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I have 50 text files in one directory.

Is there a Windows command-line method to concatenate those files into a single file?

I am using Windows Vista.

I don't want to type the name of all files.

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  • which version of DOS are you using? :) c'mon, give us some more info, what file types ... you're obviously looking for a way to merge those files.
    – Molly7244
    Feb 22, 2010 at 2:06
  • The post is edited
    – Mirage
    Feb 22, 2010 at 2:18
  • 2
    DOS in Windows NT-based OS's (NT, 2000, and everything since XP) really isn't DOS, it's a command shell called "cmd.exe". removed DOS tags to reflect this.
    – quack quixote
    Feb 22, 2010 at 2:21
  • sorry for that , i really didn't knew that. I was thinking as DOS
    – Mirage
    Feb 22, 2010 at 2:30
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    thankfully, the last vestiges of DOS died with Windows ME. :) but no worries -- most everyone still calls the Windows command-line "DOS", so it's not wrong, just inaccurate. since real DOS is still used sometimes, i'm cleaning up the DOS tag to be just real DOS questions.
    – quack quixote
    Feb 22, 2010 at 2:32

6 Answers 6

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154

I don't want to type the name of all files.

That's easy to be avoided. Open a command prompt in this folder and type the following command:

copy /b *.txt newfile.txt

Press Enter.

Now you will have all text files in this folder ordered by date ascending merged into a single file called newfile.txt.

My ultimate aim is to store the contents of each text file in a separate column of an Excel sheet.

Here's a tutorial that may help you to achieve your "ultimate aim":

Merge all CSV or TXT files in a folder in one worksheet

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  • Is it possible to insert new line character after everyfile
    – Mirage
    Feb 22, 2010 at 2:32
  • not with this method.
    – quack quixote
    Feb 22, 2010 at 2:37
  • whats the other options. my ultimate aim is to store the contents of each text file in separate column of excel sheet. ANy ideas
    – Mirage
    Feb 22, 2010 at 2:42
  • @Mirage - updated my answer according to your comment.
    – Molly7244
    Feb 22, 2010 at 2:50
  • But the problem is how can i add the endline character to each text file. Currently some of files text are in same paragrah in the merged file , so excel put it in one column. OR if i can append some endline character to all the files first and then perform merge operation
    – Mirage
    Feb 22, 2010 at 3:11
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To add a newLine at the end of each concatenated file, use type instead of copy, as follows:

type *.txt > newfile.txt
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  • 7
    WARNING: When you use type *.txt > newfile.txt, the text is duplicated.
    – Malganis
    Jul 19, 2013 at 12:37
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    Remove .txt from newfile and bam! There you have it.
    – fa wildchild
    Aug 29, 2013 at 3:48
  • This is an awesome answer for concatenating log files or other things you will parse down the road. Specifically the fact you can do type x.log.* > merged.log without a batch file. New lines are pretty easy to deal with.
    – Daniel Chapman
    Dec 4, 2013 at 16:49
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    Wow, type has come a long way since DOS 3.3. I did not know you can use file masks. When did that happen?
    – Sun
    May 31, 2016 at 21:24
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Assuming you are talking about appending text files, the copy command can be used to append them together:

copy file1+file2+file3 targetfile

If you have many files, you could loop by appending one file at a time.

For binary files, add in the '/b' option:

copy /b file1+file2+file3 targetfile

This assumes that you know the binary files you are working with can be appended back-to-back; if not, you will get a lump of useless data.

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Run the following command in the command prompt:

for %f in (*.txt) do type "%f" >> output.txt
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    That does not work as expected, all the text is duplicated in output.txt
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Mar 25, 2015 at 20:46
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    Hint *.txt matches output.txt
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Mar 25, 2015 at 20:51
  • @DavidPostill, I've edited the answer according to your concern.
    – Saran
    Jan 11, 2017 at 11:10
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The following .bat file will append all *.for files, except the one named XIT.for, to a blank file named MASTER.for

type NUL > MASTER.for
FOR %%G IN (*.for) DO IF NOT "%%G" == "XIT.for" copy /A MASTER.for+"%%G" && echo. >> MASTER.for

:)

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    A slight twist on the above: if one wants to make sure the files are concatenated alphabetically, one should use: FOR /F %%G IN ('dir /b /o *.for') DO IF NOT "%%G" == "XIT.for" copy /A MASTER.for+"%%G" && echo. >> MASTER.for
    – Guido Domenici
    Jun 26, 2014 at 11:25
  • I like this. Another tweak I needed today is for for a filename header to be printed into the file to separate the input files. for %f in (*.txt) do ((echo. & echo == %f == & echo. & type %f ) >> *.txt.dat )
    – Curtis Price
    Mar 15, 2016 at 22:01
  • I am aware that using a bash shell would probably make more sense!
    – Curtis Price
    Mar 15, 2016 at 22:05
0 
set n=50
for /l %i in (1,1,%n%) do type file%i.txt >> file.txt

Works on both binary & text files & ensures files concatenate consecutively (1-50).
Tested on Win 10 CMD

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