Nov 11, 2015

How to copy a file in MS-DOS

Copying a single file from one location to another
  1. Using the cd command, move to the directory that contains the file you want to copy.
  2. Type a command similar to the below command.
copy myfile.txt c:\my\location
In the above example, you would substitute "myfile.txt" with the name of the file you want to copy, and "c:\my\location" with the destinationdirectory.
Copying multiple files to another location
  1. Using the cd command, move to the directory that contains the files you want to copy.
  2. Once in the directory that contains the files you want to copy, type a command similar to one of the below commands.
copy *.* c:\mydir
In the above example, the command would copy every file in the current directory to the "mydir" directory.
copy *.txt c:\mydir
In the above example, the command would copy every txt, or text file, in the current directory into the "mydir" directory.
Tip: Additional examples of wildcard characters can be found on ourwildcard definition.
xcopy hope example /e
If you need to copy files, directories, and subdirectories use the xcopy command. In the above example this xcopy command copies all directories (even empty directories) and files from the hope directory into the example directory.
Copying files with spaces in the file names
Many times you will encounter a file with spaces in the file name. To copy these files surround the full file name and file extension in quotes as shown below.
copy "computer hope.txt" "there is hope.txt"
In the above example the "computer hope.txt" file is surrounded in quotes to let the command line know the complete file. In our example we are also copying the file to a file name with spaces so it is also surrounded in quotes.
How to copy files to another drive
You can also copy files from the current location to any other drive. For example, if you have a USB flash drive that is drive letter F: you can use the command below to copy the file all JPEG image files to the flash drive.
copy *.jpg f:
Related pages and help

How to copy files in Linux and Unix

Below are steps on how to copy a single file from one directory to another directory as well as how to copy multiple files from one directory to another directory.
Copying a single file from one location to another.
  1. Using the cd command, move to the directory that contains the file you want to copy.
  2. Type a command similar to the below command.
cp myfile.txt /usr/bin
In the above example, you would substitute "myfile.txt" with the name of the file you want to copy, and "/usr/bin" with the destination directory.
Copying multiple files to another location
  1. Using the cd command, move to the directory that contains the files you want to copy.
  2. Once in the directory that contains the files you want to copy, type a command similar to one of the below commands.
cp *.* /usr/bin
In the above example, the command would copy every file in the current directory to the "/usr/bin" directory.
cp *.txt /usr/bin
In the above example, the command would copy every txt, or text file, in the current directory into the "/usr/bin" directory.
Additional examples of wildcard characters can be found on our wildcarddefinition.
Copying files with spaces in the file names
Many times you will encounter a file with spaces in the file name. To copy these files surround the full file name and file extension in quotes as shown below.
cp "computer hope.txt" "there is hope.txt"

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