vbscript error path not found while using movefolder method - vbscript

Question

I am fairly new to vbscript, and attempting to write a script that will pick up month and year stamped folders (2012_04) and move them to a year stamped folder (2012). I am getting a Path not found error though when I attempt to move the folder, and I can't seem to find an answer anywhere as to why it is happening.
for i = 0 to UBound(yearArray)
Set folder = fso.GetFolder(InputP)
Set subFold = Folder.Subfolders
yearStamp = yearArray(i)
if not fso.FolderExists(ArchiveP & yearStamp) then
fso.createFolder(ArchiveP & yearStamp)
end if
ArchiveP = ArchiveP & yearStamp & "\"
for each dateFold in subFold
Set fo = fso.GetFolder(InputP & dateFold.Name)
folderName = InputP & dateFold.name & "\"
foldName = fo.name & "\"
if left(foldName,4) = yearStamp then
fso.MoveFolder folderName , ArchiveP & foldName
end if
next
ArchiveP = UnChangeP & PreArchP
Next
The error happens at fso.MoveFolder folderName , ArchiveP & foldName and I can't figure out what is happening.

Answer 1

The error you're getting is caused by misconstructed paths. What you're trying to do is something like this:
fso.MoveFolder "C:\input\2013_03", "D:\archive\2013\2013_03"
However, what you're acutally doing is this:
fso.MoveFolder "C:\input\2013_03\", "D:\archive\2013\2013_03\"
^ ^
A trailing backslash is only valid in the destination path, and only if the destination path is the parent folder to which you want to move the source folder, i.e. your statement should look either like this:
fso.MoveFolder "C:\input\2013_03", "D:\archive\2013\"
or like this:
fso.MoveFolder "C:\input\2013_03", "D:\archive\2013\2013_03"
Avoid building paths via string concatenation. The FileSystemObjects provides a method BuildPath that will handle path separators correctly.
Your code is rather convoluted, BTW. Instead of using indexed access to yearArray you could simply iterate over all elements with a For Each loop. Also, your iteration over the subfolders of InputP already provides you with Folder objects. fso.GetFolder(InputP & dateFold.Name) is the exact same object as dateFold. Plus, Folder objects come with a Move method, so you'd only need to handle the destination path.
I believe your code could be simplified to the following, which should do what you want:
For Each year In yearArray
dst = fso.BuildPath(ArchiveP, year)
If Not fso.FolderExists(dst) Then fso.CreateFolder dst
For Each dateFold In fso.GetFolder(InputP).SubFolders
If Left(dateFold.Name, 4) = year Then dateFold.Move dst & "\"
Next
Next
In terms of performance it might be a good idea to switch the two loops, though. Iterating over folders means you have to read from disk whereas yearArray is in memory, thus the former iteration is bound to be slower than the latter. By making the subfolder iteration the outer loop (and putting the destination folder creation in a separate loop) you eliminate this bottleneck, because that way you read each subfolder just once.
For Each year In yearArray
dst = fso.BuildPath(ArchiveP, year)
If Not fso.FolderExists(dst) Then fso.CreateFolder dst
Next
For Each dateFold In fso.GetFolder(InputP).SubFolders
For Each year In yearArray
dst = fso.BuildPath(ArchiveP, year)
If Left(dateFold.Name, 4) = year Then dateFold.Move dst & "\"
Next
Next