DestinationFolder -ChildPath $DestinationFileName
    Copy-Item -Path $_.FullName -Destination $DestinationFullFileName
}

I can't tell if there's a bug in your Copy-Item line or not. You may want a dollar sign and a space in there before the date, but I'm guessing that's not right.

@user6391187 I've also corrected the datetime format to use 24 hour time (`HH`). Your existing format only used 12 hour time (`hh`) which could result in confusion. — Bacon Bits, Jul 24 '17 at 18:38

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 24 '17 at 18:09

3

According to the error you pasted Powershell is having trouble converting a System.TimeSpan to the type System.DateTime. Those are two different objects and you will have to cast one into the other before they will work together.

answered Jul 24 '17 at 18:09

Jason Snell

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Copy and Rename Files Modified in Last Day Using Powershell

2 Answers2