Копирование файлов в консоли windows

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Last Updated :
05 Apr, 2025

Have you ever needed to copy a bunch of files from one folder to another without clicking through endless windows? Or perhaps you’re looking to streamline a repetitive task with a single line of text? If so, the Command Prompt (CMD) on Windows is here to save the day! Copying files between directories is a fundamental computing task, and while graphical interfaces are convenient, CMD offers a fast, efficient alternative—especially for bulk operations or automation. In this guide, we’ll show you how to use CMD to copy files from one directory to another.

Reason to Use CMD for Copying Files from One Directory to Another

When copying files from one directory to another, using the Command Prompt (CMD) offers several advantages over relying on a graphical user interface (GUI). Below are the key reasons why CMD can be a better choice for this task:

• Speed and Efficiency: CMD allows you to copy files quickly with a single command, avoiding the slower process of navigating folders and dragging files in a graphical interface.
• Automation and Scripting: CMD supports batch scripts, enabling you to automate or schedule repetitive file copying tasks or schedule them, which isn’t possible with manual GUI methods.
• Handling Large or Numerous Files: CMD is designed to efficiently handle large sets of files or big datasets, even resuming transfers if interrupted, unlike the GUI, which may struggle.

How to Copy Files from One Directory to Another Using CMD

In this section, we will outline the step-by-step procedure for copying files between directories using the Windows Command Prompt. This guide is divided into two parts: the first part covers copying a single file, while the second part discusses copying multiple files. Let’s begin with the first part.

How to Copy Files From One Directory to Another?

Follow the below steps to copy the single file from one directory to another.

Step 1: Open CMD

• To copy a file from one directory to another using CMD, open Command Prompt by pressing Win + R, typing CMD, and pressing Enter.

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Step 1: Opne File Destination

• Go to the file destination though Change Directory«cd» command or open cmd in that directory.

Step 2: Use Dir Command

• Now Type «dir» command to see the list of files available in that directory.

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Step 3: Use Copy Command

• Now type the following command and replace <filename> with your actual file name and <destination> with where you want to paste the file.

copy <filename> <destination>

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Note: If you try to copy file to C: drive, so it does not work if you have not open command prompt «Run as Administrator» permission.

How to Copy Multiple Files from One Directory to Another?

To copy multiple files at once, use the appropriate command along with its various options. Follow the steps below to transfer all files and directories to a different directory or drive.

Step 1: Open CMD

• Press WIndows button and search for CMD now, choose run with Administrator option to open CMD.

Step 2: Use XCOPY Command

• Run the following command to copy from one directory to another. Replace <source> and <destination> with current directory location from where you want to copy and location where you want to paste.

xcopy <source> <destination> /s /e

Available Options

When copying files using the Command Prompt (CMD) in Windows, you can use a variety of options to make the process work just the way you want. Find a table of all available options that you can use ti copy files from one directory to another.

Conclusion

One effective and powerful technique to manage your files on Windows is to use the CMD copy command to move files between folders. The copy files using CMD approach is simple and dependable, regardless of the number of files you’re copying. You may now more efficiently manage your data because you know how to use CMD to copy files from one location to another.

The copy Command Prompt command duplicates a file, storing the second version in a different location of your choosing.

Use the command to copy a file using its specific name and file extension or use a wildcard to copy groups of files at once, regardless of the file names or extensions. Some other command options include verification that the files were copied correctly and suppression of prompts to overwrite files of the same name.

Copy Command Availability

The copy command is available from within the Command Prompt in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP, as well as from the Advanced Startup Options and System Recovery Options repair/recovery menus.

Copy Command Syntax

The command accepts the following general form:

copy [/d] [/v] [/n] [/y | /-y] [/z] [/l] [/a | /b] source [/a | /b] [+ source [/a | /b] [+ …]] [destination [/a | /b]] [/?]

Append files by choosing several source files but just one destination file.

Copy Command Examples

Below are several examples of how to use the copy command:

Copy to a Different Folder

 copy Z:\Software\program.iso C:\Users\Jon\Downloads\Programs\

The copies program.iso from the Z: drive to the user’s Programs folder.

