Question

I have this script which runs periodically to collect desktop files and organizes them by the file type into a single folder on backup drive.

function get-destbytype($ext) 
{
    switch ($ext)
    {
        { $ext -match '(jpg|png|gif|bmp)'} { "images" }
        { $ext -match '(divx|mpeg|avi)'} { "videos" }
        { $ext -match '(cs|js|java|py|class|vbs|jsp)'} { "code" }
        { $ext -match '(sql|ps1|pl|py)'} { "scripts" }
        { $ext -match '(zip|7z|rar)'} { "compressed" }
        { $ext -match '(ppt|pptx|doc|docx|pdf)'} { "documents" }
        { $ext -match '(csv|xls|xlsx)'} { "spreadsheets" }
        { $ext -match '(exe|dll|jar|ear|bat|cmd)'} { "executables" }
        { $ext -match '(txt|log)'} { "text" }
        { $ext -match '(msg|htm|html|lnk)'} { "miscellaneous" }
        { $ext -match '(properties|xml|ini)'} { "config" }
        default {"$ext" }
    }
}

$dirtyfolder = "C:\Documents and Settings\user\Desktop\"
$org = "$nas\Desktop\ORG"

ls $dirtyfolder/* | ? {!$_.PSIsContainer} | %{
  $dest = "$($org)\$(get-destbytype $_.extension)"
  if (! (Test-Path -path $dest ) ) 
  {
    write-host "creating $dest"
    new-item $dest -type directory
  }
  mv -path $_ -destination $dest 
}

The script was tested thoroughly and seems to run fine in most cases I could imagine. Recently when .csv files were encountered for the first time, they were moved into a new folder by the name

code spreadsheets.

This is obviously because the .cs files are supposed to go to the code folder and the .csv files to the spreadsheets folder, and the script does not distinguish between .cs and .csv.

How do I modify the script to not do this?

Also what can be done to exclude desktop shortcuts with extension .lnk?

Answer 1

Try using a more specific regular expression. Just add $ signs at the end of your expressions. The $ sign indicates end of line or in your case end of string.

It would look like this:

{ $ext -match '(jpg|png|gif|bmp)$'} { "images" }

You can easily test this by opening powershell and typing:

"abc.csv" -match '(cs|xls)$'

This will result in False.