Windows 10 How to copy files into corresponding folders?

q988988

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Nov 21, 2019
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I have a list of csv files that have to be copy into a list of folders with same names. Rather than manually cutting each one into the corresponding folder, is there a trick of doing this in windows?
 
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Solution
Yeah a script would be the most efficient especially if you have a large number of files. In powershell it would be like this
Code: 
$CopyFromPath = "C:\Some\Path"
$CopyToRootDirectory = "C:\Some\Other\Path"
$FileTypeFilter = "*.xlsx"

$Files = Get-ChildItem -Path $CopyFromPath -Filter $FileTypeFilter

foreach($File in $Files)
{
    $DirectoryName = "\$File.BaseName"
    $CopyToDirectory = "$CopyToRootDirectory$DirectoryName"

    if(-not(Test-Path $CopyToDirectory))
    {
        New-Item -Path $CopyToDirectory -ItemType Directory
    }
    Move-Item $File.FullName -Destination $CopyToDirectory -Forc
}

or it could be created as a function so that you can pass it different values for reuse
Code: 
Function Move-ItemToDirectory
{
    param...
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Most likely a script run via Command Prompt or PowerShell.

Here is a Python script that does what you want:

- you can get Python for Windows from here: Download Python
- create a file with extension .py (example: copy_files.py), copy the code below and replace the paths and the names of files and folders.
- let's say you want to copy files a,b,c (s0,s1,s2) to folders A,B,C (t0,t1,t2)
- you MUST provide the FULL PATH to the files and folders and make sure you have permissions to execute files and create folders

Code: 
import shutil

t0 = "/home/liviu/A"
t1 = "/home/liviu/B"
t2 = "/home/liviu/C"

s0 = "/home/liviu/Desktop/a"
s1 = "/home/liviu/Desktop/b"
s2 = "/home/liviu/Desktop/c"

target = [t0,t1,t2]
source = [s0,s1,s2]

x = 0
for item in target:
    shutil.copy(source[x],target[x])
    x += 1

print("done!")

You can also do it like this:

Code: 
import shutil

target = ["/home/liviu/A","/home/liviu/B","/home/liviu/C"]
source = ["/home/liviu/Desktop/a","/home/liviu/Desktop/b","/home/liviu/Desktop/c"]

x = 0
for item in target:
    shutil.copy(source[x],target[x])
    x += 1

print("done!")

Thank you for giving me an extra reason to learn programming!
 
Last edited:
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Yeah a script would be the most efficient especially if you have a large number of files. In powershell it would be like this
Code: 
$CopyFromPath = "C:\Some\Path"
$CopyToRootDirectory = "C:\Some\Other\Path"
$FileTypeFilter = "*.xlsx"

$Files = Get-ChildItem -Path $CopyFromPath -Filter $FileTypeFilter

foreach($File in $Files)
{
    $DirectoryName = "\$File.BaseName"
    $CopyToDirectory = "$CopyToRootDirectory$DirectoryName"

    if(-not(Test-Path $CopyToDirectory))
    {
        New-Item -Path $CopyToDirectory -ItemType Directory
    }
    Move-Item $File.FullName -Destination $CopyToDirectory -Forc
}

or it could be created as a function so that you can pass it different values for reuse
Code: 
Function Move-ItemToDirectory
{
    param
    (
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string]$SourceDirectory,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string]$DestinationDirectory,
        [string]$Filter="*.xlsx"
    )

    $CopyFromPath = $SourceDirectory
    $CopyToRootDirectory = $DestinationDirectory
    $FileTypeFilter = $Filter

    $Files = Get-ChildItem -Path $CopyFromPath -Filter $FileTypeFilter

    foreach($File in $Files)
    {
        $DirectoryName = "\$File.BaseName"
        $CopyToDirectory = "$CopyToRootDirectory$DirectoryName"

        if(-not(Test-Path $CopyToDirectory))
        {
            New-Item -Path $CopyToDirectory -ItemType Directory
        }
        Move-Item $File.FullName -Destination $CopyToDirectory -Forc
    }
}

Then you could load it and run Move-ItemDirectory -SourceDirectory = "C:\Some\Path" -DestinationDirectory = "C:\Some\Other\Path" -Filter "*.xlsx"
 
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Solution
Thanks for the help! I am going to try Python first. Does either of these two methods have some sort of UI that allows me to choose the folder path each time before I run it? Because the folder path will be different every time.
 
