vl-file-copy (AutoLISP)

Copies or appends the contents of one file to another file

Supported Platforms: Windows and Mac OS

Signature

(vl-file-copy source-file destination-file [append])

source-file

Type: String

Name of file to be copied. If you do not specify a full path name, vl-file-copy looks in the AutoCAD default drawing directory.

destination-file

Type: String

Name of the destination file. If you do not specify a path name, vl-file-copy writes to the AutoCAD default drawing directory.

append

Type: T or nil

If specified and not nil, source-file is appended to destination-file (that is, copied to the end of the destination file).

Return Values

Type: Integer or nil

A numeric value, if the copy was successful; otherwise nil.

Some typical reasons for returning nil are

• source-file is not readable
• source-file is a directory
• append? is absent or nil and destination-file exists
• destination-file cannot be opened for output (that is, it is an illegal file name or a write-protected file)
• source-file is the same as destination-file

Remarks

Copy or append the contents of one file to another file. The vl-file-copy function will not overwrite an existing file; it will only append to it.

Release Information

Releases:

• AutoCAD R14 and later on Windows
• AutoCAD 2011 and later on Mac OS

History

AutoCAD 2021

• source-file and destination-file arguments previously accepted ASCII text strings, but they now accept Unicode text strings.
• LISPSYS system variable controls which AutoLISP engine is used and the behavior of the function.
  • 0 - ASCII character support (legacy behavior)
  • 1 or 2 - Unicode character support
  Note: After the value of the LISPSYS system variable has been changed, AutoCAD must be restarted for the change to take affect.

Examples

Windows

Copy autoexec.bat to newauto.bat:

(vl-file-copy "c:/autoexec.bat" "c:/newauto.bat")
1417

Copy test.bat to newauto.bat:

(vl-file-copy "c:/test.bat" "c:/newauto.bat")
nil

The copy fails because newauto.bat already exists, and the append argument was not specified.

Repeat the previous command, but specify append:

(vl-file-copy "c:/test.bat" "c:/newauto.bat" T)
185

The copy is successful because T was specified for the append argument.

Mac OS

Copy oldstart.sh to newstart.sh:

(vl-file-copy "/oldstart.sh" "/newstart.sh")
1417

Copy start.sh to newstart.sh:

(vl-file-copy "/start.sh" "/newstart.sh")
nil

The copy fails because newstart.sh already exists, and the append argument was not specified.

Repeat the previous command, but specify append:

(vl-file-copy "/start.sh" "/newstart.sh" T)
185

The copy is successful because T was specified for the append argument.