Powershell copy script with condition check

Question

Our requirement is to copy files from source to the destination folder.

The clause is during the first run of the script everything should be copied but in the subsequent runs it should copy only those files which have not been copied till yet and are new ones.

The issue is from the destination folder we have a script that works on the files and remove them once executed. So we dont want duplicate files from source copied to destination.

Example

source-> abc.txt,def.xt

after 1strun

dest->abc.txt,def.txt

subsequent runs

source->abc.txt,def.xt, ghi.txt

dest->abc.txt,def.xt, ghi.txt

Now when another script has worked on dest folder and removed abc.txt and ghi.txt then the logic should be

source->abc.txt,def.xt, ghi.txt,jkl.txt

Now when the script runs it should only copy the new files

dest->ghi.txt, jkl.txt

I was thinking if we can log the output after the script is run for the first time to a txt file and then put a condition to check in that log file if the text file is there before copying anything from the source folder to the destination .

Hope was able to explain.

Thx

I tried something like this with robocopy,$src_folder="C:\Users\Desktop\Test" $dest_folder="C:\Users\Desktop\Test1" Robocopy $src_folder $dest_folder /m IF ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) { Write-host copying complted successfully } Else { Write-host Error Copying File } But the problem is it is copying everything . I want the content that is in source folder but has never been copied to dest folder — user2193978
As documented, the option /m copies all source files where the archive attribute is set. If you want to exclude files that already exist in the destination use /xx (exclude extra files). If you want to exclude files that have been copied to the destination at any point in the past, regardless of whether or not they still exist in the destination, you will indeed have to use a custom script and a copy history. — Ansgar Wiechers
@ansgar that's correct and exactly what we intend to do..so need help in creating that custom script..if you can guide me onto that..i tried appying the logic but not very much familiar with the windows powerdhell commandlets..here is my test script: — user2193978
Somehow not able to paste in the entire script..will post it in pieces — user2193978

Ansgar Wiechers Ansgar Wiechers · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-21T15:00:11

You could copy those files which are not in your history like this:

$sourceFolder = "..."
$destFolder   = "..."
$historyFile  = "history.txt"

$recurse = $false

$history = Get-Content $historyFile

Get-ChildItem $sourceFolder -Recurse:$recurse | ? {
  -not $_.PSIsContainer -and $history -notcontains $_.FullName
} | % {
  Copy-Item $_.FullName $destFolder
  $_.FullName >> $historyFile
}

The line $_.FullName >> $historyFile appends the copied files to the history file.

Powershell copy script with condition check

1 Answers