data/sessions/explorer-duplicate-file-3/memory.md

# Memory: explorer-duplicate-file-3

## Overview

Duplicate a file in place from a shell, giving the copy the name the file manager would
have chosen. Use this as the terminal route to the same end state: one copy command names
the source and writes the destination explicitly rather than letting a collision rule
generate it. The recorded trace opens a shell, copies `report.pdf` to `report - Copy.pdf`,
and closes the shell with `exit`.

## Prerequisites

- A desktop environment with a file manager, or a shell — either route reaches the same
  end state.
- A file that already exists and can be identified at run time, together with the folder
  holding it. The file is found by name, so the name has to be known; its path does not.
- Write access to that folder. The copy is created beside the original, so the folder
  itself must be writable even though the original is only read.
- Enough free space for a second copy of the file.
- A decision about the copy's name. The file manager names it automatically, following its
  own convention; a shell names it explicitly. The two produce the same file only if the
  shell is told to use the same name.
- No file already occupying the copy's name. The shell route overwrites it silently; the
  file manager route sidesteps it by choosing a different name, which is a different end
  state from the one intended.

## Steps

### Step 1 — Left-click at (268, 1060)

The task is to make a second copy of a file beside the original, which is a single copy command, so the first move is to open a shell. Move the cursor and Left-click the PowerShell icon in the taskbar.

![Step 1](vision/frames/step_0001_20260731_122929_at.webp)

### Step 2 — Type: Copy-Item $env:USERPROFILE\corpus-seed\report.pdf "$env:USERPROFILE\corpus-seed\report - Copy.pdf"

Type a `Copy-Item` command that writes the copy under an explicit new name in the same folder. The name `report - Copy.pdf` is not arbitrary: it is exactly what Explorer's own duplicate produces, and matching it is what makes this trace and the mouse trace leave the folder in the same state. The destination is quoted because it contains spaces, which would otherwise be read as argument separators.

![Step 2](vision/frames/step_0002_20260731_122939_at.webp)

### Step 3 — Press: Enter

After typing the command Press Enter to run the copy.

![Step 3](vision/frames/step_0003_20260731_122943_at.webp)

### Step 4 — Type: exit

Type `exit` to close the shell.

![Step 4](vision/frames/step_0004_20260731_122950_at.webp)

### Step 5 — Press: Enter

After typing the `exit` Press Enter to run it and close the window.

![Step 5](vision/frames/step_0005_20260731_122953_at.webp)

## Notes & Edge Cases

1. The destination name is spelled out in full because a shell has no equivalent of duplicate and will not invent the file manager's name. Matching that name exactly is what makes the terminal route produce the same end state as the mouse route.
2. The space in that name is why the destination is quoted. Unquoted, the shell splits it into two arguments and the command either fails or writes somewhere unintended.
3. The copy command overwrites an existing destination without asking. A second run destroys what the first produced, so check whether the name is taken rather than relying on an error to stop it.
4. The copy carries contents, not everything. Ownership, timestamps and extended attributes are not necessarily preserved, so the result is identical in content and not necessarily in metadata.
5. Both paths are written in full through the environment variable rather than relying on the shell's current directory, which makes the command independent of where the window happened to open.
6. The environment variable is expanded by the shell. The same string handed to something that is not a shell leaves the literal text and the path never resolves.
7. The prompt returning is not confirmation. A command that failed and one that succeeded both give the prompt back, so verify the file exists at the intended path.
8. Prefer names without spaces when the name is genuinely a free choice, because every later reference to that file has to quote or escape it. Here it is not a free choice — it has to match what the file manager produces.