Forum Discussion

Copper Contributor

Dec 07, 2022

Solved

.ps1 script: how to loop in a range of dates

Hi all, I have to copy the content of the folders: C:\mypath\YYYYDDMM\myfolder1 into one folder destination. And: YYYYMMDD is from 20140101 to 20211231 I'm struggling to find a way t...

Windows PowerShell

Harm_Veenstra

Dec 12, 2022

Just tested this script, this works:

foreach ($folder in Get-ChildItem -Path c:\mypath -Directory | Sort-Object Name) {
    try {
        Test-Path "$($folder.fullname)\myfolder1" -ErrorAction Stop | Out-Null
        Copy-Item "$($folder.fullname)\myfolder1" -Recurse -Destination C:\destpath\myfolder1 -Force:$true -Confirm:$false -ErrorAction Stop
        Write-Host ("Processing {0}" -f $folder.fullname) -ForegroundColor Green
    }
    catch {
        Write-Warning ("Folder myfolder1 not found in {0} or not enough permissions" -f $folder.FullName)
    }
}

Source directory:

Destination directory:

It will check permissions and copy if it has permissions and will overwrite if the file is already present, it will show a warning if the folder1 folder was not found in a directory.

You can test it for yourself with a test directory structure 🙂

marco69

Copper Contributor

Dec 12, 2022

Hi Harm_Veenstra!

I have this situation:

C:\mypath\20220421\myfolder1
C:\mypath\20220422\myfolder1
C:\mypath\20220425\myfolder1
C:\mypath\20220511\myfolder1
....
C:\mypath\20220718\myfolder1
C:\mypath\20220723\myfolder1
...
C:\mypath\20221212\myfolder1

starting from the very first folder (the oldest, in the example above is the folder at 21Apr2022) I have to copy the content of myfolder1 to a destination directory, for example:

c:\destpath\myfolder1

Then:

copy C:\mypath\20220421\myfolder1\* -> c:\destpath\myfolder1\*
copy C:\mypath\20220422\myfolder1\* -> c:\destpath\myfolder1\*
copy C:\mypath\20220425\myfolder1\* -> c:\destpath\myfolder1\*
...
copy C:\mypath\20221212\myfolder1\* -> c:\destpath\myfolder1\*

For info, just to better clarify, when copying I have to overwrite a file if it already exists and normally copy if it's new.

mf

Harm_Veenstra

MVP

Dec 12, 2022

Just tested this script, this works:

foreach ($folder in Get-ChildItem -Path c:\mypath -Directory | Sort-Object Name) {
    try {
        Test-Path "$($folder.fullname)\myfolder1" -ErrorAction Stop | Out-Null
        Copy-Item "$($folder.fullname)\myfolder1" -Recurse -Destination C:\destpath\myfolder1 -Force:$true -Confirm:$false -ErrorAction Stop
        Write-Host ("Processing {0}" -f $folder.fullname) -ForegroundColor Green
    }
    catch {
        Write-Warning ("Folder myfolder1 not found in {0} or not enough permissions" -f $folder.FullName)
    }
}

Source directory:

Destination directory:

It will check permissions and copy if it has permissions and will overwrite if the file is already present, it will show a warning if the folder1 folder was not found in a directory.

You can test it for yourself with a test directory structure 🙂

marco69
Copper Contributor
Dec 12, 2022
You are my Hero!!!!
many many many thanks!!!!
- Harm_Veenstra
  MVP
  Dec 12, 2022
  Let us know if it works out for you, please mark my answer as best response to mark it as solved if it did 🙂
  - marco69
    Copper Contributor
    Dec 12, 2022
    I forgot one important point: I have to overwrite only if the file is newer...
    how can I modify the script to do that?
    thank you and excuse me for this missing