How to copy a whole directory recursively with an npm script on Windows 10 Powershell? - npm-scripts

Question

How to copy a whole directory recursively with an npm script on Windows 10 Powershell?
Right now I have the following tree:
test
├───1
│ package.json
│
└───2
└───src
│ asd.txt
│
└───asd
asd - Copy (2).txt
asd - Copy.txt
asd.txt
What I want is a script that when run in dir 1 it goes to dir 2 and copies the whole dir src recursively from there to dir 1. So in the end I would have a similar src in 1 as there is in 2.
When I cd to the directory 1 and run npm run build:ui which is defined in package.json as
"scripts": {
"build:ui": "cd ..\\2 && copy src ..\\1"
}
it starts doing kind of what I want but not quite; it copies stuff from directory 2 to 1. The problem is it doesn't copy the whole directory with all of its subdirectories and all the possible contents, instead it just copies the files from directly inside 2/src/. In other words, here's what the tree looks like after the operation:
test
├───1
│ asd.txt
│ package.json
│
└───2
└───src
│ asd.txt
│
└───asd
asd - Copy (2).txt
asd - Copy.txt
asd.txt
So only the file asd.txt got copied.
Other configurations I have tried without success include:
"scripts": {
"build:ui": "cd ..\\2 && copy -r src ..\\1"
}
"scripts": {
"build:ui": "cd ..\\2 && Copy-Item -Recursive src ..\\1"
}
"scripts": {
"build:ui": "cd ..\\2 && cp -r src ..\\1"
}
...none of which are even valid.

Answer 1

Consider utilizing the xcopy command instead of copy as it better suits your requirement.
Redefine your build:ui script in the scripts section of your package.json file as follows:
Scripts section of package.json:
"scripts": {
"build:ui": "xcopy /e/h/y/q \"../2/src\" \"./src\\\" > nul 2>&1"
}
Running:
When you cd to the directory named 1, (i.e. the directory that contains the package.json with the aforementioned build:ui script defined in it), and then run:
npm run build:ui
it will produce the resultant directory structure:
test
├── 1
│   ├── package.json
│   └── src
│   ├── asd
│   │   ├── asd - Copy (2).txt
│   │   ├── asd - Copy.txt
│   │   └── asd.txt
│   └── asd.txt
└── 2
└── src
├── asd
│   ├── asd - Copy (2).txt
│   ├── asd - Copy.txt
│   └── asd.txt
└── asd.txt
As you can see, the src folder inside folder 2, and all of it's contents, has been copied to folder 1.
Explanation:
The following provides a detailed breakdown of the aforementioned xcopy command:
Options:
/e - Copy folders and subfolders, including empty folders.
/h - Copy hidden and system files and folders.
/y - Suppress prompt to confirm overwriting a file.
/q - Do not display file names while copying.
Notes:
Each pathname has been encased in JSON escaped double quotes, i.e. \"...\"
The ./src\\ part has a trailing backslash (\), which has been JSON escaped (\\), to inform xcopy that the destination is a directory. This also ensures the src directory is created if it doesn't already exist.
The > nul 2>&1 part suppresses the confirmation log that states how many files were copied.
Related information:
It's worth noting that on Windows npm utilizes cmd.exe as the default shell for running npm scripts - regardless of the CLI tool you're using, e.g. PowerShell. You can verify this by utilizing the npm-config command to check the script-shell setting. For instance run the following command:
npm config get script-shell
Edit:
If you want your resultant directory structure to be like this:
test
├── 1
│   ├── asd
│   │   ├── asd - Copy (2).txt
│   │   ├── asd - Copy.txt
│   │   └── asd.txt
│   ├── asd.txt
│   └── package.json
└── 2
└── src
├── asd
│   ├── asd - Copy (2).txt
│   ├── asd - Copy.txt
│   └── asd.txt
└── asd.txt
This time the contents of the src folder inside the folder named 2 has been copied to folder 1 - but not the actual containing src folder itself.
Then you need to define your npm script as follows:
"scripts": {
"build:ui": "xcopy /e/h/y/q \"../2/src\" \".\" > nul 2>&1"
}
Note: the destination path has been changed from \"./src\\\" to \".\".

Answer 2

For something like this, I might use an approach similar to the below.
Modify your NPM script (build:ui) to call a Powershell script(build.ui.ps1) that is located in the same dir as the package.json file.
"scripts": {
"build:ui": "#powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command ./build.ui.ps1"
},
Create the aforementioned Powershell script with the following contents.
param(
$srcParentDir = '2',
$srcDir = 'src',
$srcDestDir = '1'
)
Set-Location (get-item $PSScriptRoot).parent.FullName
Copy-Item -Path "$srcParentDir\$srcDir" -Destination $srcDestDir -Recurse
Run the npm script
npm run build:ui