The Xcopy /EXCLUDE switch

Have you ever struggled with the /EXCLUDE switch for the good ol´ xcopy DOS command? Well...I have...and the pitfalls described below shows that it can be a bit tricky.

Mission
Copy the content (files and subfolders) from a source directory to a given destination, but exclude some of the files in the source directory. The context in my case was a post-build event in a Visual Studio project that should perform a "developer deploy" to my local Sharepoint site.

Below is the folder structure in Visual Studio that I wanted to copy.

• All .ascx files under CONTROLTEMPLATES should be copied, but the *.cs files should be excluded.
• All files under IMAGES should be copied.
  
• All files under LAYOUTS should be copied, except from the *.cs files.
  

Solution
The xcopy /EXCLUDE switch. Should be easy enough...

Pitfalls

1. The /EXCLUDE:file1[+file2]... switch does not take a set of file-/foldernames that shall be excluded as parameter, but a set of textfiles that contains the file-/foldernames to exclude.
   
2. The textfile(s) specifying the files to exclude uses CR+LF as delimitter for each filter string.
3. The filter string can not include wildcards such as *.cs.
4. The first line in the textfile(s) shall always be a CR+LF since that line will be skipped.
   

My post-build script that did the trick
REM === copy .dll to bin folder ===
copy "$(TargetPath)" "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80\bin\" /y


REM === copy CONTROLTEMPLATES ===
xcopy "$(ProjectDir)CONTROLTEMPLATES\*" "c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\12\Template\CONTROLTEMPLATES" /E /I /Y /EXCLUDE:$(ProjectDir)XcopyExclude.txt


REM === copy IMAGES===
xcopy "$(ProjectDir)IMAGES\*" "c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\12\Template\IMAGES" /E /I /Y /EXCLUDE:$(ProjectDir)XcopyExclude.txt


REM === copy LAYOUTS ===
xcopy "$(ProjectDir)LAYOUTS\*" "c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\12\Template\LAYOUTS" /E /I /Y /EXCLUDE:$(ProjectDir)XcopyExclude.txt


The XcopyExclude.txt content
CR+LF <---- IMPORTANT!
.ascx.cs
.ascx.designer.cs
.aspx.cs
.aspx.designer.cs
.Master.cs
.Master.designer.cs

Note 1): The first line must (for some strange reason) include a CR+LF, since the first line always will be skipped.

Note 2) A single .cs filter would almost have done the trick, but in my specific case such a filter would have excluded the style.css file aswell.


And the soundtrack for this post?
http://www.deezer.com/track/120075