xcopy

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xcopy is a command line program that was introduced in PC DOS 3.2 (April 1986). It was also included in MS-DOS 3.3 (1987) and all later versions of MS-DOS and PC DOS, as well as in OS / 2 and Windows from Windows 95 (in both the 9x and NT lines ), later it was also found in the versions Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8.

There are numerous clones in other operating systems, such as DR DOS and FreeDOS .

development

As XCOPY.EXEif it was probably developed by IBM alone.

The internal command copycould only ever copy one file. With a large number of files to be copied and when a diskette change was necessary, the command was too time-consuming. With XCOPY, on the other hand, a large number of files could be copied at once; a disk change was only necessary when the conventional memory was full.

Presumably, the existing copy command was not extended in order not to occupy the already sparse main memory with an oversized command processor. XCOPY as an external command, however, was only loaded into the memory when required.

Functional scope and use

XCOPY.EXE, xcopy32.exeas well as xcopy32.modcan not only copy individual files but also entire directories and directory trees. The range of functions varies depending on the version. 

XCOPY [d:][path]filename [d:][path][filename] [/A][/D:(date)] [/E][/M][/P][/S][/V][/W][Y|-Y]

A typical command to copy all files from drive C: to A: but omit empty directories is: 

xcopy c: a: /s

XCOPY was also recommended to convert entire programs e.g. B. to be copied to the hard disk if they do not have their own installation program.

Further development

Since Windows Vista , a similar command line program called Robocopy has also been included, which offers more functionality.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b DOS 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2; The Networked PC / AT. In: OS / 2 Museum. Retrieved December 1, 2017 .
  2. ↑ JaTomes Help - OS / 2 Commands. Retrieved April 16, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Archiveddocs: Xcopy. Retrieved April 16, 2020 (American English).
  4. ↑ JimT: What makes XCOPY so X? - comment. In: Microsoft Developer Blog . January 19, 2016, accessed December 1, 2017 .
  5. ^ Raymond Chen: What makes XCOPY so X? In: Microsoft Developer Blog. January 19, 2016, accessed December 1, 2017 .
  6. ↑ How to deploy an ASP.NET Web application using Xcopy deployment in the Microsoft Knowledge Base
  7. ↑ Determining When to Use Windows Installer Versus XCOPY - Microsoft MSDN