Powershell command / script to move files to subdirectories based on date (in the first 8 characters of the file name)

Question

I have a bunch of files like these in a directory, many thousands of them.

20210528_195406.jpg
20210528_195406.xmp
20210529_113416.mp4
20210529_113416.xmp
20210529_151444.jpg
20210529_151444.xmp
20210530_150950.mp4
20210530_150950.xmp
20210601_175932.txt
20210601_175932~2.mp4
20210601_175932~2.xmp

I am looking for an easy way (Powershell command) to copy the files to subdirectories based on year / month / day.

So for example, the file 20210601_175932.jpg would be moved to (a newly created) subdirectory: 2021\06\01\.

How do I do this with Powershell? I know that Exiftool can do this by using: exiftool -v -ext jpg -ext mp4 "-Directory<CreateDate" -d %Y\%m\%d\ .

But this only works for image and video files.

Any idea how to solve this for all file types?

Thanks.

Update: I found a way to extract parts of the file name. ``` Get-ChildItem .\ | Select Name, @{N='Year';E={$_.BaseName.SubString(0,4)}}, @{N='Month';E={$_.BaseName.SubString(4,2)}}, @{N='Day';E={$_.BaseName.SubString(6,2)}} ``` — Jos Jonkeren
– Jos Jonkeren, Commented Jun 4, 2021 at 12:55

Vivere · Accepted Answer · 2021-06-04 13:20:15Z

3

I believe something like this would suffice:

$dataPath = "$PSScriptRoot/data"
$newDataPath = "$PSScriptRoot/structuredData"
Get-ChildItem $dataPath | ForEach-Object {
    $year = $_.BaseName.Substring(0, 4)
    $month = $_.BaseName.Substring(4, 2)
    $day = $_.BaseName.Substring(6, 2)

    $path = "$newDataPath\$year\$month\$day"
    if (-not (Test-Path $path)) {
        New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $path
    }

    Move-Item -Path $_.FullName -Destination $path
}

I'm iterating all the files found in the directory, get the year, month and day from the file name then I check if the path exists. If it doesn't I create it. Then I move the file there.

answered Jun 4, 2021 at 13:20

Vivere

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2 Comments

Abraham Zinala Over a year ago

Lol had the same thought process. Beat me to it tho(:

Jos Jonkeren Over a year ago

Thank you!! This does exactly what I need :)

Abraham Zinala · Accepted Answer · 2021-06-04 13:29:29Z

0

So, something like this?

$Folder_Location = "C:\brief\datefolder"

Get-ChildItem -Path $Folder_Location -File | 
    ForEach-Object -Process {
        
        #Assign current object in pipeline to something more readable
        $File = $_
        #$Folder_Name = [datetime]::ParseExact("$($File.Name.Split('_')[0])", "yyyymmdd", $null)
        #Split the name at the underscore keeping just the "date"
        $Folder_Name = $File.Name.Split('_')[0]
        
        #Assign the full destination path to a variable and test against it
        $Destination_Path = "C:\brief\datefolder\$Folder_Name"
        $Test_Destination = Test-Path -Path $Destination_Path
        
        #Evaluate against the returned bool value from $Test_Destination
        if ($Test_Destination -eq $False){

            #if folder doesn't exist, create it, and move the file in it
            New-Item -Path C:\brief\datefolder -Name $Folder_Name -ItemType Directory
            Move-Item -Path $File.FullName -Destination $Destination_Path

        }
        else { 

            #"Folder exists"
            #If folder already exists, just move the file.
            Move-Item -Path $File.FullName -Destination $Destination_Path

        }
    }

Given that you want to move them all into directories within the same one that you're pulling from.

Edit: added some inline comments

edited Jun 4, 2021 at 13:29

answered Jun 4, 2021 at 13:22

Abraham Zinala

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2 Comments

Jos Jonkeren Over a year ago

Wow, thanks! I tried that out, and it does work. However, it creates subdirectories based on the date (one string). So \20210523\ etc. Is there any way to make it create the sub-subdiectories, so \2021\05\23\ ?

Jos Jonkeren Over a year ago

I have now also seen the answer by Vivere, and that does what I wanted to achieve. Thank you all very much for helping out!

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