Copy-Item is overwriting by default

Question

The behaviour I would expect from the code below is:

1. Grab a list of the files in the source directory.

2. Loop through and copy each file to the backup destination, only if it does not already exist.

   if (!(Test-Path C:\Folder\Destination)) {
      New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path C:\Folder\Destination
   }
   
   $originalfiles = Get-ChildItem -Path  "C:\Folder\Source"
   $originalfiles
   
   foreach ($file in $originalfiles) {
       Write-Host
       Write-Host File Name: -ForegroundColor DarkYellow
       Write-Host $file.Name
       Write-Host File Path: -ForegroundColor DarkYellow
       Write-Host $file.FullName
   
       $src = $file.FullName
       $dest = "C:\Folder\Destination\$($file.Name)"
   
       Copy-Item $src $dest
   }
   

I would have thought that the Copy-Item cmdlet defaults to NOT overwrite, unless you specify the -Force flag. This is the behaviour I have seen in the past when I originally encountered situations where I did want to overwrite.

Also, I thought it may be the introduction of the foreach loop but I tried the copy command, on it's own, with hardcoded paths for a single file, and it is still the same.

Should I restart my IDE, or is it a mistake I have overlooked?

Answer 1

When in doubt, read the documentation.

-Force

Indicates that this cmdlet copies items that can't otherwise be changed, such as copying over a read-only file or alias.

The default behavior for Copy-Item is to replace existing items. The -Force switch is only to enforce replacement if for instance the destination file has the readonly attribute set.

You can use -Confirm to get prompted before Copy-Item performs the operation, or you can use -WhatIf to see what the cmdlet would do.