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RangerZ's avatar
RangerZ
Copper Contributor
Dec 19, 2023

Copy Files Based on CSV input file (Import-CSV, Copy-Item)

I am admittedly unskilled in Powershell, I hail from the old DOS copy *.* era. I have a number of hours into this but struggling.   I have a mapped drive with a deep file explorer hierarchy from wh...
Windows PowerShell
Harm_Veenstra's avatar
Harm_Veenstra
MVP
Dec 19, 2023

RangerZ Does this work?

 

=========================
Code for FILE and PATH
=========================
#Import the CSV
$CSVData = Import-CSV -Path "D:\Organizer-2023\Organizer2022test2.csv"

#Get the data in Table-like format
$CSVData | Format-Table

# Select specific columns from the pipeline
$SpecificData = $CSVData | Select-Object PATH, FILE

# Display the data in Table format
$SpecificData | Format-Table

# Display the file to the local folder
ForEach ($Row in $CSVData) {
    Copy-Item "$($Row.Path)$($Row.file)" -Destination "D:\Organizer-2023\$($Row.file)"
}
  • RangerZ's avatar
    RangerZ
    Copper Contributor
    Dec 20, 2023

    Harm_VeenstraThank you!

     

    The code changes work great! 

     

    It failed the first time, but highlighted an error in the CSV that I did not see with the original code.  My PATH values did not include a trailing "\".  The path just ended in FOLDER as opposed to FOLDER\, so when joined with the file name the path was not valid.  After clean up, I tried it with the old code and it still failed.  With yours I copied about 530 files in under 5 minutes!!  Thank you!!

     

    I have 2 additional questions please. 

     

    As noted above, I will reverse the source and destination to restore the modified file to it's original location.  I think I want to append -Force to the end.  I tested this by rerunning the above with -Force expecting to see the Created Time change to a more current time but did not.  So I am unclear if this is correct or not, and is there an easy way to make the process verbose, for example list the file name's as it runs just so I can see it's doing something real. 

     

    Can you offer a reference or would you speak to the use of the additional $ in the syntax please.

     

    • LainRobertson's avatar
      LainRobertson
      Silver Contributor
      Dec 20, 2023

      RangerZ 

       

      Hey, Steve.

       

      If you're asking about the additional $ in line 18:

       

       

      Copy-Item "$($Row.Path)$($Row.file)" -Destination "D:\Organizer-2023\$($Row.file)"

       

       

      Then it's to symbolise enclosed code.

       

      So, where you had "()", that did not symbolise that the content within the ellipses was to be interpreted as code.

       

      Conversely, "$()" says to PowerShell, "treat the stuff within the ellipses as code".

       

      This is important as if you look at your original format of:

       

      "($Row.Path)"

       

      Then what you get is the value of the $Row object with the string literal of ".Path" appended to it, which is not what you had in mind.

       

      If you use Harm's format of:

       

      "$($Row.Path)"

       

      Then what you get is the value of the $Row.Path property within the $Row object, which is what you had intended.

       

      On another note, if you're looking to make your "Copy" command more resilient to the presence or omission of leading/trailing backslashes, you can use to the built-in Join-Path commandlet. Taking this approach means you do not have to worry so much about the format of your CSV file.

       

       

      Copy-Item -Path (Join-Path -Path $Row.Path -ChildPath $Row.file) -Destination (Join-Path -Path "D:\Organizer-2023\" -ChildPath $Row.file);

       

       

      Join-Path examples

       

       

      Cheers,

      Lain

      • RangerZ's avatar
        RangerZ
        Copper Contributor
        Dec 20, 2023

        LainRobertsonThanks for your information and additional code suggestions


        The Join-Path component is very interesting.  I have already downloaded my files, but will need to send them back, so I will test this, but probably not until the weekend. 

         

        The first thing that jumps out at me is that the expression looses the $() symbol in it's entirety.

         

        I have now tested the -Force, and it does appear to work as desired, but I would still be interested to know if I can append some "output" parameter after force that says it created Row.FILE in the PowerShell display, or even the number of records written at the end would be good. 

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