Copy-Item
Copies an item from one location to another.
Syntax
Copy-Item
[-Path] <String[]>
[[-Destination] <String>]
[-Container]
[-Force]
[-Filter <String>]
[-Include <String[]>]
[-Exclude <String[]>]
[-Recurse]
[-PassThru]
[-Credential <PSCredential>]
[-WhatIf]
[-Confirm]
[-FromSession <PSSession>]
[-ToSession <PSSession>]
[<CommonParameters>]
Copy-Item
-LiteralPath <String[]>
[[-Destination] <String>]
[-Container]
[-Force]
[-Filter <String>]
[-Include <String[]>]
[-Exclude <String[]>]
[-Recurse]
[-PassThru]
[-Credential <PSCredential>]
[-WhatIf]
[-Confirm]
[-FromSession <PSSession>]
[-ToSession <PSSession>]
[<CommonParameters>]
Copy-Item
[-Path] <string[]>
[[-Destination] <string>]
[-Container]
[-Force]
[-Filter <string>]
[-Include <string[]>]
[-Exclude <string[]>]
[-Recurse]
[-PassThru]
[-Credential <pscredential>]
[-WhatIf]
[-Confirm]
[<CommonParameters>]
Copy-Item
[[-Destination] <string>]
-LiteralPath <string[]>
[-Container]
[-Force]
[-Filter <string>]
[-Include <string[]>]
[-Exclude <string[]>]
[-Recurse]
[-PassThru]
[-Credential <pscredential>]
[-WhatIf]
[-Confirm]
[<CommonParameters>]
Description
The Copy-Item
cmdlet copies an item from one location to another location in the same namespace.
For instance, it can copy a file to a folder, but it can't copy a file to a certificate drive.
This cmdlet doesn't cut or delete the items being copied. The particular items that the cmdlet can copy depend on the PowerShell provider that exposes the item. For instance, it can copy files and directories in a file system drive and registry keys and entries in the registry drive.
This cmdlet can copy and rename items in the same command. To rename an item, enter the new name in
the value of the Destination parameter. To rename an item and not copy it, use the Rename-Item
cmdlet.
Examples
Example 1: Copy a file to the specified directory
This example copies the mar1604.log.txt
file to the C:\Presentation
directory. The original file
isn't deleted.
Copy-Item "C:\Wabash\Logfiles\mar1604.log.txt" -Destination "C:\Presentation"
Example 2: Copy directory contents to an existing directory
This example copies the contents of the C:\Logfiles
directory into the existing C:\Drawings
directory. The Logfiles
directory isn't copied.
If the Logfiles
directory has files in subdirectories, those subdirectories are copied with their
file trees intact. By default, the Container parameter is set to True, which preserves the
directory structure.
Copy-Item -Path "C:\Logfiles\*" -Destination "C:\Drawings" -Recurse
Note
If the path C:\Drawings
doesn't exist the cmdlet copies all the files from the Logfiles
folder tree into a single folder C:\Drawings
, overwriting any files with the same name.
Example 3: Copy directory and contents to a new directory
This example copies the contents of the C:\Logfiles
source directory and creates a new destination
directory. The new destination directory, \Logs
is created in C:\Drawings
.
To include the source directory's name, copy to an existing destination directory as shown in Example 2. Or, name the new destination directory with the same as the source directory.
Copy-Item -Path "C:\Logfiles" -Destination "C:\Drawings\Logs" -Recurse
Note
If the Path includes \*
, all the directory's file contents, including the subdirectory
trees, are copied to the new destination directory. For example:
Copy-Item -Path "C:\Logfiles\*" -Destination "C:\Drawings\Logs" -Recurse
Example 4: Copy a file to the specified directory and rename the file
This example uses the Copy-Item
cmdlet to copy the Get-Widget.ps1
script from the
\\Server01\Share
directory to the \\Server12\ScriptArchive
directory. As part of the copy
operation, the command changes the item name from Get-Widget.ps1
to Get-Widget.ps1.txt
, so it
can be safely attached to email messages.
Copy-Item "\\Server01\Share\Get-Widget.ps1" -Destination "\\Server12\ScriptArchive\Get-Widget.ps1.txt"
Example 5: Copy a file to a remote computer
A session is created to the remote computer named Server01 with the credential of
Contoso\User01
and stores the results in the variable named $Session
.
The Copy-Item
cmdlet copies test.log
from the D:\Folder001
folder to the C:\Folder001_Copy
folder on the remote computer using the session information stored in the $Session
variable. The
original file isn't deleted.
