Understanding the MOVE Command in Windows: Troubleshooting File Movement

[jackson6612]

"MOVE" command, C:, C:\

Hi

Please have a look on the video. I have two text files in the drive D: NewFileD and NewFileD2. When I use the Command "move d:\NewFileD2.txt c:", the file is copied but it doesn't appear in the C drive. I don't know where it goes.

But when I use the as "move d:\NewFileD2.txt c:\" with "c:" being followed by a back slash, it appears there. What's the reason for this behavior and where does the file get moved when not using back slash?

Video:

Please help me. Thanks.

 

[story645]

What's the reason for this behavior and where does the file get moved when not using back slash

C:\ is the address of the root directory of a windows system. "\" means that whatever comes before it is a directory, so "x\" would be the x folder. c: is a file reference, so you may want to look around your d: drive for for a file called c or c:

 

[rcgldr]

Enter the command

dir c:

and it should display the current directory for the c: partition at the start of the listing. To change it to the root directory, enter the command:

cd c:\

 

[DaveC426913]

C:\ is the address of the root directory of a windows system. "\" means that whatever comes before it is a directory, so "x\" would be the x folder. c: is a file reference, so you may want to look around your d: drive for for a file called c or c:

Is that it? Or has the file simply been moved to the curdir on the c: drive, whatever that might be?

Been a while since I last did DOS stuff but, IIRC, curdir will be the last directory that you explicitly pointed at on the C: drive before attempting the transfer. Or a default.

 

[story645]

Is that it? Or has the file simply been moved to the curdir on the c: drive, whatever that might be?

Possible. I honestly got an error when I tried to replicate his code using c:, so I just tried to do it using c and that's what it did.

Just tried again and it worked just the way you said it should.

 

[Borek]

c: is a current dir at disk C, c:\ is a root dir at disk C, no doubt about it. It was always this way.

 

[jackson6612]

Thanks a lot, everyone. You all have really helped me. Thank you.

So, did the file go into CURDIR? How do access it? Please let me know.

 

[Borek]

Enter

c:
dir

or

dir c:

 

[rcgldr]

You can also enter:

cd c:

which will display the current directory for the c partition.

Note that the move command is normally used on the same logical disk, and will just move the file's directory entry from one folder to another folder without actually moving any data. If you use the move command with different partitions, it does a copy followed by a delete.

 

[Borek]

Note that the move command is normally used on the same partition, and will just move the file's directory entry from one folder to another folder without actually moving any data. If you use the move command with different partitions, it does a copy followed by a delete.

It is not exactly true.

In DOS/Windows environment you may have several logical disks on one extended partition, and moving files between them will mean copying and erasing data.

 

[rcgldr]

In DOS/Windows environment you may have several logical disks on one extended partition, and moving files between them will mean copying and erasing data.

Sorry, I meant logical disk, wasn't considering moving a file between different logical disks on an extended partition. I corrected my previous post.