Home / server / Questions / 341384
Accepted
slm
Asked: 2011-12-16 13:44:26 +0800 CST

How do I get robocopy to use a log file which includes spaces?

  • 772

I'm trying the following command:

robocopy "x:\dir" "y:\dir" /mir /z /tee /fft /nfl /ndl /eta /log:"x:\path to logs\12-15-11 01 file with spaces.txt"

I'm getting this error:

ERROR : Invalid Parameter #10 : "/log:x:\path to logs\12-15-11 01 file with spaces.txt"

EDIT #1

Turns out that the above command was valid, I had a typo in my path. If you have a path which includes spaces you can provide them to robocopy's /log switch like so: /log:"c:\path to a file\robocopy.log"

windows robocopy

4 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    If you need to provide a path that includes spaces to robocopy's /log switch you can do it like this:

    /log:"c:\path to logs files\some log file.txt"
    • 13

  2. There are four way of logging as the Powershell documentation

    /log:<LogFile> : Writes the status output to the log file (overwrites the existing log file).

    • e.g: robocopy "c:\a" "c:\b" /log:"c:\copy_log.log"

    /log+:<LogFile> : Writes the status output to the log file (appends the output to the existing log file).

    • e.g: robocopy "c:\a" "c:\b" /log+:"c:\copy_log.log"

    /unilog:<LogFile> : Writes the status output to the log file as Unicode text (overwrites the existing log file).

    • e.g: robocopy "c:\a" "c:\b" /unilog:"c:\copy_log.log"

    /unilog+:<LogFile> : Writes the status output to the log file as Unicode text (appends the output to the existing log file).

    • e.g: robocopy "c:\a" "c:\b" /unilog+:"c:\copy_log.log"

    For more details https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc733145(v=ws.11).aspx

    • 4

  3. It happens when need admin privileges/ or pop to create file into that directory

    So try to have a log/temp directory and try to add log file into that log directory 

    $ mkdir C:\log

    e.g: 

    $ robocopy "c:\a" "c:\b" /log:"c:\log\copy_log.log"
    • 1

  4. If the path to the log file contains spaces or some other scripting delimiters, please include it in quotes such as your EDIT #1 and @slm suggests. But also, please note the use of escape characters as described in this documentation on Batch scripting.

    • 0