copyfile

Copy file or folder

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Syntax

copyfile source
copyfile source destination
copyfile source destination f
status = copyfile(___)
[status,msg] = copyfile(___)
[status,msg,msgID] = copyfile(___)

Description

copyfile source copies the file or folder source to the current folder. After a successful copyfile operation, the timestamp for the new file is the same as the timestamp for source.

example

copyfile source destination copies source to the file or folder destination.

  • If source is a file, then destination can be a file or a folder.

  • If source is a folder, then destination must be a folder.

  • If source is a folder or specifies multiple files and destination does not exist, then copyfile attempts to create destination.

example

copyfile source destination f copies source to destination, even when destination is not writable. The state of the read/write attribute for destination does not change.

example

status = copyfile(___) copies the specified file or folder and returns a status of 1 if the operation is successful. Otherwise, copyfile returns 0. You can use this syntax with any of the input argument combinations in the previous syntaxes.

example

[status,msg] = copyfile(___) also returns the message text for any warning or error that occurs.

example

[status,msg,msgID] = copyfile(___) additionally returns the message ID for any warning or error that occurs.

Examples

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Open Live Script

Copy myfile1.m from the current folder to the subfolder myFolder.

mkdir myFolder
copyfile myfile1.m myFolder
Open Live Script

Create a copy of myfile1.m in the current folder, assigning it the name myfile2.m.

copyfile myfile1.m myfile2.m
Open Live Script

Copy files and subfolders with names beginning with my from the current folder to the folder newFolder, where newFolder does not already exist.

copyfile my* newFolder
Open Live Script

Copy the file myfile1.m from the current folder to the read-only folder restricted.

Create the read-only folder restricted.

mkdir restricted
fileattrib restricted -w

Copy and rename the file myfile1.m. A status of 0 shows the copy was unsuccessful.

status = copyfile('myfile1.m', 'restricted');
status
status = logical
   0

Copy the file myfile1.m using the 'f' option to override the read-only status of the destination folder. A status of 1 and an empty message and messageId confirm the copy was successful.

[status,message,messageId] = copyfile('myfile1.m', 'restricted', 'f');
status
status = logical
   1


message
message =

  0x0 empty char array

messageId
messageId =

  0x0 empty char array

Input Arguments

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File or folder to copy, specified as a character vector or string scalar. To copy multiple files or folders, use wildcards (*).

source can be an absolute or relative path when copying local files or folders. However, to copy files and folders at a remote location, source must contain a full path specified as a uniform resource locator (URL). For more information, see Work with Remote Data.

Note

If source is a string, enclose all the inputs in parentheses. For example, copyfile("myfile.m","newfolder").

File or folder destination, specified as a character vector or string scalar. destination cannot include wildcards (*).

If destination is a local location, it can be specified as an absolute or relative path. If destination is remote, it must contain a full path specified as a URL. For more information, see Work with Remote Data.

Note

If destination is a string, enclose all the inputs in parentheses. For example, copyfile("myfile.m","newfolder").

Output Arguments

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Copy status, indicating if the attempt to move the file or folder is successful, returned as 0 or 1. If the attempt is successful, the value of status is 1. Otherwise, the value is 0.

Data Types: logical

Error message, returned as a character vector. If an error or warning occurs, msg contains the message text of the error or warning. Otherwise, msg is empty, ''.

Error message identifier, returned as a character vector. If an error or warning occurs, msgID contains the message identifier of the error or warning. Otherwise, msgID is empty, ''.

Compatibility Considerations

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Behavior changed in R2020a

Behavior changed in R2020a

See Also

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Topics

Introduced before R2006a

MATLAB Documentation

Support