Batch: Copy files where include and exclude conditions are met - batch-file

Question

My requirement is to write a batch script that will compare the files in two folders. If a file exists in both SourceFolder and TargetFolder, then overwrite the file in TargetFolder with the file in SourceFolder.
Using a for-statement and an if-statement I can achieve this:
for /R %Source% %%G in (Prefix.*.ext) do (
if exist %Target%%%~nxG (
del %%G
copy %Target%%%~nxG %Source%
)
)
Although an additional requirement is to only copy files that start with 'prefix.' and end in '.ext' and also to exclude all files that contain the word 'exclude'.
In English: Copy all files from that source folder that start with 'Prefix.', end in '.ext', does not contain the text 'exclude'. and already exists in the target folder.
This is where I get stuck. Does anyone know how to do this in batch?

Answer 1

You can use xcopy for this. First, I am assuming that Prefix and ext are actual strings, to use variables instead you would have to wrap them like %Prefix%.
Second, you will have to make a new text file. Name it excludes.txt and put it in the same directory as your batch file. (If you don't want to make a batch file, then just put it in the directory that is active when you run the command). The only contents of this file should be your EXCLUDE string with no quotes, or other markup.
Ok, the command itself:
xcopy %Source%\Prefix.*.ext %Target% /U /EXCLUDE:excludes.txt
To break it down:
%Source%\Prefix.*.ext Selects the files in the source folder that start with Prefix and end with .ext
%Target% Specifies the destination for the files
/U Only copy files that already exist in the target directory
/EXCLUDE:excludes.txt This will read in excludes.txt and exclude any file that matches any part of the excludes.txt file.
That's it! This is probably easier than writing a FOR statement with a nested IF.

Answer 2

After reading this SO question, I ended up doing it like this. (Before the question got answered)
pushd %Target%
attrib +h *Exclude
for /R %%G in (Prefix.*.ext) do (
if exist %Target%%%~nxG (
del %%G
copy %Target%%%~nxG
)
)
attrib -h *Exclude
popd
The xcopy solution probably looks better although I'd prefer not to have to create (and remove) files if I can help it.