Copy-item does not create folder to destination when copy one file

[Petri-X]

Prerequisites

• Write a descriptive title.
• Make sure you are able to repro it on the latest released version
• Search the existing issues.
• Refer to the FAQ.
• Refer to Differences between Windows PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell.

Steps to reproduce

Hi,
When running the following command:
Copy-Item -Path .\test.txt -Destination .\TestFolder\

I do get the following error:
Copy-Item: The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect. : 'C:\Temp\TestFolder\'

This is the same behavior on PowerShell and also Windows PS.

Expected behavior

Obviously I'm expecting that copy-item creates the folder as I asked and copy the file into it. And this is actually what it does when copy folder instead single file.

Actual behavior

The following error message:
`Copy-Item: The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect. : 'C:\Temp\TestFolder\'`

And the file is not copied.

Error details

PS C:\Temp> get-error

Exception             :
    Type       : System.IO.IOException
    TargetSite :
        Name          : CopyFile
        DeclaringType : System.IO.FileSystem, System.Private.CoreLib, Version=6.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, Public
KeyToken=7cec85d7bea7798e
        MemberType    : Method
        Module        : System.Private.CoreLib.dll
    Message    : The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect. : 'C:\Temp\TestFolder\'
    Source     : System.Private.CoreLib
    HResult    : -2147024773
    StackTrace :
   at System.IO.FileSystem.CopyFile(String sourceFullPath, String destFullPath, Boolean overwrite)
   at System.IO.FileInfo.CopyTo(String destFileName, Boolean overwrite)
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.FileSystemProvider.CopyFileInfoItem(FileInfo file, String destinationPath, Boolean
force, PowerShell ps)
TargetObject          : C:\Temp\test.txt
CategoryInfo          : WriteError: (C:\Temp\test.txt:FileInfo) [Copy-Item], IOException
FullyQualifiedErrorId : CopyFileInfoItemIOError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.CopyItemCommand
InvocationInfo        :
    MyCommand        : Copy-Item
    ScriptLineNumber : 1
    OffsetInLine     : 1
    HistoryId        : 12
    Line             : Copy-Item -Path .\test.txt -Destination .\TestFolder\
    PositionMessage  : At line:1 char:1
                       + Copy-Item -Path .\test.txt -Destination .\TestFolder\
                       + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    InvocationName   : Copy-Item
    CommandOrigin    : Internal
ScriptStackTrace      : at <ScriptBlock>, <No file>: line 1
PipelineIterationInfo :

Environment data

PS C:\Temp> $PSVersionTable

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      7.2.6
PSEdition                      Core
GitCommitId                    7.2.6
OS                             Microsoft Windows 10.0.19044
Platform                       Win32NT
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0…}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion              3.0

Visuals

No response

[doctordns]

Use -force to create the necessary folder structure.

[Petri-X]

Big thanks @doctordns for your propose, but:
PS C:\Temp> Copy-Item -Path .\test.txt -Destination .\TestFolder\ -Force
Still gives the following:
Copy-Item: The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect. : 'C:\Temp\TestFolder\'

[mklement0]

• Copy-Item currently doesn't support what you're trying to do, namely on-demand creation of the target directory. Its -Force parameter is unrelated to target-directory creation (unlike with New-Item -Type Directory -Force, see below).

• The error message is confusing; the more sensible one - which you can provoke by appending a dummy file name to the path - would be "Could not find a part of the path 'C:\Temp\TestFolder'"

I agree that on-demand target-directory creation would be useful, but I suggest framing this as an enhancement that requires opt-in, and the syntax for that needs to be worked out.

In fact, this has come up before, in the context of #12805, where I've proposed an on-demand-directory-creation switch tentatively named -CreateOnDemand

The - cumbersome - workaround for now is:

# Note: New-Item -Type Directory -Force returns a directory-info object either for a preexisting directory 
# or one created on demand.
Copy-Item -Path .\test.txt -Destination (New-Item -Type Directory -Force .\TestFolder)

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has not had any activity in 6 months, if this is a bug please try to reproduce on the latest version of PowerShell and reopen a new issue and reference this issue if this is still a blocker for you.

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has not had any activity in 6 months, if this is a bug please try to reproduce on the latest version of PowerShell and reopen a new issue and reference this issue if this is still a blocker for you.

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has not had any activity in 6 months, if this is a bug please try to reproduce on the latest version of PowerShell and reopen a new issue and reference this issue if this is still a blocker for you.

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has been marked as "No Activity" as there has been no activity for 6 months. It has been closed for housekeeping purposes.