Xcopy

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista

Copies files and directories, including subdirectories

For examples of how to use this command, see Examples

Syntax

Xcopy <Source> [<Destination>] [/w] [/p] [/c] [/v] [/q] [/f] [/l] [/g] [/d [:MM-DD-YYYY]] [/u] [/i] [/s [/e]] [/t] [/k] [/r] [/h] [{/a | /m}] [/n] [/o] [/x] [/exclude:FileName1[+[FileName2]][+[FileName3]] [{/y | /-y}] [/z] [/b] [/j]

Parameters

Remarks

• Using /v

  Windows XP and the Windows Server 2003 family of products do not use this command. It is included only to preserve compatibility with existing MS-DOS files, but it has no effect at the command line because the functionality is automatic.

• Using /z

  If you lose your connection during the copy phase (for example, if the server going offline severs the connection), it resumes after you reestablish the connection. /z also displays the percentage of the copy operation completed for each file.

• Using /y in the COPYCMD environment variable.

  You can use /y in the COPYCMD environment variable. You can override this command by using /-y on the command line. By default, you are prompted to overwrite, unless you run xcopy from within a batch script.

• Copying encrypted files

  Copying encrypted files to a volume that does not support EFS results in an error. Decrypt the files first or copy the files to a volume that does support EFS.

• Appending files

  To append files, specify a single file for destination, but multiple files for source (that is, by using wildcards or file1+file2+file3 format).

• 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 (\), the following message appears:

  Does <Destination> specify a file name or directory name on the target(F = file, D = directory)?
  

  Press F if you want the file or files to be copied to a file. Press D if you want the file or files to be copied to a directory.

  You can suppress this message by using the /i command-line option, which causes xcopy to assume that the destination is a directory if the source is more than one file or a directory.

• Using the xcopy command to set archive attribute for Destination files

  The xcopy command creates files with the archive attribute set, whether or not this attribute was set in the source file. For more information about file attributes and attrib, see Additional references.

• Comparing xcopy and 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, use the xcopy command instead of diskcopy. Because the diskcopy command copies disks track by track, your source and destination disks must have the same format. The xcopy command does not have this requirement. Use xcopy unless you need a complete disk image copy.

• Exit codes for xcopy

  To process exit codes returned by xcopy, use the ErrorLevel parameter on the if command line in a batch program. For an example of a batch program that processes exit codes using if, see Additional references. The following table lists each exit code and a description.

  Exit code	Description
  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.

Examples

To copy all the files and subdirectories (including any empty subdirectories) from drive A to drive B, type:

xcopy a: b: /s /e 

To include any system or hidden files in the previous example, add the**/h** command-line option as follows:

xcopy a: b: /s /e /h

To update files in the \Reports directory with the files in the \Rawdata directory that have changed since December 29, 1993, type:

xcopy \rawdata \reports /d:12-29-1993

To update all the files that exist in \Reports in the previous example, regardless of date, type:

xcopy \rawdata \reports /u

To obtain a list of the files to be copied by the previous command (that is, without actually copying the files), type:

xcopy \rawdata \reports /d:12-29-1993 /l > xcopy.out

The file xcopy.out lists every file that is to be copied.

To copy the \Customer directory and all subdirectories to the directory \\Public\Address on network drive H:, retain the read-only attribute, and be prompted when a new file is created on H:, type:

xcopy \customer h:\public\address /s /e /k /p

To issue the previous command, ensure that xcopy creates the \Address directory if it does not exist, and suppress the message that appears when you create a new directory, add the /i command-line option as follows:

xcopy \customer h:\public\address /s /e /k /p /i

You can create a batch program to perform xcopy operations and use the batch if command to process the exit code if an error occurs. For example, the following batch program uses replaceable parameters for the xcopy source and destination parameters:

@echo offrem COPYIT.BAT transfers all files in all subdirectories ofrem the source drive or directory (%1) to the destinationrem drive or directory (%2)xcopy %1 %2 /s /eif errorlevel 4 goto lowmemoryif errorlevel 2 goto abortif errorlevel 0 goto exit:lowmemoryecho Insufficient memory to copy files orecho invalid drive or command-line syntax.goto exit:abortecho 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:

copyit c:\prgmcode b:

The command interpreter substitutes C:\Prgmcode for %1 and B: for %2, then uses xcopy with the /e and /s command-line options. If xcopyencounters an error, the batch program reads the exit code and goes to the label indicated in the appropriate IF ERRORLEVEL statement, then displays the appropriate message and exits from the batch program.

Additional references

• Copy

• Move

• Dir

• Attrib

• Diskcopy

• If

• Command-Line Syntax Key