Copy and paste a file 200 times with new names

I have a folder with a file named: 'template.xlsx', and hundreds of files named:

• old_2301 Item 1.xlsx
• old_2014 Item 2.xlsx
• old_5321 Item 3.xlsx
• ...
• old_3212 Item 200.xlsx

I want to copy the file template.xksx and create 200 new files:

• 2301 Item 1.xlsx
• 2014 Item 2.xlsx
• 5321 Item 3.xlsx
• 3212 Item 200.xlsx

---

I've tried something like:

In the folder, type Shift+Right shift: select "open command-window here"

for %a in (*.*) do copy "template.xlsx" ... ren ...?

I want to rename the copied template.xlsx files to the same name as the other files, but with old_ trimmed away.

Is there a simple way to do this?

5

3 Answers

I want to copy template.xlsx to the name of the other files, with old_ removed

Use the following batch file:

@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
rem get list of file names
for /f "usebackq tokens=*" %%i in (`dir /b old_*.xlsx`) do ( rem save the filename set _name=%%i rem remove old_ from the name set _name=!_name:old_=! rem do the copy to the modified name copy "template.xlsx" "!_name!" )
endlocal

---

Further Reading

• An A-Z Index of the Windows CMD command line
• A categorized list of Windows CMD commands
• dir - Display a list of files and subfolders.
• enabledelayedexpansion - Delayed Expansion will cause variables to be expanded at execution time rather than at parse time.
• for /f - Loop command against the results of another command.
• variable edit/replace - Edit and replace the characters assigned to a string variable.

4

You have to use the files named old_* as your name source and split at the underscore.

@Echo off
For /f "tokens=1* delims=_" %%A in ( 'Dir /B /A-D "old_* Item *.xlsx"'
) Do Echo Copy template.xlsx "%%B"

If the output looks OK remove the echo in front of copy.

Explaining the parsing for /f options:

filename old_2301 Item 1.xlsx
delims _
tokens 1 _ * (rest)
for var %%A %%B

A variant for the command line without batch:

For /f "tokens=1* delims=_" %A in ('Dir /B /A-D "old_*.xlsx"') Do Copy template.xlsx "%B"

2

Unless I actually wanted a program that I could run over and over, if this is just a one-off or a few-off, I would use Notepad++ or any other text editor with block copy and paste. Open a command prompt in the relevant directory and type dir/b > 1.txt, which results in e.g.:

D:\MiscJunk\1>type 1.txt
1.txt
old_2014 Item 2.txt
old_2301 Item 1.txt
old_5321 Item 3.txt
template.txt

Edit 1.txt in Notepad++ and add as many of these lines as needed:

copy template.txt ""
copy template.txt ""
copy template.txt ""

Block copy (Alt Shift arrow keys) the text:

2014 Item 2.txt
2301 Item 1.txt
5321 Item 3.txt

and paste it between the quotes:

copy template.txt "2014 Item 2.txt"
copy template.txt "2301 Item 1.txt"
copy template.txt "5321 Item 3.txt"

Then after checking the commands are correct and adjusting accordingly, just copy&paste those commands back into the command prompt, resulting in:

D:\MiscJunk\1>dir/b
2014 Item 2.txt
2301 Item 1.txt
5321 Item 3.txt
...

This method is ultra-simple with no debugging needed, and there's very little that can go wrong. Knocking up blocks of commands in Notepad++ is something I do fairly regularly.

1

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