Powershell Copy-Item recursively but don't include folder name

Question

This is a stupid question, but I just don't know why it isn't working.

I am trying to copy the files from FolderA to FolderB recursively. I am doing this:

Copy-Item -Path "C:\FolderA\" -Destination "C:\FolderB\" -recurse -Force -Verbose

It works great, no problem.

Except the result in FolderB is this:

C:\FolderB\FolderA\file.txt

Whereas I want it to be:

C:\FolderB\file.txt

What stupid obvious thing am I missing?

Answer 1

Your command is telling PowerShell to copy the folder itself, with all its contents, to the destination folder. To copy only the contents of the original folder, change your path as follows:

Copy-Item -Path "C:\FolderA\*" -Destination "C:\FolderB\" -recurse -Force -Verbose

Notice the asterisk (*) after the folder name. This will copy the content (including subfolders) of the folder, but not the folder itself to the destination folder.

Using the Copy-Item Cmdlet

Answer 2

You can use -File -Recurse for Copy only Files Recursively:

Copy-Item -Path "C:\Source" -Destination "C:\Dest" -File -recurse -Force -Verbose

Or use -Directory -Recurse to copy only empy folder structure:

Copy-Item -Path "C:\Source" -Destination "C:\Dest" -Directory -recurse -Force -Verbose

Kind Regards,

Paul Pedroza

Answer 3

Copy-Item -Path "C:\FolderA" -Destination "C:\FolderB" -recurse -Force -Verbose

Would also work.