Move Files to an Alphabetically Cataloged Sub-Directory

Question

I have a variety of "files" (not folders) of the same type (e.g. ".docx"), in the same directory.

Also, in that SAME directory, I have a sub-directory named "catalog", and within it, alphabetical folders (i.e, starting with #, A, B, C, D, E, F, and so on...).

Assuming these files are located at "D:/documents/", how [Using Windows CMD, or Windows Powershell] would I sort through the list of files, and move them into the "catalog" folder, into their proper [case-sensitive] "Alphabetical" folder, sorting by the [case-insensitive] first letter of their file-name?

For example: [D:/documents/janet_henderson.docx] would move to [D:/documents/catalog/J/janet_henderson.docx]

Please note I need to have files with names starting with any number go into the "D:/documents/catalog/#/" folder.

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What I have so far

I have the following in a organize_files.bat file:

move  documents\A*.docx  documents\catalog\A\
move  documents\B*.docx  documents\catalog\B\
move  documents\C*.docx  documents\catalog\C\
move  documents\D*.docx  documents\catalog\D\
move  documents\E*.docx  documents\catalog\E\
move  documents\F*.docx  documents\catalog\F\
move  documents\G*.docx  documents\catalog\G\
move  documents\H*.docx  documents\catalog\H\
move  documents\I*.docx  documents\catalog\I\
move  documents\J*.docx  documents\catalog\J\
move  documents\K*.docx  documents\catalog\K\
move  documents\L*.docx  documents\catalog\L\
move  documents\M*.docx  documents\catalog\M\
move  documents\N*.docx  documents\catalog\N\
move  documents\O*.docx  documents\catalog\O\
move  documents\P*.docx  documents\catalog\P\
move  documents\Q*.docx  documents\catalog\Q\
move  documents\R*.docx  documents\catalog\R\
move  documents\S*.docx  documents\catalog\S\
move  documents\T*.docx  documents\catalog\T\
move  documents\U*.docx  documents\catalog\U\
move  documents\V*.docx  documents\catalog\V\
move  documents\W*.docx  documents\catalog\W\
move  documents\X*.docx  documents\catalog\X\
move  documents\Y*.docx  documents\catalog\Y\
move  documents\Z*.docx  documents\catalog\Z\

• Is there a better way to complete this operation such as putting it in a loop maybe?
• How do I take care of the files starting with a number, though?
• Do I need to tell Windows CMD to be case-insensitive, when checking for the file names?

Solution

Arranging Files into an Alphabetically Cataloged Sub-Directory

For example: [D:/documents/janet_henderson.docx] would move to [ D:/documents/catalog/J/janet_henderson.docx]

Also, Note: I'm hoping it's obvious that files that have file names starting with a number go into the "D:/documents/catalog/#/" folder.

Based on how you explain this and your examples, below are some example command prompt copy and paste items, and batch scripts items that'll complete these actions as you describe.

Assumptions

• All the catalogue lettered and # directories will already be created.
• For the first two below examples you will NEVER MOVE the same file with the same name to a directory where a file with that SAME name already exists.
• For the last two below examples you will ALWAYS overwrite an existing file with the MOVE commmand from source to destintion if the same file with the SAME name already exists.

Command Prompt Copy (prompt if file already exist)

@ECHO ON

SET Letters=(A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z)
SET Numbers=(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9)
SET SourceDir=D:\documents
SET DestLetterDir=D:\documents\catalog
SET DestNumDir=D:\documents\catalog\#

FOR %A IN %Letters% DO MOVE "%SourceDir%\%~A*.*" "%DestLetterDir%\%~A\"
FOR %B IN %Numbers% DO MOVE "%SourceDir%\%~B*.*" "%DestNumDir%\"
GOTO EOF

Batch Script (prompt if file already exist)

@ECHO ON

SET Letters=(A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z)
SET Numbers=(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9)
SET SourceDir=D:\documents
SET DestLetterDir=D:\documents\catalog
SET DestNumDir=D:\documents\catalog\#

FOR %%A IN %Letters% DO MOVE "%SourceDir%\%%~A*.*" "%DestLetterDir%\%%~A\"
FOR %%B IN %Numbers% DO MOVE "%SourceDir%\%%~B*.*" "%DestNumDir%\"
GOTO EOF

Command Prompt Copy (force overwrite)

@ECHO ON

SET Letters=(A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z)
SET Numbers=(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9)
SET SourceDir=D:\documents
SET DestLetterDir=D:\documents\catalog
SET DestNumDir=D:\documents\catalog\#

FOR %A IN %Letters% DO ECHO Y | MOVE "%SourceDir%\%~A*.*" "%DestLetterDir%\%~A\"
FOR %B IN %Numbers% DO ECHO Y | MOVE "%SourceDir%\%~B*.*" "%DestNumDir%\"
GOTO EOF

Batch Script (force overwrite)

@ECHO ON

SET Letters=(A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z)
SET Numbers=(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9)
SET SourceDir=D:\documents
SET DestLetterDir=D:\documents\catalog
SET DestNumDir=D:\documents\catalog\#

FOR %%A IN %Letters% DO ECHO Y | MOVE "%SourceDir%\%%~A*.*" "%DestLetterDir%\%%~A\"
FOR %%B IN %Numbers% DO ECHO Y | MOVE "%SourceDir%\%%~B*.*" "%DestNumDir%\"
GOTO EOF

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Further Reading and Resources

• FOR

Comments

[James Anderson Jr.]

Works Perfectly!

[Hastur]

Nice script. A question: It doesn't work if you put a variable OverWrite="/Y " or OverWrite="/-Y " (or empty) and then you write MOVE %OverWrite .... ? (I'm Linux addicted) ;-)

[Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style]

@Hastur Thanks, for the MOVE commands, the FOR lines could also be FOR %A IN %Letters% DO MOVE /Y "%SourceDir%\%~A*.*" "%DestLetterDir%\%~A\" or FOR %A IN %Letters% DO MOVE /-Y "%SourceDir%\%~A*.*" "%DestLetterDir%\%~A\". I think I put the ECHO Y rather than /Y out of habit of using the XCOPY command more than MOVE but those two ways should work as well so give those a shot without the ECHO Y |.

[PeterCo]

@PimpJuiceIT Why do you need the GOTO EOF as last command?

[Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style]

@PeterCo That's just a habit I suppose but in this case I believe the GOTO :EOF will not make any difference. I put that there out of habit I think when I wrote that answer. Having it there doesn't do any harm in this case, but in some cases when you make a CALL to another label, you can use GOTO :EOF and that'll ensure once that routine you called it done, it'll pass control back to the logic where ever the last call left off if that's how the flow of the batch script logic is supposed to work.