CopyFile

Description

Copies an existing file to a new file.

The CopyFileEx function provides two additional capabilities. CopyFileEx can call a specified callback function each time a portion of the copy operation is completed, and CopyFileEx can be canceled during the copy operation.

To perform this operation as a transacted operation, use the CopyFileTransacted function.

Syntax

BOOL WINAPI CopyFile(
  _In_  LPCTSTR lpExistingFileName,
  _In_  LPCTSTR lpNewFileName,
  _In_  BOOL bFailIfExists
);

Parameters

lpExistingFileName [in]

The name of an existing file.

In the ANSI version of this function, the name is limited to MAX_PATH characters. To extend this limit to 32,767 wide characters, call the Unicode version of the function and prepend "\\?\" to the path.

If lpExistingFileName does not exist, CopyFile fails, and GetLastError returns ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND.

lpNewFileName [in]

The name of the new file.

In the ANSI version of this function, the name is limited to MAX_PATH characters. To extend this limit to 32,767 wide characters, call the Unicode version of the function and prepend "\\?\" to the path.

bFailIfExists [in]

If this parameter is TRUE and the new file specified by lpNewFileName already exists, the function fails. If this parameter is FALSE and the new file already exists, the function overwrites the existing file and succeeds.

Return value

If the function succeeds, the return value is nonzero.

If the function fails, the return value is zero. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.