To access and work with files on Microsoft Windows® and Linux®-based operating systems as part of a chain, add a step with a File Utilities connection command.
To enable these commands, an IT admin first creates a File Utilities connection.
Base 64 encode
Base64 encoding takes binary data (like images, documents, or other files) and converts it into a string of ASCII characters. By representing binary data as text, Base64 encoding helps prevent data loss or corruption during transmission over media that are not designed to handle binary formats.
Note: Base64 encoding causes an overhead of 33–37% relative to the size of the original binary data (33% by the encoding itself and up to 4% more by the inserted line breaks).
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Name |
Enter the name to be shown for the node |
Description |
Optional: Enter the description of the node. Best practice is to describe why this node is in the chain (what is its purpose). |
Command Properties |
Connection to use |
Select the connection that is the source for the encode/decode. |
Runner |
Select the type of runner to be used |
Source file |
Enter the name of the file to encode. |
Encode with padding |
Select this to include padding when encoding the file. |
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
Base-64 encoded text file |
Text file |
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
The command failed |
Base 64 decode
Base64 decoding converts ASCII strings back into the original binary data. This allows you to access and use the original data after it has been encoded for transport or storage.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Name |
Enter the name to be shown for the node |
Description |
Optional: Enter the description of the node. Best practice is to describe why this node is in the chain (what is its purpose). |
Command Properties |
Connection to use |
Select the connection that is the source for the encode/decode. |
Runner |
Select the type of runner to be used |
Source file |
Enter the name of the file to decode. |
Source encoded with padding |
Select this to indicate that the file to be decoded had padding added when it was encoded. |
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
Binary file |
Binary data |
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
The command failed |
Checksum
To verify a file has not been corrupted or changed from its original source, use a Checksum command. The command can be run on multiple files, and their returned hash values can be compared to determine whether those files are identical.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Input file |
Enter the name of the file to check. To match multiple files, use wildcard characters * or ?. |
Checksum type |
Select the checksum type to run on the input file.
Options:
|
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
Checksum hash value |
String |
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
The command failed |
Clean line breaks
To remove extra line breaks from a tabular file's cells, such as within an output from one system to upload to another, use a Clean Line Breaks command.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Source file |
Enter the tabular file with the broken lines to clean. |
Delimiter |
Select the delimiter used in Source file. |
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
Cleaned file |
File |
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
The command failed |
Copy
To copy files and directories, use a Copy command.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Source |
Enter the name of the files or directories to move. To match multiple files or directories, use the wildcard characters * or ? . |
Destination |
Enter the new location of the file or directory. |
Overwrite |
To overwrite existing files, check this box. |
Outputs
None
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
Invalid arguments |
14 |
Error |
Source file not found |
15 |
Error |
Failed to write the destination file |
16 |
Error |
Couldn't write the destination file because another file has the same name |
Create file
To create a new file, use a Create File command.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Text |
Enter the text to add to the file. |
File path |
Enter the path to where to create the file. Optional if using the file as an output for another command in the chain. |
Overwrite |
To overwrite another file that exists at the file path, check this box. |
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
Created file |
File |
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
Invalid arguments |
15 |
Error |
Invalid destination |
16 |
Error |
Couldn't write the destination file because another file has the same name |
Delete
To delete files or directories, use a Delete command.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
File name |
Enter the name of the files or directories to delete. To match multiple files or directories, use the wildcard characters * or ? . |
Outputs
None
Exit Codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
Invalid arguments |
14 |
Error |
Found no files to delete |
17 |
Error |
Failed to delete the specified files |
Delete directory
To delete one or more directories, use a Delete directory command.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Path |
Enter the name of the directories to delete. To match multiple directories, use the wildcard characters * or ? . |
Recursive |
To recursively delete files or folders in the directory, check this box. |
Outputs
None
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
17 |
Error |
Failed to delete the specified directory |
Edit Template File
This command takes a template file and replaces the provided keys with their values. The values can be strings or files. If the value is a file, its contents will be extracted in place of the key.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Name |
Enter the name to be shown for the node |
Description |
Optional: Enter the description of the node. Best practice is to describe why this node is in the chain (what is its purpose). |
Command Properties |
Connection to use |
Select the connection that is the source for the template. |
Runner |
Select the type of runner to be used |
Property |
Detail |
Template |
Enter the name of the template file whose keys are to be extracted. |
Template keys |
Select to add information about the keys to be extracted. |
Key |
The key to be replaced in the template file |
Value |
The value to replace the associated key with |
Value type |
The type of value that the key is being replaced by (a string or a files contents). |
|
|
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
Templated file |
Text File |
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
The command failed |
Find
To search for a text string in a file or set of files, use a Find command.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Files |
Enter the file or set of files to search. |
Pattern |
Enter the text string to find. |
Pattern syntax |
Select whether to use an exact match or regular expression (regex) syntax for the pattern. |
Case sensitive |
To consider the case of the characters when searching for the pattern, check this box. |
Inverse |
To find all lines that don't match the pattern, check this box. |
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
File Results |
File |
Results Line Count |
Integer |
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
Invalid arguments |
2 |
Error |
Task failed |
14 |
Error |
File not found |
18 |
Error |
Pattern not found |
Find and replace
To perform a find-and-replace in a file, use a Find and Replace command.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Source |
Enter the name of the file to search. |
Destination |
Specify whether to output the original file or a copy:
- To output the original file with its updated column values, enter the same file as Source.
