Moving files around

Question

In order to introduce some order into the chaos, I want to move all pdf files on some big directory, say, "U:\", into a library directory, say: "U:\Library". So I get a list all files situated anywhere within my univerese by:

pdfFiles = FileNames["*.pdf", {"*"}, Infinity];

and now I would like to map CopyFile on pdfFiles so that all files will move to "U:\Library". The problem is that the file-names of pdfFiles all carry their full path name, e.g "U\SomeDirectory\SomeSecretDirectory\veryImportantFile.pdf". Of course, I don't want to copy the entire path. Only the last name "veryImportantFile.pdf".

Is there a quick way to do that, or must I painfully parse out the last names of each one of the files?

Answer 1

Useful functions in this context:

Split the path in components:

FileNameSplit["U\\SomeDirectory\\SomeSecretDirectory\\veryImportantFile.pdf"]
(* {"U", "SomeDirectory", "SomeSecret Directory", "veryImportantFile.pdf"} *)

Get the 'pure' file name (without file extension):

FileBaseName["U\\SomeDirectory\\SomeSecretDirectory\\veryImportantFile.pdf"]
(* "veryImportantFile" *)

Get the name, including the file extension:

FileNameTake["U\\SomeDirectory\\SomeSecretDirectory\\veryImportantFile.pdf"]
(* "veryImportantFile.pdf" *)

Get the extension itself:

FileExtension["U\\SomeDirectory\\SomeSecretDirectory\\veryImportantFile.pdf"]
(* "pdf" *)

Get the directory only:

FileNameDrop["U\\SomeDirectory\\SomeSecretDirectory\\veryImportantFile.pdf"]
(* "U\\SomeDirectory\\SomeSecretDirectory" *)

or by:

DirectoryName["U\\SomeDirectory\\SomeSecretDirectory\\veryImportantFile.pdf"]
(* "U\\SomeDirectory\\SomeSecretDirectory\\" *)

[Note the latter includes a final slash, whereas the former doesn't]

The inverse of FileNameSplit is FileNameJoin. It is an important function as it makes sure to use the path separators that work on the OS the user is working on and it makes file paths system independent.

No option (Mathematica automatically chooses OS):

FileNameJoin[{"U", "SomeDirectory", "SomeSecret Directory", "veryImportantFile.pdf"}]
(* "U\\SomeDirectory\\SomeSecretDirectory\\veryImportantFile.pdf" *)

OS choice made explicitly:

FileNameJoin[{"U", "SomeDirectory", "SomeSecret Directory", "veryImportantFile.pdf"}, 
             OperatingSystem -> #
] & /@ {"Windows", "Unix", "MacOSX"}
(* {"U\\SomeDirectory\\SomeSecretDirectory\\veryImportantFile.pdf",
    "U/SomeDirectory/SomeSecretDirectory/veryImportantFile.pdf", 
    "U/SomeDirectory/SomeSecretDirectory/veryImportantFile.pdf"} *)