The fundamental command for copying files in Windows Command Prompt is:

copy "source\file.txt" "destination\file.txt"

This will copy file.txt from the source directory to the destination directory.

For your specific requirement of creating the destination directory if it doesn't exist, you'll need to combine several commands:

@echo off
if not exist "destination\" mkdir "destination"
copy "source\file.txt" "destination\file.txt"

This batch script first checks if the destination folder exists, creates it if necessary, then performs the copy operation.

For a more robust solution that handles errors and provides feedback:

@echo off
set source="A\file.txt"
set destination="B\file.txt"

if not exist %source% (
    echo Error: Source file not found
    exit /b 1
)

if not exist "B\" mkdir "B"

copy %source% %destination% >nul
if %errorlevel% equ 0 (
    echo File copied successfully
) else (
    echo Error copying file
    exit /b 1
)

For more advanced copying needs, XCOPY offers additional features:

xcopy "A\file.txt" "B\file.txt" /I /Y

The /I switch creates the destination directory if needed (when copying multiple files), and /Y suppresses confirmation prompts.

When dealing with paths containing spaces, always use quotes:

copy "C:\My Documents\file.txt" "D:\Backup Files\file.txt"

For frequent use, save this as copy_with_dir.bat:

@echo off
if "%~2"=="" (
    echo Usage: %0 source destination
    exit /b 1
)

if not exist "%~1" (
    echo Error: Source file not found
    exit /b 1
)

for %%F in ("%~2") do set destdir=%%~dpF
if not exist "%destdir%" mkdir "%destdir%"

copy "%~1" "%~2" >nul
if %errorlevel% equ 0 (
    echo File copied successfully
) else (
    echo Error copying file
    exit /b 1
)

Usage: copy_with_dir.bat "source\file.txt" "destination\file.txt"

Always include error handling in automation scripts:

@echo off
setlocal

set source=%~1
set destination=%~2

if "%source%"=="" (
    echo Source file not specified
    exit /b 1
)

if not exist "%source%" (
    echo Source file does not exist
    exit /b 1
)

for %%F in ("%destination%") do (
    set destdir=%%~dpF
    set destfile=%%~nxF
)

if not exist "%destdir%" (
    mkdir "%destdir%"
    if errorlevel 1 (
        echo Failed to create destination directory
        exit /b 1
    )
)

copy "%source%" "%destination%" >nul
if errorlevel 1 (
    echo Failed to copy file
    exit /b 1
)

echo File copied successfully
endlocal

When automating file operations in Windows XP through command line, we often need to handle two specific requirements:

• Copying files from source to destination
• Automatically creating the destination directory if it doesn't exist

The fundamental command for copying files in Windows Command Prompt is:

copy "C:\source\file.txt" "D:\destination\"

To implement both file copying and directory creation in a single command line operation, we can use:

if not exist "D:\destination\" mkdir "D:\destination\" && copy "C:\source\file.txt" "D:\destination\"

For more complex scenarios, a batch script provides better maintainability:

@echo off
set source="C:\source\file.txt"
set destination="D:\destination\"

if not exist %destination% (
    mkdir %destination%
    echo Created directory: %destination%
)

copy %source% %destination%
if errorlevel 0 (
    echo File copied successfully
) else (
    echo Error during file copy
)

Adding proper error checking makes the solution more reliable:

@echo off
set source="C:\source\file.txt"
set destination="D:\destination\"

if not exist %source% (
    echo Error: Source file not found
    exit /b 1
)

if not exist %destination% (
    mkdir %destination%
    if errorlevel 1 (
        echo Error: Failed to create directory
        exit /b 1
    )
)

copy %source% %destination%
if errorlevel 1 (
    echo Error: File copy failed
    exit /b 1
)

echo Operation completed successfully

• Use quotes around paths to handle spaces
• Consider using xcopy for more advanced file copy operations
• For recursive directory copying, add /E parameter to xcopy
• Use robocopy if available (not native in XP but can be installed)