`copyfile`

Copies a file or a folder.

Category: Programming > Files and Folders

Syntax

copyfile(source, destination)

Copies source to destination.

[status, message, messageid] = copyfile(___)

Returns a status flag and a message describing the outcome.

Description

When source is a file and destination is an existing folder, the file keeps its name inside that folder; when destination is a new name, the copy gets that name. A wildcard source copies every match, and the destination should then be a folder. A folder source is copied together with its contents.

Without output arguments a failure is an error; with them the outcome is reported in status and message.

Input arguments

source: File, folder or wildcard pattern such as '*.txt'.
destination: Target file name or existing folder.

Output arguments

status: true when the copy succeeded.
message: Text describing the problem, empty on success.
messageid: Message identifier, empty on success.

Example

Copying to a new name and into a folder

writelines(["alpha"; "beta"], 'a.txt');
[ok, msg] = copyfile('a.txt', 'b.txt')
mkdir backup
copyfile('a.txt', 'backup');
isfile('backup/a.txt')

Output

ok = logical
   1
msg = 0×0 empty char array
ans = logical
   1

Notes

When the source matches nothing, MatLivre raises the error No matching files were found. even if output arguments were requested, whereas MATLAB returns a false status.

copyfile