PowerShell With Robocopy and Arguments Passing

You can use several tools to copy files and directories in PowerShell. Robocopy is a popular command-line utility in Windows to copy file data from one location to another.

It is a powerful command that can copy a large file data volume. This tutorial will teach you to use robocopy in PowerShell.

Use the robocopy Command to Copy Files in PowerShell

The general syntax of robocopy command is:

robocopy <source> <destination> [<file>] [<options>]

The following is a simple robocopy command example.

robocopy C:\New C:\pc car.png /njh /njs

It copies a car.png file from the C:\New directory to the C:\pc directory. The /njh option hides the job header, and the /njs option hides the job summary.

Output:

	                   1	C:\New\
	    New File  		    3465	car.png
 98%
100%

For more information on robocopy options, read this article.

Let’s have a look at another robocopy command example. The following variables store the value for the robocopy arguments.

$source = "C:\New\complex"
$destination = "C:\pc\computing"
$robocopyOptions = "/njh"
$file = "report.docx"

This command copies a report.docs file from the source directory C:\New\complex to the destination directory C:\pc\computing.

robocopy $source $destination $file $robocopyOptions

Output:

	                   1	C:\New\complex\
	    New File  		   1.5 m	report.docx
 15%
 31%
 47%
 63%
 79%
 95%
100%

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

               Total    Copied   Skipped  Mismatch    FAILED    Extras
    Dirs :         1         0         1         0         0         0
   Files :         1         1         0         0         0         0
   Bytes :    1.56 m    1.56 m         0         0         0         0
   Times :   0:00:00   0:00:00                       0:00:00   0:00:00


   Speed :           41,05,59,250 Bytes/sec.
   Speed :             23,492.389 MegaBytes/min.
   Ended : 21 May 2022 12:53:25

The above command will not work when you store multiple options in the $robocopyOptions variable.

$robocopyOptions="/njh /njs"

You have to split the strings in the command like this.

robocopy $source $destination $file $robocopyOptions.split(' ')

Output:

	                   1	C:\New\complex\
	    New File  		   1.5 m	report.docx
 15%
 31%
 47%
 63%
 79%
 95%
100%

Robocopy is a useful tool for copying a large volume of files. It is an excellent choice if you are looking for a simple way to copy or move files in PowerShell.