Resolved: Moving all .mp3

[Forum Gaming Master]

Well, using Command Prompt (or a batch file is needs be), how could I copy all .mp3 files in a certain directory (C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents) and all sub-directories to a certain folder (C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Music)?

move C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\*.mp3 C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Music

[Forum Gaming Master]

For that to work, I think you'd need to do this:

copy "C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\*.mp3" "C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Music"

I already knew how to do that, but I don't know how to move everything in sub-directories, which is my problem.

To COPY with ALL SUBDIRECTORIES, I would use:

Code: [Select]

xcopy "C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\*.mp3" "C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Music" /s /c
There are additional switches you can use if there are hidden or system files or directories that contain MP3 files.

[Forum Gaming Master]

Thanks for the help! I'll keep xcopy in mind.

[Mod & Malware Specialist]

I don't mean to hijack, but knowing only a select few commands right now, I'm a bit curious...what if in two different directories, there are two files with the same name?  Since they are being moved into the same folder...will one file override the other, will one automatically be renamed, or will they not get moved?  Or would there be an error?  Probably a silly question, but this really isn't my field.

EDIT:  Just tried it out for myself and it simply moved all of the subdirectories containing MP3 files.  I thought the goal was to move just the files?

[Global Moderator]

I think if both files are named hello.mp3 and they are moved to one file, i think one would be hello.mp3 and the other one would be hello(1).mp3 or something like that.

EDIT: no it overwrites it.

[Mod & Malware Specialist]

That's what I was thinking, but testing it for myself didn't answer my question (see my above edit).

XCOPY always seems like a crap shoot to me. I'm never sure which switches will produce the results I'm looking for.

Sometimes it's easier to plod along  one file at a time.

Code: [Select]

@echo off
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%i in ('dir "C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Document\*.mp3" /s') do (
copy "%%i" "C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Music"
)

I'm fairly certain the user will be prompted to overwrite duplicate file names in the target direcory.

 

[Mod & Malware Specialist]

Not too sure what I might've done wrong, but that did absolutely nothing for me...

It seemed reasonable the OP user name is Owner Perhaps this will make it more generic.

Code: [Select]

@echo off
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%i in ('dir "C:\Documents and Settings\%Username%\My Document\*.mp3" /s') do (
copy "%%i" "C:\Documents and Settings\%Username%\My Music"
)


Not too sure what I might've done wrong, but that did absolutely nothing for me...

No message at all? Nothing on the console? Usually the command shell sends some sort of an error message, no matter how cryptic it maybe.

 

[Mod & Malware Specialist]

Setting it as %Username% actually did less, I think.  Heh.

In my last post, I shouldn't have said it did nothing.  I should've said it made no changes.  The console appeared and there was some text, but it closed too quickly for me to be able to read it.  It looked like it was a list of everything in the directory, though.

Keep in mind that I changed Owner to Owner.Murgatroyd7, which is my username.  When I change that to %Username%, the console is blank during the split-second it opens.

The only changes I have made are to the directories, and I'm certain I am using the correct paths.

Try running from the command prompt. As you said using the run box or windows explorer, closes the windows too fast to read. If you could post your file (including the directory changes you made) it would be easier to debug.

Not for nothing, but what happened to the OP?

 

[Mod & Malware Specialist]

I went ahead and just added a pause at the end (don't know why I didn't think of that earlier) to keep the window from closing.

This is the exact error...

The system cannot find the file specified.
The system cannot find the file specified.
  Directory of C:\Documents and Settings\Owner.Murgatroyd7\Desktop\test\Angelo Spencer
The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.
            0 file(s) copied.
The system cannot find the file specified.
The system cannot find the file specified.
The system cannot find the file specified.
"         Total Files Listed:" is not a recognized device.
         Total Files Listed:
The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.
            0 file(s) copied.
The system cannot find the file specified.
The system cannot find the file specified.

Desktop\test is a folder with various files.  "Angelo Spencer" is the subdirectory which houses the MP3's.

Here is the exact code I'm using...

Code: [Select]

@echo off
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%i in ('dir "C:\Documents and Settings\Owner.Murgatroyd7\Desktop\test\*.mp3" /s') do (
copy "%%i" "C:\Documents and Settings\Owner.Murgatroyd7\Desktop\curious\"
)Desktop\curious is where I'm trying to move the files to.


I know for sure that the directory paths are correct.  If they weren't, the below code wouldn't work...

Code: [Select]

xcopy "C:\Documents and Settings\Owner.Murgatroyd7\Desktop\test\*.mp3" "C:\Documents and Settings\Owner.Murgatroyd7\Desktop\curious" /s /c

Apologies for the oversight:

Code: [Select]

@echo off
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%i in ('dir "C:\Documents and Settings\Owner.Murgatroyd7\Desktop\test\*.mp3" /b /s') do (
copy "%%i" "C:\Documents and Settings\Owner.Murgatroyd7\Desktop\curious\"
)