$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName "Server01" -Credential "Contoso\User01"
Copy-Item "D:\Folder001\test.log" -Destination "C:\Folder001_Copy\" -ToSession $Session
Example 6: Copy a folder to a remote computer
A session is created to the remote computer named Server01 with the credential of
Contoso\User01
and stores the results in the variable named $Session
.
The Copy-Item
cmdlet copies the D:\Folder002
folder to the C:\Folder002_Copy
directory on the
remote computer using the session information stored in the $Session
variable. Any subfolders or
files aren't copied without using the Recurse switch. The operation creates the Folder002_Copy
folder if it doesn't already exist.
$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName "Server02" -Credential "Contoso\User01"
Copy-Item "D:\Folder002\" -Destination "C:\Folder002_Copy\" -ToSession $Session
Example 7: Recursively copy the entire contents of a folder to a remote computer
A session is created to the remote computer named Server01 with the credential of
Contoso\User01
and stores the results in the variable named $Session
.
The Copy-Item
cmdlet copies the entire contents from the D:\Folder003
folder to the
C:\Folder003_Copy
directory on the remote computer using the session information stored in the
$Session
variable. The subfolders are copied with their file trees intact. The operation creates
the Folder003_Copy
folder if it doesn't already exist.
$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName "Server04" -Credential "Contoso\User01"
Copy-Item "D:\Folder003\" -Destination "C:\Folder003_Copy\" -ToSession $Session -Recurse
Example 8: Copy a file to a remote computer and then rename the file
A session is created to the remote computer named Server01 with the credential of
Contoso\User01
and stores the results in the variable named $Session
.
The Copy-Item
cmdlet copies scriptingexample.ps1
from the D:\Folder004
folder to the
C:\Folder004_Copy
folder on the remote computer using the session information stored in the
$Session
variable. The original file isn't deleted.
$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName "Server04" -Credential "Contoso\User01"
Copy-Item "D:\Folder004\scriptingexample.ps1" -Destination "C:\Folder004_Copy\scriptingexample_copy.ps1" -ToSession $Session
Example 9: Copy a remote file to the local computer
A session is created to the remote computer named Server01 with the credential of
Contoso\User01
and stores the results in the variable named $Session
.
The Copy-Item
cmdlet copies test.log
from the remote C:\MyRemoteData\
to the local
D:\MyLocalData
folder using the session information stored in the $Session
variable. The
original file isn't deleted.
$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName "Server01" -Credential "Contoso\User01"
Copy-Item "C:\MyRemoteData\test.log" -Destination "D:\MyLocalData\" -FromSession $Session
Example 10: Copy the entire contents of a remote folder to the local computer
A session is created to the remote computer named Server01 with the credential of
Contoso\User01
and stores the results in the variable named $Session
.
The Copy-Item
cmdlet copies the entire contents from the remote C:\MyRemoteData\scripts
folder
to the local D:\MyLocalData
folder using the session information stored in the $Session
variable. If the scripts folder has files in subfolders, those subfolders are copied with their
file trees intact.
$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName "Server01" -Credential "Contoso\User01"
Copy-Item "C:\MyRemoteData\scripts" -Destination "D:\MyLocalData\" -FromSession $Session
Example 11: Recursively copy the entire contents of a remote folder to the local computer
A session is created to the remote computer named Server01 with the credential of
Contoso\User01
and stores the results in the variable named $Session
.
The Copy-Item
cmdlet copies the entire contents from the remote C:\MyRemoteData\scripts
folder
to the local D:\MyLocalData\scripts
folder using the session information stored in the $Session
variable. Because the Recurse parameter is used, the operation creates the scripts folder if it
doesn't already exist. If the scripts folder has files in subfolders, those subfolders are
copied with their file trees intact.
$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName "Server01" -Credential "Contoso\User01"
Copy-Item "C:\MyRemoteData\scripts" -Destination "D:\MyLocalData\scripts" -FromSession $Session -Recurse
Example 12: Recursively copy files from a folder tree into the current folder
This example shows how to copy files from a multilevel folder structure into a single flat folder.
The first three commands show the existing folder structure and the contents of two files, both
names file3.txt
.
