Syntax
      XCOPY source [destination] [options]

Key
   source      : Pathname for the file(s) to be copied.

   destination : Pathname for the new file(s).

   [options] can be any combination of the following:

   Source Options

   /A           Copy files with the archive attribute set (default=Y)

   /M           Copy files with the archive attribute set and 
                turn off the archive attribute, use this option
                when making regular Backups (default=Y)

   /H           Copy hidden and system files and folders (default=N)

   /D:mm-dd-yyyy
                Copy files that have changed since mm-dd-yyyy.
                If no date is given, the default is to copy
                files with a modification date before today.
                (at least 1 day before)

   /U           Copy only files that already exist in destination.

   /S           Copy folders and subfolders

   /E           Copy folders and subfolders, including Empty folders.
                May be used to modify /T.

   /EXCLUDE:file1[+file2][+file3]...

               (Windows 2000 only) The files can each contain one 
               or more full or partial pathnames to be excluded.
               When any of these match any part of the absolute path
               of a SOURCE file, then that file will be excluded.
               For example, specifying a string like \obj\ or .obj will exclude
               all files underneath the directory obj or all files with the
               .obj extension respectively.

   Copy Options

   /W           Prompt you to press a key before starting to copy.
   /P           Prompt before creating each file.

   /Y           (Windows 2000 only) Suppress prompt to confirm overwriting a file.
                may be preset in the COPYCMD env variable.
   /-Y          (Windows 2000 only) Prompt to confirm overwriting a file.

   /V           Verify that the new files were written correctly.
   /C           Continue copying even if an error occurs.

   /I           If in doubt always assume the destination is a folder
                e.g. when the destination does not exist.

   /Z           Copy files in restartable mode. If the copy is interrupted part 
                way through, it will restart if possible. (use on slow networks)

   /Q           Do not display file names while copying.
   /F           Display full source and destination file names while copying.
   /L           List only - Display files that would be copied.

   Destination Options

   /R           Overwrite read-only files.

   /T           Create folder structure, but do not copy files. Do not
                include empty folders or subfolders. 
                /T /E will include empty folders and subfolders.

   /K           Copy attributes. XCOPY will otherwise reset read-only attributes.

   /N           If at all possible, use only a short filename (8.3) when creating
                a destination file. This may be nececcary when copying between disks
                that are formatted differently e.g NTFS and VFAT, or when archiving 
                data to an ISO9660 CDROM.

   /O           (Windows 2000 only) copy file Ownership and ACL information.

   /X           Copy file audit settings (implies /O).

XCOPY will accept UNC pathnames

Examples:

To copy a directory tree with no files, includes sub-folders, even empty ones

XCOPY u:\SourceDir\*.* u:\TargetDir /s /i /T /E

To copy a file:

XCOPY C:\utils\MyFile D:\Backup\CopyFile

To copy a folder:

XCOPY C:\utils D:\Backup\utils /i

To copy a folder including all subfolders.

XCOPY C:\utils\* D:\Backup\utils /s /i

The /i defines the destination as a folder.

Exclude files:

XCOPY C:\DATA\*.* C:\BKUP /S /I /Y /EXCLUDE:c:\excludelist.txt

the /S flag = copies all directories and subdirectories except empty ones (use the /E instead if you want empty folders also copied)

the /I flag = If the destination does not exist and we are copying more than one file, it will assume the destination is a folder

the /Y flag = Suppresses all prompts to overwrite destination file if it already exists

the /EXCLUDE flag = this will point to a file that has the excluded file types or folder or file names. in my example, i created a text file called: excludelist.txt in the root of my C: drive.

in that excludelist.txt, i then added the word SECRET on the first line. If you have more than one excluded item; be sure to put each on a new line.

The main thing to remember when using the /EXCLUDE flag is that you have to put the location of the excluded file list after the flag; not the actual excluded items/terms. That initially was the most confusing part. You can create multiple excluded file lists; you would need to use the + list (ie XCOPY c:\* v:\ /EXCLUDE:c:\excluded1.txt+c:\excluded2.txt )