I wanna move a file after the grep command but as I execute my script, I noticed that there are no results coming back. regardless of that, I want to move the file/s to another directory.
this is what I've been doing:
for file in *.sup
do
grep -iq "$file" '' /desktop/list/varlogs.txt || mv "$file" /desktop/first;
done
but I am getting this error:
mv: 0653-401 Cannot rename first /desktop/first/first
suggestions would be very helpful
I am not sure what the two single quotes are for in between ..."$file" '' /desktop.... With them there, grep is looking also for $file in a file called '', so grep will throw the grep: : No such file or directory error with that there.
Also pay attention to the behavior change of adding the -q or --quiet flags, as it affects the returned value of grep and will impact whether the command to the || is run or not (see man grep for more).
I can't make out exactly what you are trying to do, but you can add a couple statements to help figure out what is going on. You could run your script with bash -x ./myscript.sh to display everything that runs as it runs, or add set -x before and set +x after the for loop in the script to show what is happening.
I added some debugging to your script and changed th || to an if/then statement to expose what is happening. Try this and see if you can find where things are going awry.
echo -e "============\nBEFORE:\n============"
echo -e "\n## The files in current dir '$(pwd)' are: ##\n$(ls)"
echo -e "\n## The files in '/desktop/first' are: ##\n$(ls /desktop/first)"
echo -e "\n## Looking for '.sup' files in '$(pwd)' ##"
for file in *.sup; do
echo -e "\n## == look for '${file}' in '/desktop/list/varlogs.txt' == ##"
# let's change this to an if/else
# the || means try the left command for success, or try the right one
# grep -iq "$file" '' /desktop/list/varlogs.txt || mv -v "$file" /desktop/first
# based on `man grep`: EXIT STATUS
# Normally the exit status is 0 if a line is selected,
# 1 if no lines were selected, and 2 if an error occurred.
# However, if the -q or --quiet or --silent is used and a line
# is selected, the exit status is 0 even if an error occurred.
# note that --ignore-case and --quiet are long versions of -i and -q/ -iq
if grep --ignore-case --quiet "${file}" '' /desktop/list/varlogs.txt; then
echo -e "\n'${file}' found in '/desktop/list/varlogs.txt'"
else
echo -e "\n'${file}' not found in '/desktop/list/varlogs.txt'"
echo -e "\nmove '${file}' to '/desktop/first'"
mv --verbose "${file}" /desktop/first
fi
done
echo -e "\n============\nAFTER:\n============"
echo -e "\n## The files in current dir '$(pwd)' are: ##\n$(ls)"
echo -e "\n## The files in '/desktop/first' are: ##\n$(ls /desktop/first)"
|| means try the first command, and if it is not successful (i.e. does not return 0), then do the next command. In your case, it appears you are looking in /desktop/list/varlogs.txt to see if any .sup files in the current directory match any in the varlogs file and if not, then move them to the /desktop/first/ directory. If matches were found, leave them in the current dir. (according to the logic you have currently)
mv --verbose explain what is being done
echo -e enables interpretation of backslash escapes
set -x shows the commands that are being run/ debugging
Please respond and clarify if anything is different. I am trying to raise in the ranks to be more helpful so I would appreciate comments, and upvotes if this was helpful.
Suggesting to avoid repeated scans of /desktop/list/varlogs.txt, and remove duplicats:
mv $(grep -o -f <<<$(ls -1 *.sup) /desktop/list/varlogs.txt|sort|uniq) /desktop/first
Suggesting to test step 1. in explanation below to list the files to be moved.
Explanation
1. grep -o -f <<<$(ls -1 *.sup) /desktop/list/varlogs.txt| sort| uniq
List all the files selected in ls -1 *.sup mentioned in /desktop/list/varlogs.txt in a single scan.
-o list only matched filenames.
<<<$(ls -1 *.sup) prepare a temporary redirected input file containing all the pattern match strings. From the output of ls -1 *.sup
|sort|uniq Than, sort the list and remove duplicates (we can move the file only once).
2. mv <files-list-output-from-step-1> /desktop/first
Move all the files found in step 1 to directory /desktop/first
Among the tons of cp questions I have not found anything about this difference in behaviour (tested on Ubuntu 18.04). Sorry for the lost post, but the setting is a bit complex.
