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I have a script to move folders from one local account to my admin.
But I want to use a wildcard in my script, so for example if the folder name is FOLDER, FOLDER1 is also moved to the admin.
I am trying this command:
Move /Y C:\Users\Test\Desktop\folder* "C:\Users\admin\Documents\Moved
But I get the error:
The syntax of the file name, folder name, or volume name is incorrect.
The move command does not support wildcards as you are trying to use here. However, you can use the dir command with the /s /b /ad parameters in a for /f loop and make it recursively traverse the source folder for directories only and then iterate those folders with the move command to move the folders to the destination folder.
for /f "tokens=*" %a in ('dir /s /b /ad "C:\source\folder\*"') do move /y "%~a" "C:\Destination\folder\"
for /d %a in ("c:\source\folder*") do move /y "%a" "C:\Users\admin\Documents\Moved\"? The /d tells for to match against directory names instead of files.
for /d is more efficient than for /f for the iterations I believe, but I'd have to test to know for certain that it'd work for what the OP requested. This is one of those things that may have multiple solutions that would work where one could be better than the other, but I wrote it based on whatever my thought process or memory, etc. recalled then.
Oct 17, 2018 at 19:58
for /D %foobar IN ("D:\etc\*") DO ... doesn't work unless I use a single-letter name like %s, but then the command I wanted to use (move) wouldn't work unless I used a different variable-name that was also upper-case (%U). Gah! There's so many obscure, under-documented quirks and gotchas in Windows' command-line that make it impossible for a non-expert to quickly do simple tasks like moving a bunch of directories around.
Moving folders this way with wildcards can be achieved with very similar syntax to moving files with cmd's move command in PowerShell like so:
Move-Item -Path C:\source_folder\A*1 -Destination C:\destination_folder
This will move all folders in source_folder matching the A*1 pattern with the classic * wildcard character. (Axxx1, A1, A111, AAA1, Areallylongstring1 etc.)
I have also tested the single character wildcard ?, which works as well (AA1, AB1, AC1, A11, etc.).
Only keep in mind to use quotation marks " around your folder path if it contains spaces.
"on the target is unterminated. It is also unnecessary, since there are no embedded spaces. I prefer to add prefer a terminating\when the target is a directory.