How to Copy Files and Folders in PowerShell

1. Introduction to Copy-Item Command in PowerShell
2. Use Copy-Item Command to Copy Specific Files in PowerShell
3. Use Copy-Item Command to Merge Multiple Folders in PowerShell
4. Use Copy-Item Command to Copy Files Recursively in PowerShell
5. Use Copy-Item Command to Copy Files Using PowerShell Remoting

Several commands for copying files have been around in all programming languages. However, in PowerShell, the most popular way to get a copy of a file or folder in your PowerShell script from location A to location B is by using the PowerShell Copy-Item cmdlet.

This article will discuss how to copy a folder and file while giving us the ability to recurse files in a folder, using wildcards to select the files we need to copy and Windows PowerShell Remoting for a file copy.

Introduction to Copy-Item Command in PowerShell

The Copy-Item command is a part of the Windows PowerShell provider cmdlets. It’s a generic cmdlet recognized by its Item noun.

Using the Copy-Item cmdlet, PowerShell allows a developer to copy folders and files in many different ways.

The Copy-Item command copies a single file from one location to another using the -Path parameter as the source file path and the -Destination parameter as the destination folder path.

Copy-Item -Path C:\Temp\File1.txt -Destination C:\PS\

This cmdlet can also copy folders.

Copy-Item -Path C:\Temp\Scripts -Destination C:\PS\

For example, there is a read-only file in the folder. By default, Copy-Item will not overwrite it.

Add the -Force parameter in your code snippet to force the override.

Copy-Item -Path C:\Temp\Scripts -Destination C:\PS\ -Force

Use Copy-Item Command to Copy Specific Files in PowerShell

In addition to copying a single folder or file, we can also copy the entire contents. The -Path parameter of the Copy-Item command accepts wildcard characters like the asterisk (*) to match zero to multiple characters or the question mark (?) to only match a single character.

Copy-Item -Path C:\Temp\*.ps1 -Destination C:\PS\

Copy-Item -Path 'C:\Temp\File?.txt' -Destination C:\PS\

Use Copy-Item Command to Merge Multiple Folders in PowerShell

Another feature of Copy-Item is copying multiple folders together simultaneously. In addition, we can pass various paths to the -Path parameter.

The Copy-Item will look at each one, copy either the folder or file(s) depending on the path, and merge them all into a single destination.

Copy-Item -Path C:\Temp\*, C:\Scripts\*, C:\Docs\* -Destination C:\PS

Use Copy-Item Command to Copy Files Recursively in PowerShell

We usually run into situations where we have many subfolders in the parent folder, which files we’d like to copy over. Using the -Recurse parameter on Copy-Item will look in each subfolder and copy all files and folders in each recursively.

Copy-Item -Path C:\Temp\ -Destination C:\PS -Recurse

Use Copy-Item Command to Copy Files Using PowerShell Remoting

One feature of PowerShell version 5 is this command’s ability to use WinRM and a PowerShell remote session. So, for example, Copy-Item uses an existing PowerShell session and transfers the -Session parameter files.

This is a great method to get around firewalls and an extra layer of security when the session communication is encrypted.

$session = New-PSSession -ComputerName WIN-FS01
Copy-Item -Path C:\Temp\File1.txt -ToSession $session -Destination 'C:\Temp'