A command-line or batch cmd to concatenate multiple files

I have 50 text files in one directory.

Is there a Windows command-line method to concatenate those files into a single file?

I don't want to type the name of all files.

6 Answers

I don't want to type the name of all files.

That's easy to be avoided. Open a command prompt in this folder and type the following command:

copy /b *.txt newfile.txt

Press Enter.

Now you will have all text files in this folder ordered by date ascending merged into a single file called newfile.txt.

My ultimate aim is to store the contents of each text file in a separate column of an Excel sheet.

Here's a tutorial that may help you to achieve your "ultimate aim":

To add a newLine at the end of each concatenated file, use type instead of copy, as follows:

type *.txt > newfile.txt

Assuming you are talking about appending text files, the copy command can be used to append them together:

copy file1+file2+file3 targetfile

If you have many files, you could loop by appending one file at a time.

For binary files, add in the '/b' option:

copy /b file1+file2+file3 targetfile

This assumes that you know the binary files you are working with can be appended back-to-back; if not, you will get a lump of useless data.

Run the following command in the command prompt:

for %f in (*.txt) do type "%f" >> output.txt

The following .bat file will append all *.for files, except the one named XIT.for, to a blank file named MASTER.for

type NUL > MASTER.for FOR %%G IN (*.for) DO IF NOT "%%G" == "XIT.for" copy /A MASTER.for+"%%G" && echo. >> MASTER.for

set n=50 for /l %i in (1,1,%n%) do type file%i.txt >> file.txt

Works on both binary & text files & ensures files concatenate consecutively (1-50).
Tested on Win 10 CMD