Microsoft DOS robocopy command
Quick links
About robocopy
Availability
Syntax
Examples
About robocopy
A robust file copy command for the Windows command
line.
Availability
The robocopy.exe command is an external command that is available in the below Microsoft operating systems.
Windows NT (In resource kit)
Windows 2000
(In resource kit)
Windows Server 2008
Windows Vista
Windows 7
Syntax
ROBOCOPY source destination [file [file]...] [options]
| source |
Source Directory (drive:\path or
\\server\share\path) |
| destination |
Destination Dir (drive:\path or
\\server\share\path) |
| file |
File(s) to copy (names/wildcards: default is "*.*") |
Copy options
| /S |
Copy Subdirectories, but not empty ones. |
| /E |
Copy subdirectories, including Empty ones. |
| /LEV:n |
Only copy the top n LEVels of the source
directory tree. |
| /Z |
Copy files in restartable mode. |
| /B |
Copy files in Backup mode. |
| /ZB |
Use restartable mode; if access denied use
Backup mode. |
| /EFSRAW |
Copy all encrypted files in EFS RAW mode. |
| /COPY:copyflag[s] |
What to COPY for files
(default is /COPY:DAT).
(copyflags : D=Data, A=Attributes,
T=Timestamps).
(S=Security=NTFS ACLs, O=Owner info, U=aUditing
info). |
| /DCOPY:T |
COPY Directory Timestamps. |
| /SEC |
Copy files with SECurity (equivalent to
/COPY:DATS). |
| /COPYALL |
COPY ALL file info (equivalent to /COPY:DATSOU). |
| /NOCOPY |
COPY NO file info (useful with /PURGE). |
| /SECFIX |
FIX file SECurity on all files, even
skipped files. |
| /TIMFIX |
FIX file TIMes on all files, even skipped files. |
| /PURGE |
Delete dest files/dirs that no longer
exist in source. |
| /MIR |
MIRror a directory tree (equivalent to /E plus /PURGE). |
| /MOV |
MOVe files (delete from source after
copying). |
| /MOVE |
MOVE files AND dirs (delete from source after copying). |
| /A+:[RASHCNET] |
Add the given Attributes to
copied files. |
| /A-:[RASHCNET] |
Remove the given Attributes from
copied files. |
| /CREATE |
CREATE directory tree and zero-length files only. |
| /FAT |
Create destination files using 8.3 FAT
file names only. |
| /256 |
Turn off very long path (> 256 characters) support. |
| /MON:n |
MONitor source; run again when more than
n changes seen. |
| /MOT:m |
MOnitor source; run again in m minutes Time, if changed. |
| /RH:hhmm-hhmm |
Run Hours - times when new copies
may be started. |
| /PF |
Check run hours on a Per File (not per pass) basis. |
| /IPG:n |
Inter-Packet Gap (ms), to free bandwidth
on slow lines. |
| /SL |
Copy symbolic links versus the target. |
| /MT[:n] |
Do multi-threaded copies with n threads
(default 8).
n must be at least 1 and not greater than 128.
This option is incompatible with the /IPG and /EFSRAW options.
Redirect output using /LOG option for better performance. |
File Selection Options
| /A |
Copy only files with the Archive attribute set. |
| /M |
Copy only files with the Archive attribute
and reset it. |
| /IA:[RASHCNETO] |
Include only files with any of
the given Attributes set. |
| /XA:[RASHCNETO] |
eXclude files with any of the
given Attributes set. |
| /XF
file [file]... |
eXclude Files matching given
names/paths/wildcards. |
| /XD dirs [dirs]... |
eXclude Directories matching
given names/paths. |
| /XC |
eXclude Changed files. |
| /XN |
eXclude Newer files. |
| /XO |
eXclude Older files. |
| /XX |
eXclude eXtra files and directories. |
| /XL |
eXclude Lonely files and directories. |
| /IS |
Include Same files. |
| /IT |
Include Tweaked files. |
| /MAX:n |
MAXimum file size - exclude files bigger
than n bytes. |
| /MIN:n |
MINimum file size - exclude files smaller than n bytes. |
| /MAXAGE:n |
MAXimum file AGE - exclude files
older than n days/date. |
| /MINAGE:n |
MINimum file AGE - exclude files newer than n days/date. |
| /MAXLAD:n |
MAXimum Last Access Date - exclude
files unused since n. |
| /MINLAD:n |
MINimum Last Access Date - exclude files used since n.
(If n <
1900 then n = n days, else n = YYYYMMDD date). |
| /XJ |
eXclude Junction points. (normally included
by default). |
| /FFT |
Assume FAT File Times (2-second granularity). |
| /DST |
Compensate for one-hour DST time
differences. |
| /XJD |
eXclude Junction points for Directories. |
| /XJF |
eXclude Junction points for Files. |
Retry Options
| /R:n |
Number of Retries on failed copies: default 1
million. |
| /W:n |
Wait time between retries: default is 30 seconds. |
| /REG |
Save /R:n and /W:n in the Registry as
default settings. |
| /TBD |
Wait for sharenames To Be Defined (retry error 67). |
Logging Options
| /L |
List only - don't copy, timestamp or delete any
files. |
| /X |
Report all eXtra files, not just those selected. |
| /V |
Produce Verbose output, showing skipped
files. |
| /TS |
Include source file Time Stamps in the output. |
| /FP |
Include Full Pathname of files in the
output. |
| /BYTES |
Print sizes as bytes. |
| /NS |
No Size - don't log file sizes. |
| /NC |
No Class - don't log file classes. |
| /NFL |
No File List - don't log file names. |
| /NDL |
No Directory List - don't log directory
names. |
| /NP |
No Progress - don't display percentage copied. |
| /ETA |
Show Estimated Time of Arrival of copied
files. |
| /LOG:file |
Output status to LOG file (overwrite existing log). |
| /LOG+:file |
Output status to LOG file (append to
existing log). |
| /UNILOG:file |
Output status to LOG file as UNICODE (overwrite existing log). |
| /UNILOG+:file |
Output status to LOG file as
UNICODE (append to existing log). |
| /TEE |
Output to console window, as well as the
log file. |
| /NJH |
No Job Header. |
| /NJS |
No Job Summary. |
| /UNICODE |
Output status as UNICODE. |
Job Options
| /JOB:jobname |
Take parameters from the named JOB
file. |
| /SAVE:jobname |
SAVE parameters to the named job file. |
| /QUIT |
QUIT after processing command line (to
view parameters). |
| /NOSD |
NO Source Directory is specified. |
| /NODD |
NO Destination Directory is specified. |
| /IF |
Include the following Files. |
Examples
robocopy c:\Shine c:\Shine2
*.txt
In this first example any .txt file would be copied from the
hope directory into the hope2 directory. Whenever you want to copy one or
more files and not a complete directory the file must be specified after the
destination directory.
robocopy c:\Shine c:\Shine2
In the above example the robocopy command would copy all
files (not directories) in the hope directory to the Shine2 directory.
robocopy c:\Shine c:\Shine2 /e
In the above example all files and folders (including empty
ones) will be copied from the Shine directory to the Shine2 directory.
robocopy c:\Shine c:\Shine2 /MIR
This example will mirror what is in c:\Shine into c:\Shine2
and purge any files in the Shine2 directory
that do not exist in the Shine directory. Use the /mir switch cautiously
since it will be deleting files that do not match in the destination
directory.
robocopy \\computer\Shine C:\Shine2
Next, this example would copy any of the files in the Shine directory on the network computer named computer to the current computer
hope2 directory. |
