Robocopy switch

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Hello — one of the many switches that robocopy has is /xf — to exclude file(s)
that are to be excluded — the help
(https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/robocopy)

notes that I can specify “wildcards” * and ? for the filename —

So I specified the option

/xf foo.*

and I got a error that this option was invalid

Strictly speaking is the help noted that the filename, ie the part of the file identifier before the ‘.’ can have the wildcard and not the file extension/type?

So, what would be the correct syntax so that robocopy would exclude any file with the filename of “foo” regardless of the filetype

Thanks in advance

fpefpe

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That should have worked, did you try it with *.foo just to see the response?

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“/XF foo.*” should have worked.

I use the option “/XF ntuser.* *.log” in one of my backup scripts to skip ‘log’ files AND any files with the name ‘ntuser’ without issue.

You might want to try TribbleSoft’s (free) EasyRoboCopy utility to help trouble shoot.
http://www.tribblesoft.com/

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no — did not just   “foo*”  —  robocopy is not forgiving  — so I have to proceed with extreme  care

I seem that your reply is “*.foo”  which I not sure if that make sense in my case

thanks for the help

fpefpe

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Yeah, I was wondering if it would copy all files with a specific extension. Looks like you found a bug or glaring flaw, these days you almost cannot tell the difference between them.

You probably need Robocopy for very specific reasons where Xcopy may not apply to your use case.

Sorry, I could not assist you better at this time.

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Just tested to verify… working on Win 8.1 and Win 10 (1709)

 

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Just checking – you’re specifying your exclusion option after the source and destination, correct? For example:  robocopy c:\ d:\ /xf command.*

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@ fpe2fpe

Don’t know if this helps, but found this reference which seems to show the proper syntax to copy (or exclude?) all files with a given name, regardless of its extension:

Robocopy Wildcard Examples

robocopy "C:\Data\" "D:\Data" "book*"

It puts the file name and the wildcard asterisk in quotes, without the . (dot). It probably *forces* the search to limit itself to only the file name included in the quotes–can not add any file with additional letters, spaces, or names before or after the specified name.

So, I would guess that the following might work:

/xf "foo*"

fpefpe wrote:

no — did not just “foo*” — robocopy is not forgiving — so I have to proceed with extreme care

Not sure who you’re replying to–I did not see any reference to that syntax in the replies above.

As far as testing–if you use just the *copy* function and not the */xf* switch–that’s a non-destructive test of creating a *copy only* and should leave the source untouched, is that not correct? Should be able to test if that syntax finds the files you’re interested in limiting robocopy to. Seems like the *exclude function* would also be non-destructive as well!?

Let us know!

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Well, look at that!

Just Lurking wrote:

robocopy "C:\Data\" "D:\Data" "book*"

/xf "foo*"

The above coding is neither bbCode, nor HTML coding, so the forum editor *Code* function was allowed to report the code that is enclosed in the boxes.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Microfix

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@ fpe2fpe

fpefpe wrote:

So I specified the option

/xf foo.*

and I got a error that this option was invalid

As suggested here:

jabeattyauditor wrote:

Just checking – you’re specifying your exclusion option after the source and destination, correct? For example: robocopy c:\ d:\ /xf command.*

You might help out the trouble shooting if you show us the full command line–the *invalid option* may be occurring because of the parameters being specified earlier in your command line!

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Hello — Thanks for all the  help — per the syntax,   yes the command is in the correct form

robocopy  source dest ….. switches —

I will they the wildcard without the  ‘.’  so  I will specify foo* not foo.*

thanks to all

 

 

 

 

fpefpe

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