PS C:\temp\test> (Get-ChildItem C:\temp\tree -Recurse).FullName
C:\temp\tree\subfolder
C:\temp\tree\file1.txt
C:\temp\tree\file2.txt
C:\temp\tree\file3.txt
C:\temp\tree\subfolder\file3.txt
C:\temp\tree\subfolder\file4.txt
C:\temp\tree\subfolder\file5.txt
PS C:\temp\test> Get-Content C:\temp\tree\file3.txt
This is file3.txt in the root folder
PS C:\temp\test> Get-Content C:\temp\tree\subfolder\file3.txt
This is file3.txt in the subfolder
PS C:\temp\test> Copy-Item -Path C:\temp\tree -Filter *.txt -Recurse -Container:$false
PS C:\temp\test> (Get-ChildItem . -Recurse).FullName
C:\temp\test\subfolder
C:\temp\test\file1.txt
C:\temp\test\file2.txt
C:\temp\test\file3.txt
C:\temp\test\file4.txt
C:\temp\test\file5.txt
PS C:\temp\test> Get-Content .\file3.txt
This is file3.txt in the subfolder
The Copy-Item
cmdlet has the Container parameter set to $false
. This causes the contents of
the source folder to be copied but doesn't preserve the folder structure. Notice that files with
the same name are overwritten in the destination folder.
Example 13: Using filters to copy items without recursion
This example shows the results using the Include parameter to select the items to be copied.
This example uses the following folder structure containing the files to be copied:
D:\temp\tree\example.ps1
D:\temp\tree\example.txt
D:\temp\tree\examples\
D:\temp\tree\examples\example_1.txt
D:\temp\tree\examples\example_2.txt
D:\temp\tree\examples\subfolder\
D:\temp\tree\examples\subfolder\test.txt
In this example, Copy-Item
is called with a wildcard for both the Path and Include
parameters. Specifying a wildcard for the Path parameter ensures that it processes all files and
folders that match D:\temp\tree\*
. The Include parameter filters the list of items to process,
limiting the operation to only those paths that begin with ex
.
PS D:\temp\test\out> Copy-Item -Path D:\temp\tree\* -Include ex*
PS D:\temp\test\out> (Get-ChildItem -Recurse).FullName
D:\temp\out\examples
D:\temp\out\example.ps1
D:\temp\out\example.txt
The Include parameter is applied to the contents of D:\temp\tree
folder to copy all items that
match ex*
. Notice that, without recursion, the D:\temp\out\examples
folder is copied, but none
of its contents are copied.
Example 14: Using filters to copy items with recursion
This example shows the results using the Include parameter to select the items to be copied.
This example uses the following folder structure containing the files to be copied:
D:\temp\tree\example.ps1
D:\temp\tree\example.txt
D:\temp\tree\examples\
D:\temp\tree\examples\example_1.txt
D:\temp\tree\examples\example_2.txt
D:\temp\tree\examples\subfolder\
D:\temp\tree\examples\subfolder\test.txt
In this example, Copy-Item
is called with a wildcard for both the Path and Include
parameters. Specifying a wildcard for the Path parameter ensures that it processes all the files
and folders that match D:\temp\tree\*
. The Include parameter filters the list of items to
process, limiting the operation to only those paths that begin with ex
.
D:\temp\out> Copy-Item -Path D:\temp\tree\* -Include ex* -Recurse
D:\temp\out> (Get-ChildItem -Recurse).FullName
D:\temp\out\examples
D:\temp\out\example.ps1
D:\temp\out\example.txt
D:\temp\out\examples\subfolder
D:\temp\out\examples\example_1.txt
D:\temp\out\examples\example_2.txt
D:\temp\out\examples\subfolder\test.txt
The Include parameter is applied to the contents of D:\temp\tree
folder to copy all items that
match ex*
. Notice that, with recursion, the D:\temp\out\examples
folder is copied along with all
the files and subfolders. The copy includes files that do not match the include filter. When using
Copy-Item
, the filters only apply to the top-level specified by the Path parameter. Then
recursion is applied to those matching items.
Note
The behavior of the Exclude parameter is the same as described in this example, except that it limits the operation to only those paths that don't match the pattern.
Example 15: Limit the files to recursively copy from a wildcard-specified path
This example shows how to limit the files recursively copied from a wildcard-matching path into
another folder. Example 13 shows that, because the Include parameter only filters on the paths
resolved for a wildcard-specifying Path, the Include parameter can't be used to limit the
files recursively copied from a folder. Instead, you can use Get-ChildItem
to find the items you
want to copy and pass those items to Copy-Item
.
This example uses the following folder structure containing the files to be copied:
D:\temp\tree\example.ps1
D:\temp\tree\example.txt
D:\temp\tree\examples\
D:\temp\tree\examples\example_1.txt
D:\temp\tree\examples\example_2.txt
D:\temp\tree\examples\subfolder\
D:\temp\tree\examples\subfolder\test.txt
To copy all items that begin with ex*
, use Get-ChildItem
with the Recurse and Filter
parameters and pipe the results to Copy-Item
.
