MS-DOS and Windows command line robocopy command
Software
Author
author
Date
2019-08-30 19:22
Views
6094
Robocopy is a robust file copy command for the Windows command line. It allows users to copy files, directories, and even drives from one location to another.
- Availability
- Robocopy syntax
- Robocopy examples
Availability
Robocopy is an external command that is available for the following Microsoft operating systems as robocopy.exe.
- Windows NT (In resource kit)
- Windows 2000 (In resource kit)
- Windows Server 2008
- Windows Vista
- Windows 7
- Windows 8
- Windows 10
Robocopy syntax
ROBOCOPY source destination [file [file]...] [options]
| source | Source directory (drive:\path or \\server\share\path). |
| destination | Destination directory (drive:\path or \\server\share\path). |
| file | File(s) to copy (names/wildcards: default is "*.*"). |
Copy options
| /S | Copy subdirectories, but not the empty ones. |
| /E | Copy subdirectories, including the empty ones. |
| /LEV:n | Only copy the top n levels of the source directory tree. |
| /Z | Copy files in restartable mode. |
| /B | Copy files in backup mode. |
| /ZB | Use restartable mode. If access denied, use backup mode. |
| /EFSRAW | Copy all encrypted files in EFS RAW mode. |
| /COPY:copyflag[s] | What to COPY for files (default is /COPY:DAT). (copyflags : D=Data, A=Attributes, T=Timestamps). (S=Security=NTFS ACLs, O=Owner info, U=aUditing info). |
| /DCOPY:T | COPY the directory timestamps. |
| /SEC | Copy files with security (equivalent to /COPY:DATS). |
| /COPYALL | Copy all file info (equivalent to /COPY:DATSOU). |
| /NOCOPY | Copy no file info (useful with /PURGE). |
| /SECFIX | Fix file security on all files, even skipped files. |
| /TIMFIX | Fix file times on all files, even the skipped ones. |
| /PURGE | Delete dest files/dirs that no longer exist in the source. |
| /MIR | Mirror a directory tree (equivalent to /E plus /PURGE). |
| /MOV | Move files (delete from the source after copying). |
| /MOVE | Move files and dirs (delete from the source after copying). |
| /A+:[RASHCNET] | Add the given attributes to copied files. |
| /A-:[RASHCNET] | Remove the given attributes from copied files. |
| /CREATE | Create directory tree and zero-length files only. |
| /FAT | Create destination files using 8.3 FAT file names only. |
| /256 | Turn off very long path (> 256 characters) support. |
| /MON:n | Monitor source; run again when more than n changes seen. |
| /MOT:m | Monitor source; run again in m minutes time, if changed. |
| /RH:hhmm-hhmm | Run hours - times when new copies may be started. |
| /PF | Check run hours on a per file (not per pass) basis. |
| /IPG:n | Inter-packet gap (ms), to free bandwidth on slow lines. |
| /SL | Copy symbolic links versus the target. |
| /MT[:n] | Do multi-threaded copies with n threads (default 8). n must be at least 1 and not greater than 128. This option is incompatible with the /IPG and /EFSRAW options. Redirect output using /LOG option for better performance. |
File Selection Options
| /A | Copy only the files with the archive attribute set. |
| /M | Copy only the files with the archive attribute and reset it. |
| /IA:[RASHCNETO] | Include only the files with any of the given attributes set. |
| /XA:[RASHCNETO] | Exclude files with any of the given attributes set. |
| /XF file [file]... | Exclude files matching given names/paths/wildcards. |
| /XD dirs [dirs]... | Exclude directories matching given names/paths. |
| /XC | Exclude changed files. |
| /XN | Exclude newer files. |
| /XO | Exclude older files. |
| /XX | Exclude extra files and directories. |
| /XL | Exclude lonely files and directories. |
| /IS | Include same files. |
| /IT | Include tweaked files. |
| /MAX:n | Maximum file size - exclude files bigger than n bytes. |
| /MIN:n | Minimum file size - exclude files smaller than n bytes. |
| /MAXAGE:n | Maximum file age - exclude files older than n days/date. |
| /MINAGE:n | Minimum file age - exclude files newer than n days/date. |
| /MAXLAD:n | Maximum last access date - exclude files unused since n. |
| /MINLAD:n | Minimum last access date - exclude files used since n. (If n < 1900 then n = n days, else n = YYYYMMDD date). |
| /XJ | Exclude junction points. (normally included by default). |
| /FFT | Assume FAT file times (2-second granularity). |
| /DST | Compensate for one-hour DST time differences. |
| /XJD | Exclude junction points for directories. |
| /XJF | Exclude junction points for files. |
Retry Options
| /R:n | Number of retries on failed copies: default 1 million. |
| /W:n | Wait time between retries: default is 30 seconds. |
| /REG | Save /R:n and /W:n in the registry as default settings. |
| /TBD | Wait for sharenames To be defined (retry error 67). |
Logging Options
| /L | List only - don't copy, timestamp or delete any files. |
| /X | Report all extra files, not only those selected. |
| /V | Produce verbose output, showing skipped files. |
| /TS | Include source file timestamps in the output. |
| /FP | Include full pathname of files in the output. |
| /BYTES | Print sizes as bytes. |
| /NS | No size - don't log file sizes. |
| /NC | No class - don't log file classes. |
| /NFL | No file list - don't log file names. |
| /NDL | No directory List - don't log directory names. |
| /NP | No progress - don't display percentage copied. |
| /ETA | Show estimated time of arrival of copied files. |
| /LOG:file | Output status to LOG file (overwrite existing log). |
| /LOG+:file | Output status to LOG file (append to existing log). |
| /UNILOG:file | Output status to LOG file as UNICODE (overwrite existing log). |
| /UNILOG+:file | Output status to LOG file as UNICODE (append to existing log). |
| /TEE | Output to console window, as well as the log file. |
| /NJH | No job header. |
| /NJS | No job summary. |
| /UNICODE | Output status as UNICODE. |
Job Options
| /JOB:jobname | Take parameters from the named job file. |
| /SAVE:jobname | Save parameters to the named job file. |
| /QUIT | Quit after processing command line (to view parameters). |
| /NOSD | No source directory is specified. |
| /NODD | No destination directory is specified. |
| /IF | Include the following files. |
Robocopy examples
robocopy c:\hope c:\hope2 *.txt
In this first example, any .txt file would be copied from the hope directory into the hope2 directory. Whenever you want to copy one or more files and not a complete directory the file must be specified after the destination directory.
robocopy c:\hope c:\hope2
In the above example, the robocopy command would copy all files (not directories) in the hope directory to the hope2 directory.
robocopy c:\hope c:\hope2 /e
In the above example, all files and folders (including empty ones) will be copied from the hope directory to the hope2 directory.
robocopy c:\hope c:\hope2 /MIR
This example will mirror what is in c:\hope into c:\hope2 and purge any files in the hope2 directory that do not exist in the hope directory. Use the /mir switch cautiously since it is deleting files that do not match in the destination directory.
robocopy \\computer\hope C:\hope2
Next, this example would copy any of the files in the hope directory on the network computer named computer to the current computer hope2 directory.
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what can be handled via Robocopy can be handled easily and more with the GUI alternatives like KillCopy, Gs Richcopy 360, and GoodSync ... more means, long path name problems , copying the in-use files, copying the share permissions ........etc