File Watcher Command Line Reference
Published:
17 Jan 2019, last updated 18 Jan 2019
Reading Time:
2 minutes, 56 seconds
Introduction
This article details the command line arguments or switches used by FileWatcher.
Command Line Arguments
Command line arguments used by FileWatcher are separate into two groups. The first argument defines what operation FileWatcher should perform - create inventory, compare inventory or load a job file. All subsequent arguments are used to specify values that may be used for an operation.
For example, the command FileWatcher /N /IF "C:\MyFolder" /IS "C:\MyInventories" contains 3 arguments:
- /N specifies the operation, in the case create a new inventory.
- /IF specifies the path to the folder to be inventoried
- /IS specifies the path to which the inventory file and log are to be saved.
Please note: command line switches are case insensitive.
Operation Argument
The first command line argument defines the operation or action to be performed by FileWatcher.
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/N
or
/NewInventory
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Create a new inventory.
- Requires the /IF and /IS arguments
Example: FileWatcher /N /IF "C:\MyFolder" /IS "C:\MyInventories"
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/C
or
/Compare
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Compares an existing inventory against a folder.
- Requires the /I command line argument specifying the the path to the inventory file.
- Optionally, /T argument may be used to define the path to the folder to compare the inventory against. If /T is not specified, then the comparison will take place against the originally inventoried folder (the path is saved in the inventory file).
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/J
or
/Job
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Load inventory jobs from an XML file.
Example: FileWatcher /J /JobFile "C:\MyJobs.xml"
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Other Arguments
All other command line arguments are used to specify values required for individual FileWatcher actions.
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/CF
or
/CompareFolder
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Specifies at target folder to used in an inventory comparison
For example /CF "C:\MyFolder"
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/CI
or
/CompareInventory
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Specifies the filepath to an existing inventory file.
Only used in comparison operations.
For example: /CI "C:\MyInventories\Inventory001.xml"
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/CL
or
/CompareLog
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Used to specify a specific filename and path for the comparison log. If not specified, the log file will be saved the current path with an automatically generated filename based on the current date and time.
For example /CL "D:\CompareResult.log"
This argument supports the keyword '$datetime$' to automatically insert the current date and time in the filename. For example, /CL ""D:\CompareLog-$datetime$.log"" will become /CL D:\CompareLog-18-Jan-2019_160712.log
To disable log output, use the value NO_LOG, for example /CL NO_LOG
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/EFE
or
/ExcludedFileExtensions
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An optional list - in comma separate values (CSV) format - specifying any file extensions to be excluded from an inventory or comparison.
For example: /EFE "bmp,txt,xls"
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/EP
or
/ExcludedPaths
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An optional list - in comma separated values (CSV) format - specifying and paths (file or folders) that are to be excluded from an inventory or comparison.
If including paths containing whitespace or names longer than 8 characters, then enclose within quotation marks.
Example: /EP "C:\TestFolder,C:\Folder2\myfile.doc"
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/IF
or
/InventoryFolder
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Specify the path to a folder to be inventoried.
Example: /IF "C:\MyFolder"
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| /IS
or
/InventorySave
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Specifies the path to where an inventory should be saved.
IMPORTANT: This cannot be the same or within the folder path specified using /IF
Example: /IS "C:\MyInventories"
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/JF
or
/JobFile
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Specifies the path to a FileWatcher Job File.
Example: /JF "C:\MyJobs.xml"
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