Can I copy multiple named files on the Windows command line using a single "copy" command?

windows command-line post-build-event
Mark Carpenter picture Mark Carpenter · May 28, 2009 · Viewed 85.2k times · Source

I'd like to copy several known files to another directory as a part of a post-build event, but don't want to have lines and lines of "copy [file] [destination] [switches]" in my build event. If possible, I'd like to list out the files I'd like to copy using a similar format: "copy [file 1] [file 2] [file 3] [etc...] [destination] [switches]". However, Windows doesn't seem to like this type of format. Any ideas? Thanks!

Answer

Ken White picture Ken White · May 28, 2009

You can use 'for' either in a batch file or directly from the command prompt:

for %I in (file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt) do copy %I c:\somedir\

Wildcards are supported in the filelist as well:

for %I in (*.txt *.doc *.html) do copy %I c:\somedir\

For more info, just type for /? from a command prompt, or for a much easier to read help use Start->Help and Support and search for "For". On my XP Pro box, it was item 15 in the full text search results.

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