Copying a file from one directory to another with Ruby

Question

Hey I'm trying to move multiple files from one folder to another. In the FileUtils line I am trying to search through all of the 4 character folders in the destination folder and then paste the file in the folder with the same base name as the file.

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

require 'fileutils'

my_dir = Dir["C:/Documents and Settings/user/Desktop/originalfiles/*.doc"]
my_dir.each do |filename| 
  FileUtils.cp(filename, "C:/Documents and Settings/user/Desktop/destinationfolder/****/" + File.basename(filename, ".doc"))
end

Answer 1

Something like this should work.

my_dir = Dir["C:/Documents and Settings/user/Desktop/originalfiles/*.doc"]
my_dir.each do |filename|
  name = File.basename('filename', '.doc')[0,4]
  dest_folder = "C:/Documents and Settings/user/Desktop/destinationfolder/#{name}/"
  FileUtils.cp(filename, dest_folder)
end

You have to actually specify the destination folder, I don't think you can use wildcards.

Answer 2

* is a wildcard meaning "any number of characters", so "****" means "any number of any number of any number of any number of characters", which is probably not what you mean.

? is the proper symbol for "any character in this position", so "????" means "a string of four characters only".