Take note of the space between these two commands. It’s not obvious at first, but the only spaces in this example of the copy command are after copy and between the source and destination files.

Copy and Rename

 copy Y:\install\j93n.exe Y:\more\m1284.msi

You can use the copy command to rename a file and even change its file extension. In this example, the j93n.exe file copies to a new folder on the Y: drive as m1284.msi.

 copy D:\i386\atapi.sy_ C:\Windows\atapi.sys

In the above example, the atapi.sy_ file, located in the i386 folder on the Windows XP installation CD, is copied to the C:\Windows directory as atapi.sys.

Unlike the Y: drive example above, this one is a bit more realistic, since copying files like that from a disc is a common practice when fixing some specific Windows problems.

Copy to Current Path

 copy D:\readme.htm

In this example, the copy command has no destination specified, so the readme.htm file is copied to whatever directory you typed the copy command from.

For example, if you type copy d:\readme.htm from the C:\Windows> prompt, that HTM file will be copied to C:\Windows.

Copy Only Certain File Types

 copy /y /v C:\Users\Jon\Downloads\*.mp3 C:\Users\Jon\Music\DownloadedMusic\

This command copies all MP3s (*.mp3) from the Downloads folder to the Music\DownloadedMusic\ folder, but we want to make sure that every file is copied, even if there’s already one in DownloadedMusic with the same name (/y). We’ll verify the copy (/v) to make sure Command Prompt tells us whether the files were actually copied or if an error happened in the process.

Merge Files Into One

 copy Z:\file1.txt+Z:\file2.txt+Z:\file3.txt Z:\combined.txt

This will merge three TXT files into a new one called combined.txt. As you can see, each file that should be part of the merge needs to be separated by +, but no spaces.

You can also use the asterisk to append multiple files. So, in our example, we could replace all those .txt instances with Z:\*.txt, but only if we want to merge every single TXT file from the Z: drive.

Copy Related Commands

This command is similar to the xcopy command, but unlike copy, xcopy works on folders, too.

Of course, a command isn’t necessary if you’d rather copy a file in Windows using File Explorer.

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Using copy command, we can copy files from one directory to another directory. This command is similar to the Linux cp command, but it does not match with the full functionality of cp. Windows copy command can be used to copy files only, we can’t copy directories.

The syntax and usecases of copy command are explained below with examples.

Copy the contents of a file to another file

copy sourceFile destinationFile

Example: To copy a file from c:\data\file1.doc to D:\backup\file2.doc

copy c:\data\file1.doc D:\backup\file2.doc

If the destination file already exists you will be prompted for confirmation. To suppress this confirmation you can use /Y switch with copy command. This would be useful if you are executing copy command from a batch file.

c\> copy /Y c:\dir1\subdir1\file1.txt  c:\dir2\subdir2\file2.txt

If the destination file exists, the above command will overwrite the same without asking the user for confirmation.

Copy file to another directory

When we specify a directory path as the destination, the files will be copied with the same name. We can assign a different name by specifying the new name in the destination path. Example is shown below.

To copy the file 1.doc loated at c:\data\documents to the directory c:\data\newdocs

c\> copy c:\data\documents\1.doc  c:\data\newdocs\

Copy files with white space in name

If the file name has white space within it, we can wrap up the name in double quotes.
Example: To copy file, my resume.doc to another folder

 copy "my resume.doc"  D:\data\

Copy multiple files

We can’t specify multiple file names in copy command. However, we can use wildcards to identify a group of files and then copy all of them in a single command.
For example, to copy all excel files from current folder to another folder F:\backup

copy *.xls F:\backup\

To copy all files in current folder to another folder

copy *   D:\dir1\dir2

Use of environment variables

We can use environment variables in the copy command to specify the path of the folders. Like USERPROFILE, SystemRoot, ProgramFiles, TEMP, WINDIR, APPDATA, HOMEPATH.

For example, to copy a file to a user’s documents folder

Copy D:\file.pdf %HOMEPATH%\Documents\

The above command copies the file to the My Documents folder of the current logged in user.

You may also want to read

• Xcopy command syntax and examples
• Robocopy command