CopyFlatten

A simple command-line utility that recursively searches a directory tree and copies all matching files to a single flat destination directory.

Usage

CopyFlatten.exe <source-directory> <destination-directory> <file-pattern>

Parameters:

• source-directory - The root directory to search recursively
• destination-directory - The target directory where all files will be copied (created if it doesn't exist)
• file-pattern - The file pattern to match (supports wildcards like *.dll, *.txt, etc.)

What It Does

1. Recursively searches the source directory for files matching the pattern
2. Creates the destination directory if it doesn't exist
3. Copies all matching files to the destination directory (flattened structure)
4. Overwrites existing files in the destination if they have the same name

Examples

Copy All DLL Files

CopyFlatten.exe "C:\MyProject\bin" "C:\AllDlls" "*.dll"

Copies all .dll files from any subdirectory of C:\MyProject\bin into C:\AllDlls.

Copy All Images

CopyFlatten.exe "C:\Photos" "C:\AllPhotos" "*.jpg"

Flattens a photo directory structure, copying all JPG files to a single folder.

Copy Configuration Files

CopyFlatten.exe "C:\Application" "C:\Configs" "*.config"

Extracts all configuration files from an application directory tree.

Copy All Files

CopyFlatten.exe "C:\Source" "C:\Destination" "*.*"

Copies every file from the source directory tree into a flat structure.

Common Use Cases

1. Library Collection

Gather all shared libraries from a complex project structure:

CopyFlatten.exe "C:\Solution\Projects" "C:\Deploy\Libraries" "*.dll"

2. Asset Extraction

Extract all assets of a specific type from a game or application:

CopyFlatten.exe "C:\Game\Assets" "C:\ExtractedTextures" "*.png"

3. Log File Aggregation

Collect log files from multiple subdirectories:

CopyFlatten.exe "C:\Logs\2023" "C:\AllLogs" "*.log"

4. Documentation Collection

Gather documentation files from various project folders:

CopyFlatten.exe "C:\Projects" "C:\AllDocs" "*.md"

5. Build Artifact Collection

Collect build outputs from multiple projects:

CopyFlatten.exe "C:\Solution" "C:\BuildOutputs" "*.exe"

Directory Structure Example

Before (Source Structure):

C:\MyProject\
├── Core\
│   ├── MyApp.Core.dll
│   └── Utils\
│       └── MyApp.Utils.dll
├── Data\
│   └── MyApp.Data.dll
└── Web\
    ├── MyApp.Web.dll
    └── Plugins\
        └── MyApp.Plugins.dll

After Running: CopyFlatten.exe "C:\MyProject" "C:\FlatOutput" "*.dll"

C:\FlatOutput\
├── MyApp.Core.dll
├── MyApp.Utils.dll
├── MyApp.Data.dll
├── MyApp.Web.dll
└── MyApp.Plugins.dll

Integration Examples

Batch Script

@echo off
echo Flattening DLL files...
CopyFlatten.exe "%SOURCE_DIR%" "%DEPLOY_DIR%\libs" "*.dll"

echo Flattening config files...
CopyFlatten.exe "%SOURCE_DIR%" "%DEPLOY_DIR%\configs" "*.config"

echo Done!

PowerShell

$sourceDir = "C:\Build\Output"
$deployDir = "C:\Deploy"

# Flatten different file types to separate directories
& "CopyFlatten.exe" $sourceDir "$deployDir\Libraries" "*.dll"
& "CopyFlatten.exe" $sourceDir "$deployDir\Executables" "*.exe"
& "CopyFlatten.exe" $sourceDir "$deployDir\Configs" "*.config"

Write-Host "Files flattened successfully!"

CI/CD Pipeline

# In a build script
echo "Collecting build artifacts..."
./CopyFlatten "/build/output" "/artifacts/binaries" "*.dll"
./CopyFlatten "/build/output" "/artifacts/executables" "*.exe"

File Pattern Examples

Pattern	Matches
*.dll	All DLL files
*.exe	All executable files
*.txt	All text files
*.config	All configuration files
*.*	All files with extensions
MyApp.*	All files starting with "MyApp"
*.log	All log files
test*.cs	C# files starting with "test"

Important Notes

File Overwrites

• Files with the same name will be overwritten in the destination
• The last file processed (alphabetically) will be the final version
• Consider this when flattening directories with duplicate filenames

Name Conflicts

If multiple files have the same name but are in different source directories:

Source/
├── Folder1/config.xml  ← This will be overwritten
└── Folder2/config.xml  ← This will be the final file

Only the last config.xml processed will remain in the destination.