FMFlattenFolders

This is a modified version of FlattenFolders by Rob Green. I've added an additional method of renaming duplicate files by inserting a numerical index as a suffix, as well as control of the zero-padding for said suffix.

The original module only renames duplicates by adding a GUID. In my opinion this is kind of heavy-handed. But the option is still available if desired.

Installation (from the Powershell Gallery)

Install-Module FMFlattenFolders
Import-Module FMFlattenFolders

Description

Moves files from all sub-directories to the parent directory. If files with duplicate names are found, they will have either a GUID or a numeric index appended to the file name depending on the passed value of -RenameMethod.

The cmdlet also Supports -WhatIf. If supplied this will output a formatted table of the final locations of all files.

Changelog

v2.0.5

Changed -RenameMethod Index behavior so that the first file in a set of duplicate files does not get a suffix.

v2.0.4

Fixed incorrect handling of duplicate indexes.
Fixed case where empty subdirectories were not being deleted despite -DeleteSubdirectories being specified.
Optimized and reduced unneeded redundancy in much of the code
Added some more descriptive comments in code.

Usage

Example 1

Invoke-FlattenFolders -Directory "C:\Icons\SVG Sets" -RenameMethod Index -DeleteSubdirectories

All files in all sub-directories of "C:\Icons\SVG Sets" will be moved to "C:\Icons\SVG Sets". Duplicate files will be renamed with an appended index. All remaining empty subdirectories will be deleted once the files have been moved.

Example 2

Invoke-FlattenFolders -Directories "C:\Videos", "C:\Music" -RenameMethod GUID -DeleteSubdirectories

All files in all sub-directories in "C:\Videos" will be moved to "C:\Videos", and all files in all sub-directories of "C:\Music" will be moved to "C:\Music". Duplicate files will be renamed with an appended GUID. All remaining empty subdirectories will be deleted once the files have been moved.

Example 3

"C:\Videos\","C:\Music\" | Invoke-FlattenFolders -DeleteSubdirectories

All files in all sub-directories in the piped array of directories( "C:\Videos" and "C:\Music" ) will be moved to their respective parent folders. All remaining empty subdirectories will be deleted once the files have been moved.

Example 4

Invoke-FlattenFolders -Directory "C:\Videos" -WhatIf

Displays an output table to the console detailing the flattening operation without actually modifying any files on disk.

Parameters

-Directory (alias -dir)

Optional. The parent directory where files from all sub-directories will be moved. If neither this nor the Directories parameter are set then the current location will be used.

-Directories (alias -dirs)

Optional. A collection of parent directories where files from all sub-directories will be moved. If neither this nor the Directory parameter are set then the current location will be used.

-RenameMethod (alias -method, -m)

Optional. The strategy for renaming duplicate files. Valid values are "Guid" or "Index". Defaults to Index.

-IndexZeroPadding (alias -pad, -p)

Optional. The amount of zero padding to apply to indexes when the RenameMethod is set to 'Index'. For instance, if -IndexZeroPadding is set to 3, duplicates will have suffixes like file_002, file_003, etc.

-DeleteSubDirectories (alias -del, -d)

Optional. If supplied all sub-directories will be deleted once all files have been moved.

-WhatIf

Optional. If supplied this will output a formatted table of the from and to file locations that will result from running the cmdlet.

futuremotiondev/FMFlattenFolders