FileCopy Procedure

FileCopy Procedure

---

Class

Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileSystem

Syntax

 FileCopy(   source, destination   ) 

source (required; String)

The name of the source file to be copied

destination (required; String)

The name and location of the file when copied

Return Value

None

Description

Copies a file

Rules at a Glance

• The source and destination arguments may contain a drive name and a folder name, but they must always contain the filename.

• You cannot copy a file that is currently open .

Programming Tips and Gotchas

• If you don't specify a drive or folder in either the source or destination , the file is assumed to be in the current drive or folder.

• Unlike copying a file from one folder to another from outside VB, when using the FileCopy procedure, it is not sufficient to simply enter a path for destination . You must supply a filename, even if it's the same as the source ; otherwise , runtime error 75, "Path/File access error," results.

• FileCopy is a procedure and not a function; there is no return value. You therefore have to assume that, if there are no errors generated from calling the FileCopy procedure, the file has been successfully copied. So be sure to wrap FileCopy in robust error handling.

• Be aware that if the destination file already exists, it will be overwritten without warning.

• A number of functions allow you to use the copy operation to rename a file. (Typically, this is done by specifying the same path in the destination as in the source, along with a different filename.) The FileCopy procedure, however, does not work in this way.

• For the copy operation to succeed, source must not be open by another application; if it is, runtime error 70, "Permission denied ," is generated. If source has already been opened by the application, the copy operation will still succeed if the file is not locked (i.e., has been opened with the Shared keyword) or has been opened with a write lock only. If source has already been opened with either a read lock or a read-write lock, the FileCopy operation will generate runtime error 70, "Permission denied."

• destination must not be open if the copy operation is to succeed. If it has been opened by another application, runtime error 70, "Permission denied," is generated. If it has already been opened by the application itself, runtime error 55, "File already open," is generated.