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Number   :  23
Date     :  2001-05-15
Author   :  Jim Witherspoon
Subject  :  The /U switch
Size(KB) :  2


Hi all ... your "moderator" here. To tell the truth, I am really just a
newbie with XXCOPY. I have been reading Kan's excellent "technical
bulletins" from the web site, but haven't finished them yet. I just have an
observation which all of you may already be very familiar with.

One thing that puzzled me was the /U switch. The XCOPY (not XXCOPY) help
message makes it clear that /U stands for "Update":

/U Updates the files that already exist in destination.

To me, the word "Update" implies that a source file would not be copied over
a destination file unless the source file was newer; e.g. source files would
not be copied if they were the same date/time as the destination files.

But in fact, even in XCOPY, /U does not compare the date/time stamp of the
source and destination files. So long as the source file exists in the
destination, the source file is copied over the destination file. (Of
course the prompt to overwrite will be displayed unless it has been
disabled.)

XXCOPY implements the /U switch the same way. It checks only to see if the
source file is present in the destination. But the XXCOPY help message is
clearer than the XCOPY help message:

--- Command switch parameters ------------------------------
Whether the file exists in Destination----
[ ] /U0 Ignores whether the file exists or not in Destination
[x] /U Excludes a file which is not present in Destination

Personally, I am glad that the /U switch checks only to see whether the
source file is present in the destination. For sake of clarity, it seems to
be a good idea to use separate switches for (1) checking whether the file is
present in the destination, and for (2) comparing the date/time stamps of
the source and destination files. If you really want just to "update" the
files in the destination, i.e. to make sure that only later-time files are
copied, you have to add another switch, like /DA. Also, /U is the exact
opposite of the /BB (brand new) switch, which excludes a file if it IS
present in the destination, i.e. the file is copied only if it is absent in
the destination.

I have more comments and questions for fellow XXCOPY users, but I'll save
them for later messages.

jim



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