# Copy and Move: Copy-Item and Move-Item Copy-Item makes a copy and leaves the original where it was, Move-Item takes the original to its new place, -Recurse copies a folder with everything in it, and -WhatIf shows exactly where a copy or move would land before anything changes. Novice · PowerShell · Operating System · Updated November 10, 2026 ## After this lesson you can - Copy or move files and folders with Copy-Item and Move-Item, using -Recurse to copy a folder with everything in it - Rehearse a copy or move with -WhatIf, and predict what happens when the name at the destination is already taken ## Key takeaways - `Copy-Item` makes a copy and leaves the original. `Move-Item` takes the original away to its new place. - Write what, then where: `Move-Item beach-sunset.jpg photos`. End the "where" with a file name to give the copy or moved file a new name. - `Copy-Item` needs `-Recurse` to copy a folder with everything in it. `Move-Item` always takes a folder's contents along. - When the name is taken, Copy-Item replaces the file without asking, and Move-Item stops with an error unless you add `-Force`. - `-WhatIf` shows the exact path a copy or move would land on, before anything changes. Your Downloads folder is where everything lands: photos a friend sent, receipts, a class schedule you downloaded twice, an installer from last year. Sorting it in File Explorer means dragging files one at a time, and a drag doesn't always say whether it moved a file or copied it (drag onto another drive, and Windows copies). In PowerShell you say which, in words, and you can ask where everything would land before it moves. The same two commands copy a website's files to a server, or a day's work to a backup folder. ## A practice Downloads folder These lines make a `downloads` folder in your practice folder, with fourteen made-up files, and leave you inside it. The files are empty: only their names matter here. You can read the lines now, from *Making Folders and Files: New-Item*. `| Out-Null` (read "pipe to out null") throws New-Item's answer away, so fourteen rows don't fill the screen. ```powershell New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "$HOME\terminal-practice\downloads" | Out-Null Set-Location "$HOME\terminal-practice\downloads" New-Item -ItemType File -Force -Path 'beach-sunset.jpg', 'beach-volleyball.jpg', 'birthday-cake.png', 'bike-shop-receipt.pdf', 'grocery-receipt.pdf', 'class-schedule.pdf', 'class-schedule (1).pdf', 'scan-1.pdf', 'scan-2.pdf', 'scan-10.pdf', 'resume.docx', 'road-trip-playlist.mp3', 'game-setup.exe', 'unfinished-download.tmp' | Out-Null Get-ChildItem -Name ``` ```text beach-sunset.jpg beach-volleyball.jpg bike-shop-receipt.pdf birthday-cake.png class-schedule (1).pdf class-schedule.pdf game-setup.exe grocery-receipt.pdf resume.docx road-trip-playlist.mp3 scan-1.pdf scan-10.pdf scan-2.pdf unfinished-download.tmp ``` The rest of this chapter keeps sorting this folder, one lesson after another. ## Copy or move? A copy is a photocopy: you get a second one, and the first stays where it was. A move is carrying the box to another room: it's there now, and not here. `Copy-Item` copies and `Move-Item` moves, and both are written the same way: *what*, then *where*. ```powershell New-Item -ItemType Directory photos, receipts, backup | Out-Null Move-Item beach-sunset.jpg photos Copy-Item resume.docx backup Get-ChildItem photos, backup ``` ```text Directory: C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice\downloads\photos Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 8/31/2026 7:15 PM 0 beach-sunset.jpg Directory: C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice\downloads\backup Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 8/31/2026 7:15 PM 0 resume.docx ``` Copy-Item and Move-Item print nothing when they work, so `Get-ChildItem` checks the result: the sunset is in `photos` and gone from `downloads`, and `resume.docx` is in `backup` *and* still in `downloads`. End the *where* with a file name, and the file gets that name on the way: `Copy-Item resume.docx backup\resume-old.docx`. The short names are `copy` and `cp` for Copy-Item, `move` and `mv` for Move-Item. ![Copy versus move: Copy-Item leaves resume.docx in downloads and puts a second one in backup, while Move-Item takes beach-sunset.jpg out of downloads and puts it in photos](https://fsdtrainingmedia.blob.core.windows.net/public/images/2026/11/f519ba604f7944e28ff49270046c8a3d.webp) ## Whole folders: -Recurse To copy a folder with everything inside it, add `-Recurse` (read "recurse": go into every folder inside, and every folder inside those): ```powershell Copy-Item photos backup -Recurse Get-ChildItem backup\photos ``` ```text Directory: C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice\downloads\backup\photos Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 8/31/2026 7:15 PM 0 beach-sunset.jpg ``` Leave `-Recurse` out, and Copy-Item copies the folder on its own: you get an empty `photos` folder in `backup`, with no warning. Move-Item needs no `-Recurse`, because moving a folder always takes what's inside, the way moving a box moves its contents. Run the copy a second time and PowerShell says `backup\photos` already exists, but copies the photos into it anyway; nothing is lost. ## When the name is taken, and -WhatIf `backup` already has a `resume.docx`. Copy it again, and Copy-Item replaces the one in `backup` without asking. Move it, and Move-Item refuses: ```powershell Move-Item resume.docx backup ``` ```text Move-Item: Cannot create a file when that file already exists. ``` Add `-Force`, and Move-Item replaces it too. Neither command asks first, so when you're not sure, rehearse with `-WhatIf`, as in *Making Folders and Files: New-Item*: ```powershell Copy-Item resume.docx backup -WhatIf Move-Item birthday-cake.png pictures -WhatIf ``` ```text What if: Performing the operation "Copy File" on target "Item: C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice\downloads\resume.docx Destination: C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice\downloads\backup\resume.docx". What if: Performing the operation "Move File" on target "Item: C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice\downloads\birthday-cake.png Destination: C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice\downloads\pictures". ``` Read each Destination. The first lands on the `resume.docx` that's already in `backup`, so it would replace it. The second shows the most common slip of all: there's no folder called `pictures`, so Move-Item would move the photo into a *file* named `pictures`, with no extension. Rehearsed, it's a typo you fix; run for real, it's a photo you have to hunt for. Windows PowerShell 5.1 runs everything in this lesson the same way. On a Mac or Linux, write paths with `/`, and know that `cp` and `mv` run the system's own programs there. **Try it.** Copy `class-schedule.pdf` into `backup`. Then rehearse moving `game-setup.exe` into `installers`, a folder that isn't there yet, with `-WhatIf`. What does the Destination tell you, and what would you make first? ## Try it in the terminal [Terminal Quest: Moving Day, goal 5](https://www.ask-codey.com/games/terminal-quest/new-place/powershell/step): played right on the lesson page. Copy the spare key into the mailbox for your neighbor. Copy, don't move: you need a key too. (The books and the kitchen box are unpacked for you; *Wildcards and Filters* shows how to move them in one go.) ## Check yourself 2 questions to try on the lesson page. ## So what Copy when you want to keep the original, move when you don't, and when you're not sure where it will land, ask with `-WhatIf` first. ## Key terms - [Copy-Item](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/copy-item) - [Move-Item](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/move-item) - [-WhatIf and -Confirm](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/whatif-and-confirm) ## Cheat sheets - [Copy and Move: Copy-Item and Move-Item](https://www.ask-codey.com/cheat-sheets/powershell-copy-and-move-cheat-sheet) ## Related - [Making Folders and Files: New-Item](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-new-item) - [Renaming: Rename-Item](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-rename-item) - [Wildcards and Filters](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-wildcards-and-filters) Source: https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-copy-and-move