CODEWITHSUNDEEP
linuxbashscpcp
user3639557
user3639557

Reputation: 5291

How to copy via wild card in linux/bash?

Here is what I am trying to do - assume a source directory:

/xyz/2/file.txt
/xyz/2/crapfile.txt
/xyz/3/file.txt
/xyz/3/crapfile.txt

and I want to copy file.txt into the following directory:

/z/2
/z/3

I like to do something like this, but this doesn't work:

cp -r /xyz/*/file.txt /z/*/

to avoid copying things separately - which I can do with the following:

cp -r /xyz/2/file.txt /z/2/
cp -r /xyz/3/file.txt /z/3/

Upvotes: 1

Views: 101

Answers (4)

John1024
John1024

Reputation: 113924

This command copies from xyz to z excluding all files named crapfile.txt:

rsync -a --exclude=crapfile.txt xyz/ z

With the -v (verbose) option, we can see its work in progress:

$ rsync -va --exclude=crapfile.txt xyz/ z
sending incremental file list
./
2/
2/file.txt
3/
3/file.txt

As you can see, file.txt was copied but crapfile.txt was skipped.

rsync is a very powerful utility with many many options. For more info, see man rsync or any of the rsync tutorials on the web.

Upvotes: 1

z atef
z atef

Reputation: 7689

Based on my understanding of the the question , the below should do it: 

[za]$ cp -rv xyz/{dir_1/,dir_2}/*  target_dir/
`xyz/dir_1//file3_dir1.txt' -> `target_dir/file3_dir1.txt'
`xyz/dir_1//file4_dir1.txt' -> `target_dir/file4_dir1.txt'
`xyz/dir_2/file1.txt' -> `target_dir/file1.txt'
`xyz/dir_2/file2.txt' -> `target_dir/file2.txt'
`xyz/dir_2/file3.txt' -> `target_dir/file3.txt'
`xyz/dir_2/file4.txt' -> `target_dir/file4.txt'

[za]$ cp -rv xyz/{dir_1/,dir_2}/*.txt  target_dir/
`xyz/dir_1//file3_dir1.txt' -> `target_dir/file3_dir1.txt'
`xyz/dir_1//file4_dir1.txt' -> `target_dir/file4_dir1.txt'
`xyz/dir_2/file1.txt' -> `target_dir/file1.txt'
`xyz/dir_2/file2.txt' -> `target_dir/file2.txt'
`xyz/dir_2/file3.txt' -> `target_dir/file3.txt'
`xyz/dir_2/file4.txt' -> `target_dir/file4.txt'



other ways depending on what you are trying to achive. 

1)
[za temp_dir]$ cp -rv xyz/* target_dir/
`xyz/dir_1' -> `target_dir/dir_1'
`xyz/dir_1/file3_dir1.txt' -> `target_dir/dir_1/file3_dir1.txt'
`xyz/dir_1/file4_dir1.txt' -> `target_dir/dir_1/file4_dir1.txt'
`xyz/dir_2' -> `target_dir/dir_2'
`xyz/dir_2/file1.txt' -> `target_dir/dir_2/file1.txt'
`xyz/dir_2/file2.txt' -> `target_dir/dir_2/file2.txt'
`xyz/dir_2/file3.txt' -> `target_dir/dir_2/file3.txt'
`xyz/dir_2/file4.txt' -> `target_dir/dir_2/file4.txt'

2)
[za temp_dir]$ for x in $(find . -type f) ; do cp -v $x target_dir/ ; done 
`./target_dir/dir_1/file3_dir1.txt' -> `target_dir/file3_dir1.txt'
`./target_dir/dir_1/file4_dir1.txt' -> `target_dir/file4_dir1.txt'
`./target_dir/dir_2/file1.txt' -> `target_dir/file1.txt'
`./target_dir/dir_2/file2.txt' -> `target_dir/file2.txt'
`./target_dir/dir_2/file3.txt' -> `target_dir/file3.txt'
`./target_dir/dir_2/file4.txt' -> `target_dir/file4.txt'
`./xyz/dir_1/file3_dir1.txt' -> `target_dir/file3_dir1.txt'
`./xyz/dir_1/file4_dir1.txt' -> `target_dir/file4_dir1.txt'
`./xyz/dir_2/file1.txt' -> `target_dir/file1.txt'
`./xyz/dir_2/file2.txt' -> `target_dir/file2.txt'
`./xyz/dir_2/file3.txt' -> `target_dir/file3.txt'
`./xyz/dir_2/file4.txt' -> `target_dir/file4.txt'


3)      
[za temp_dir]$ rsync -rav xyz/* target_dir/
sending incremental file list
dir_1/
dir_1/file3_dir1.txt
dir_1/file4_dir1.txt
dir_2/
dir_2/file1.txt
dir_2/file2.txt
dir_2/file3.txt
dir_2/file4.txt

sent 414 bytes  received 134 bytes  1096.00 bytes/sec
total size is 0  speedup is 0.00
[za temp_dir]$ 


4)
[za]$  find xyz/ | while read ; do cp -v $REPLY target_dir/ ; done 
cp: omitting directory `xyz/'
cp: omitting directory `xyz/dir_1'
`xyz/dir_1/file3_dir1.txt' -> `target_dir/file3_dir1.txt'
`xyz/dir_1/file4_dir1.txt' -> `target_dir/file4_dir1.txt'
cp: omitting directory `xyz/dir_2'
`xyz/dir_2/file1.txt' -> `target_dir/file1.txt'
`xyz/dir_2/file2.txt' -> `target_dir/file2.txt'
`xyz/dir_2/file3.txt' -> `target_dir/file3.txt'
`xyz/dir_2/file4.txt' -> `target_dir/file4.txt'


sent 414 bytes  received 134 bytes  1096.00 bytes/sec
total size is 0  speedup is 0.00

Upvotes: 0

Tom Solid
Tom Solid

Reputation: 2354

Use a for loop with an ls:

for I in `ls /xyz`; do mkdir /z/$I; cp -r /xyz/$I/file.txt /z/$I/ ; done

(Or if /z/2 and /z/3 is already existing skip mkdir!)

Upvotes: 0

goatcheese90
goatcheese90

Reputation: 9

Instead of using a wild card, you could do something similar to:

for x in $(ls /xyz) 
do
mkdir /z/$x
cp /xyz/$x/file.txt /z/$x/
done

If the folders under z do not already exist, otherwise remove the mkdir line above

Upvotes: 0

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