D:\temp\out> Get-ChildItem -Path D:\temp\tree -Recurse -Filter ex* | Copy-Item
D:\temp\out> (Get-ChildItem -Recurse).FullName
D:\temp\out\examples
D:\temp\out\example_1.txt
D:\temp\out\example_2.txt
D:\temp\out\example.ps1
D:\temp\out\example.txt
Unlike the Copy-Item
, the Filter parameter for Get-ChildItem
applies to the items discovered
during recursion. This enables you to find, filter, and then copy items recursively.
Parameters
-Confirm
Prompts you for confirmation before running the cmdlet.
Type: | SwitchParameter |
Aliases: | cf |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | False |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Container
Indicates that this cmdlet preserves container objects during the copy operation. By default, the Container parameter is set to True.
Type: | SwitchParameter |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | True |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Credential
Note
This parameter isn't supported by any providers installed with PowerShell. To impersonate another user, or elevate your credentials when running this cmdlet, use Invoke-Command.
Type: | PSCredential |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | Current user |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | True |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Destination
Specifies the path to the new location. The default is the current directory.
To rename the item being copied, specify a new name in the value of the Destination parameter.
Type: | String |
Position: | 1 |
Default value: | Current directory |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | True |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Exclude
Specifies one or more path elements or patterns, such as "*.txt"
, to limit this cmdlet's
operation. The value of this parameter filters against the wildcard-matching result of the Path
parameter, not the final results. This parameter is only effective when the Path is specified
with one or more wildcards. Since this parameter only filters on the paths resolved for the Path
parameter, it doesn't filter any items discovered when recursing through child folders with the
Recurse parameter.
Type: | String[] |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | True |
-Filter
Specifies a filter to qualify the Path parameter. The FileSystem provider is the only installed PowerShell provider that supports the use of filters. You can find the syntax for the FileSystem filter language in about_Wildcards. Filters are more efficient than other parameters, because the provider applies them when the cmdlet gets the objects rather than having PowerShell filter the objects after they're retrieved.
Type: | String |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | True |
-Force
Indicates that this cmdlet copies items that can't otherwise be changed, such as copying over a read-only file or alias.
Type: | SwitchParameter |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | False |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-FromSession
This is a dynamic parameter made available by the FileSystem provider.
Specify the PSSession object from which a remote file is being copied. When you use this parameter, the Path and LiteralPath parameters refer to the local path on the remote machine.
For more information, see about_FileSystem_Provider.
Type: | PSSession |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Include
Specifies one or more path elements or patterns, such as "*.txt"
, to limit this cmdlet's
operation. The value of this parameter filters against the wildcard-matching result of the Path
parameter, not the final results. This parameter is only effective when the Path is specified
with one or more wildcards. Since this parameter only filters on the paths resolved for the Path
parameter, it doesn't filter any items discovered when recursing through child folders with the
Recurse parameter.
Type: | String[] |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | True |
-LiteralPath
Specifies a path to one or more locations. The value of LiteralPath is used exactly as it's typed. No characters are interpreted as wildcards. If the path includes escape characters, enclose it in single quotation marks. Single quotation marks tell PowerShell not to interpret any characters as escape sequences.
For more information, see about_Quoting_Rules.
Type: | String[] |
Aliases: | PSPath, LP |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | True |
Accept pipeline input: | True |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-PassThru
Returns an object that represents the item with which you're working. By default, this cmdlet doesn't generate any output.
Type: | SwitchParameter |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | False |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Path
Specifies, as a string array, the path to the items to copy. Wildcard characters are permitted.
Type: | String[] |
Position: | 0 |
Default value: | None |
Required: | True |
Accept pipeline input: | True |
Accept wildcard characters: | True |
-Recurse
Indicates that this cmdlet does a recursive copy.
Type: | SwitchParameter |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | False |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-ToSession
This is a dynamic parameter made available by the FileSystem provider.
Specify the PSSession object to which a remote file is being copied. When you use this parameter, the Destination parameter refers to the local path on the remote machine.
For more information, see about_FileSystem_Provider.
Type: | PSSession |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-WhatIf
Shows what would happen if the cmdlet runs. The cmdlet isn't run.
Type: | SwitchParameter |
Aliases: | wi |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | False |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Inputs
You can pipe a string that contains a path to this cmdlet.
Outputs
None
By default, this cmdlet returns no output.
When you use the PassThru parameter, this cmdlet returns an object representing the copied item.
Notes
PowerShell includes the following aliases for Copy-Item
:
- All platforms:
copy
cpi
- Windows:
cp
This cmdlet is designed to work with the data exposed by any provider. To list the providers
available in your session, type Get-PSProvider
. For more information, see
about_Providers.