Case 1: This is the expected behaviour
Given the following folder
source
file1.cpp
file2.cpp
after running this script
#!/bin/bash
cp -r source/ target/
I do get this result
source # same as above, plus a copy in "target"
file1.cpp
file2.cpp
target
file1.cpp
file2.cpp
Case 2: Using the same script, source folder exists and is empty in the target folder
Here there is one additional, empty folder
source
file1.cpp
file2.cpp
target
source
and run the same script
#!/bin/bash
cp -r source/ target/
which gives me a different, undesired result
source # same as above, plus a copy in "target"
file1.cpp
file2.cpp
target
source
file1.cpp
file2.cpp
Normal Solution for Case1 and Case2
cp -r source/ target/ # works only for Case 1
cp -r source/* target/ # works only for Case 2
Used in the wrong case, one will cause an error, the other yield the wrong result which can be very confusing. This means for each copy action I must check if the target folder exists and use a different command. That is very cumbersome but I am not aware of a more simple solution.
Unresolved situation for Case2
However, the problem I have is this one: When I use variables for the source and target my script looks like this
#!/bin/bash
SOURCE="source"
TARGET="target"
if [ -d "$TARGET" ]; then
cp -r $SOURCE $TARGET
else
cp -r $SOURCE/* $TARGET # note "$SOURCE/*" would fail.
fi
and I have a $SOURCE path with spaces.
SOURCE="source code"
Since I can not use quotations for the source variable, this causes two 'directory not found errors'.
How can I solve this for Case2?
EDIT
To clarify the problem a bit more. This
SOURCE="source"
cp -r "$SOURCE/*" $TARGET
fails with the error "cannot stat source/: No such file or directory". I think that means that bash can not replace the / with the file list and cp gets this as a file literal. A file or folder with the name "source/*" obviously does not exist. But maybe I am thinking too simple and what bash does is different.
Although your main issue concerns the cp command there is also something I would like to say about your try. So lets get it step by step.
Issue 1: cp behaviour
The cp command behaves differently when the target folder contains a folder with the same name than the source folder. This behaviour is intended but can be avoided using the -T option according to man.
Here you can find an extended explanation of the -T option.
Thus, you can just execute:
cp -rT source/ target/
Issue 2: Paths containing spaces
In your try you mention issues when handling paths using spaces. Although with the previous solution you don't need a custom script, I want to highlight that variables with paths containing spaces require all accesses to be double-quoted. The variable content must be double-quoted, not the star (since you want the globstar to expand, not to be taken literally). Hence, your previous script would look like this:
#!/bin/bash
SOURCE=${1:-"source"}
TARGET=${2:-"target"}
if [ -d "$TARGET" ]; then
cp -r "$SOURCE" "$TARGET"
else
cp -r "$SOURCE"/* "$TARGET" # note "$SOURCE/*" would fail.
fi
Maybe us CP for individual files and wse rsync for directories ?
rsync -vazh /source /destination
(includes 'source' dir)
rsync -vazh /source/ /destination
(does not include 'source' dir)
#!/bin/bash
cp -r --copy-contents source/ target/
--copy-contents means copy only the content of source
for understand better that happend in your case test this script:
#!/bin/bash
pwd
you can do some like that if this pwd write different places:
#!/bin/bash
cd SOURCE_PARENT
cp -r --copy-contents source/ target/
if you have spaces in the target or source name have this in mind
cp [OPTION]... SOURCE... DIRECTORY
target name <= "target realTarget"
cp -r source target realTarget
cp -r source target realTarget believe that you want copy source & target in realTarget it don't understand that "target realTarget" is a full name if you need copy it you have to use the double quotation marks in the comandad
cp -r source "target realTarget"
cp -r source "target realTarget" now "target realTarget" is taken as folder name
with source happend the same use the double quotation marks and you will solve the problem
->with your extra: (escape the quotes using \)
SOURCE="\"source realsource\""
cp -rT --copy-contents $SOURCE $TARGET
-T, --no-target-directory
treat DEST as a normal file
I started using "sudo rm -r" to delete files/directories. I even put it as an alias of rm.
I normally know what I am doing and I am quite experience linux user.
However, I would like that when I press the "ENTER", before the execution of rm, a list of files will show up on the screen and a prompt at the end to OK the deletion of files.
Options -i -I -v does not do what I want. I want only one prompt for all the printed files on screen.