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q988988 said:
Does either of these two methods have some sort of UI that allows me to choose the folder path each time before I run it? Because the folder path will be different every time.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately you must type the full path to files and folders every time you use it.
I am a beginner in programming and most likely this is not the best code in Python.
You should ask or search on programming forums for better code.
 
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Revised copy with two prompts.

Code: 
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms

$SourceLocation = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserDialog
$SourceLocation.Description = "Select a Source Directory"
$SourceLocation.ShowDialog()

$DestinationLocation = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserDialog
$DestinationLocation.Description = "Select a Destination Directory"
$DestinationLocation.ShowDialog()

$CopyFromPath = $SourceLocation.SelectedPath
$CopyToRootDirectory = $DestinationLocation.SelectedPath
$FileTypeFilter = "*.xlsx"

$Files = Get-ChildItem -Path $CopyFromPath -Filter $FileTypeFilter

foreach($File in $Files)
{
    $DirectoryName = "\$($File.BaseName)"
    $CopyToDirectory = "$CopyToRootDirectory$DirectoryName"

    if(-not(Test-Path $CopyToDirectory))
    {
        New-Item -Path $CopyToDirectory -ItemType Directory
    }
    $File.FullName
    $CopyToDirectory
    Move-Item $File.FullName -Destination $CopyToDirectory -Force
}
 
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I created a text file (not sure how to create Python file) then changed the extension to ".py" and copied your code into it using Notepad++, but it did not seem to run as expected? Or I have to run it under a specific folder path? I would expect a prompt to show up to let me choose the folder/file paths?
 
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q988988 said:
I would expect a prompt to show up to let me choose the folder/file paths?
Click to expand...
Nope, it doesn't give you the possibility to choose file/folder.
You must type in the full path to the file/folder and you can use copy/paste to make it easier.
 
Last edited:
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livix07 said:
Nope, it doesn't give you the possibility to choose file/folder.
You must type in the full path to the file/folder and you can use copy/paste to make it easier.
Click to expand...
So all I need to do is to replace "Select a Source Directory" and "Select a Destination Directory" with "Z:\Files" and "Z:\Folders" respectively, then run the .py file?
 
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Following is what I have in the py file, but it does not seem to work:

Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms

$SourceLocation = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserDialog
$SourceLocation.Description = "Z:\Files"
$SourceLocation.ShowDialog()

$DestinationLocation = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserDialog
$DestinationLocation.Description = "Z:\Folders"
$DestinationLocation.ShowDialog()

$CopyFromPath = $SourceDirectory.SelectedPath
$CopyToRootDirectory = $DestinationDirectory.SelectedPath
$FileTypeFilter = "*.xlsx"

$Files = Get-ChildItem -Path $CopyFromPath -Filter $FileTypeFilter

foreach($File in $Files)
{
$DirectoryName = "\$File.BaseName"
$CopyToDirectory = "$CopyToRootDirectory$DirectoryName"

if(-not(Test-Path $CopyToDirectory))
{
New-Item -Path $CopyToDirectory -ItemType Directory
}
Move-Item $File.FullName -Destination $CopyToDirectory -Forc
}
 

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I ran the code with PowerShell with two prompts showed up to choose two paths and ended with OK, but the files did not move across?
 

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Does this code work for the file name like 22B_1? Also the folder already contains files before I run the code. Will these two conditions affect the code? Because the code worked for the example I had previously (file A->Folder A, etc) but it did not seem to work for a bit more complicated case.
 
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