- To output a copy of the original with the updated column values, enter the name of the new file.
|
Overwrite |
To overwrite an existing destination file, check this box. |
Find |
Enter the text string to find. |
Replace |
Enter the text string to insert at the matched locations. |
Find syntax |
Select whether to use exact match or regular expression (regex) syntax for Find. |
Case sensitive |
To consider the case of the characters when searching for the Find pattern, check this box. |
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
Replaced result |
File |
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
Invalid arguments |
2 |
Error |
Task failed |
14 |
Error |
File not found |
15 |
Error |
Invalid destination |
16 |
Error |
Overwrite error |
18 |
Error |
Pattern not found |
Get file
To retrieve a file from the local file system, use a Get File command.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Input file |
Enter the file to retrieve and create as an output. |
Data type |
Select the content type of Input File. |
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
File info |
JSON |
File |
File |
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
File wasn't found |
Get file/folder info
To retrieve the file system information for a file or folder, use a Get File/Folder Info command.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
File/folder |
Enter the file or folder to retrieve information about. |
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
File/folder info |
JSON |
For example: { "absPath": "/tmp", "name": "tmp", "size": 4096, "mode": 2148532735, "modTime": "2018-09-27T19:31:52Z", "isDir": true, "exists": true }
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
Note: This command always succeeds. If the file or folder isn't found, the exists property will be false.
Gunzip file
To unzip a GZIP archive using gunzip
, use a Gunzip File command. For example, use this command to unzip a file output from Oracle® Hyperion Financial Management (HFM).
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Input file |
Enter the GZIP archive to unzip. |
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
Gunzipped file |
File |
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
The command failed |
Gzip file
To compress a file using gzip
, use a Gzip File command.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Input file |
Enter the file to compress. |
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
Gzipped file |
File |
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
The command failed |
List directory
To list the contents of a directory, use a List Directory command.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Path |
Enter the path of the directory to list. |
Output format |
Select the format of the output. To include the header and summary information, select Full. |
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
Found files list |
Array |
Result file |
CSV |
Note: The Found files list output is limited to 500 items; for larger operations, the Result file output should be used instead.
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
Invalid arguments |
14 |
Error |
Directory not found |
List file content
To list the contents of a file, use a List File Content command.
Note: This command can't return individual lines larger than 64KB.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
File name |
Enter the name of the file to inspect. |
Preview lines |
For large files, enter how many of the file's lines to preview. You can set the starting line for the preview using the Offset field just below this one.
To preview a file, view the command's output on the Monitor screen. |
Offset |
The line number to start the preview at. This is 0 based, so to print from the beginning of the file use the value 0. |
Example
The following image shows 5 preview lines with an offset of 5. Please note that because the offset starts at 0, the first line shown is actually 6.

Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
File |
File |
File text |
String |
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
Invalid arguments |
14 |
Error |
File not found |
20 |
Warning |
File is too large or not human-readable |
Make directory
To create a directory, use a Make Directory command.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Directory |
Enter the name of the directory to create. |
Outputs
None
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
Invalid arguments |
15 |
Error |
Failed to create directory |
16 |
Warning |
Remote directory already exists |
Move
To move files or directories, use a Move command.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Source |
Enter the name of the files or directories to move. To match multiple files or directories, use wildcard characters * or ? . |
Destination |
Enter the new location for the file or directory. |
Overwrite |
To overwrite existing files, check this box. |
Outputs
None
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
Invalid arguments |
2 |
Error |
Task failed |
14 |
Error |
Source file not found |
Split file
To split a file into multiple file chunks based on byte size, line count, or regular expression (RegExp) delimiter, use a Split File command. For example, use this command to process smaller files in parallel to help improve performance
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Input file |
Enter the file to split into multiple chunks. |
Split type |
Select how to split the input file—by Byte, Line, or RegExp |
Value |
Enter the value to split the input file by, based on Split type:
- If Byte, enter the maximum file size of the file chunks.
- If Line, enter the maximum number of lines to include in a file chunk.
- If RegExp, enter the regular expression for the line that indicates when to create a new chunk.
|
Include RegExp match |
If Split type is RegExp, select whether to include the line that matches Value in the chunk it generates. |
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
Split file chunks |
File |
Number of files |
Integer |
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
Invalid arguments |
Stack files
To stack multiple asymmetric files on top of one another, use a Stack Files command.
Note: With the Tabular Transformation connector, you can use a Stack Files command to stack symmetric files that all have the same number of columns.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Input files |
Enter the files to stack. |
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
Stacked file |
File |
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
Invalid arguments |
Strip lines
To remove lines from a file according to the line numbers provided, use a Strip Lines command.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Source file |
Enter the file to strip lines from. |
Lines to strip |
Enter a list of the lines to strip, as individual lines or ranges. For example, a range of 3:10 removes lines 3 through 10 from the file. |
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
Strip lines output file |
File |
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
Invalid arguments |
2 |
Error |
General failure |
Tar
To create a tape archive (TAR) file, use a Tar command.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Archive name |
Enter the name of the TAR file to create. |
Source files |
Enter the name of the files or directories to add to the TAR file. To specify multiple files or directories, use commas or wildcard characters. |
Overwrite |
To overwrite an existing TAR file, check this box. |
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
TAR Archive |
File |
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
Invalid arguments |
16 |
Error |
Failed to create archive |
UTF-8 encode
To convert a file to be encoded in Unicode Transformation Format–8-bit (UTF-8), use a UTF-8 Encode command.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Source file |
Enter the name of the files or directories to move. To match multiple files or directories, use wildcard characters * or ? . |
Source encoding |
Enter the encoding of Source File, such as uft-16 or windows-1251 . |
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
UTF-8 file |
File |
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
Invalid arguments |
2 |
Error |
Command failed |
Untar
To unpack a TAR file, use an Untar command.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Archive |
Enter the name of the TAR file to unpack. |
Destination |
Enter the name of the directory to unpack the archive to. |
Overwrite |
To overwrite existing files when unpacking the archive, check this box. |
Outputs
None
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
Invalid arguments |
2 |
Error |
Failed to unpack archive |
14 |
Error |
Archive not found |
16 |
Error |
Overwrite error |
Unzip
To unpack a ZIP or GZIP archive, use an Unzip command.
Note: This command requires a GroundRunner.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Archive |
Enter the name of the archive to unpack. |
Destination |
Enter the name of the directory to unpack the archive to. |
Overwrite |
To overwrite existing files when unpacking the archive, check this box. |
Outputs
None
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
Invalid arguments |
2 |
Error |
Failed to unpack archive |
14 |
Error |
Archive not found |
16 |
Error |
Overwrite error |
Zip
To create a ZIP, GZIP, or GZIP+TAR archive, use a Zip command.
Properties
Property |
Detail |
Archive name |
Enter the name of the archive to create. The file extension determines the compression algorithm:
- For ZIP,
.zip or .z
- For GZIP,
.gzip or .gz
- For GZIP+TAR,
.tgz
|
Destination |
Enter the name of the directory to unpack the archive to. |
Overwrite |
To overwrite an existing archive, check this box. |
Outputs
Output |
Output Type |
Zipped file |
File |
Exit codes
Code |
Type |
Detail |
0 |
Success |
Success |
1 |
Error |
Invalid arguments |
16 |
Error |
Failed to create archive |