Thank you.
##
# Double-check files to delete.
delcheck() {
printf 'Here are the %d files you said you wanted to delete:\n' "$#"
printf '"%s"\n' "$#"
read -p 'Do you want to delete them? [y/N] ' doit
case "$doit" in
[yY]) rm "$#";;
*) printf 'No files deleted\n';;
esac
}
This is a shell function that (when used properly) will do what you want. However, if you load the function in your current shell then try to use it with sudo, it won't do what you expect because sudo creates a separate shell. So you'd need to make this a shell script…
#!/bin/bash
… same code as above …
# All this script does is create the function and then execute it.
# It's lazy, but functions are nice.
delcheck "$#"
…then make sure sudo can access it. Put it in some place that is in the sudo execution PATH (Depending on sudo configuration.) Then if you really want to execute it precisely as sudo rm -r * you will still need to name the script rm, (which in my opinion is dangerous) and make sure its PATH is before /bin in your PATH. (Also dangerous). But there you go.
Here's a nice option
Alias rm to echo | xargs -p rm
The -p option means "interactive" - it will display the entire command (including any expanded file lists) and ask you to confirm
It will NOT ask about the recursively removed files. But it will expand rm * .o to:
rm -rf * .o
rm -rf program.cc program.cc~ program program.o backup?... # NO NO NO NO NO!
Which is much nicer than receiving the error
rm: .o file not found
Edit: corrected the solution based on chepner comment. My previous solutions had a bug :(
This simple script prompts for a y response before deleting the files specified.
rmc script file:
read -p "ok to delete? " ans
case $ans in
[yY]*) sudo rm "$#" ;;
*) echo "Nothing deleted";;
esac
Invoke thus
./rmc *.tmp
I created a script to do this. The solution is similar to #kojiro's.
Save the script with the filename del. Run the command sudo chmod a=r+w+x del to make the script an executable. In the directory in which you want to save the script, export the path by entering export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/the/del/executable in your '~/.bashrc' file and run source ~/.bashrc.
Here, the syntax of rm is preserved, except instead of typing rm ..., type del ... where del is the name of the bash script below.
#! /bin/bash
# Safely delete files
args=("$#") # store all arguments passed to shell
N=$# # number of arguments passed to shell
#echo $#
#echo $#
#echo ${args[#]:0}
echo "Files to delete:"
echo
n=`expr $N - 1`
for i in `seq 0 $n`
do
str=${args[i]}
if [ ${str:0:1} != "-" ]; then
echo $str
fi
done
echo
read -r -p "Delete these files? [y/n] " response
case $response in
[yY][eE][sS]|[yY])
rm ${args[#]:0}
esac
I want a command (or probably an option to cp) that creates the destination directory if it does not exist.
Example:
cp -? file /path/to/copy/file/to/is/very/deep/there
mkdir -p "$d" && cp file "$d"
(there's no such option for cp).
If both of the following are true:
You are using the GNU version of cp (and not, for instance, the Mac version), and
You are copying from some existing directory structure and you just need it recreated
then you can do this with the --parents flag of cp. From the info page (viewable at http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/html_node/cp-invocation.html#cp-invocation or with info cp or man cp):
--parents
Form the name of each destination file by appending to the target
directory a slash and the specified name of the source file. The
last argument given to `cp' must be the name of an existing
directory. For example, the command:
cp --parents a/b/c existing_dir
copies the file `a/b/c' to `existing_dir/a/b/c', creating any
missing intermediate directories.
Example:
/tmp $ mkdir foo
/tmp $ mkdir foo/foo
/tmp $ touch foo/foo/foo.txt
/tmp $ mkdir bar
/tmp $ cp --parents foo/foo/foo.txt bar
/tmp $ ls bar/foo/foo
foo.txt
Short Answer
To copy myfile.txt to /foo/bar/myfile.txt, use:
mkdir -p /foo/bar && cp myfile.txt $_
How does this work?
There's a few components to this, so I'll cover all the syntax step by step.
The mkdir utility, as specified in the POSIX standard, makes directories. The -p argument, per the docs, will cause mkdir to
Create any missing intermediate pathname components
meaning that when calling mkdir -p /foo/bar, mkdir will create /foo and /foo/bar if /foo doesn't already exist. (Without -p, it will instead throw an error.
The && list operator, as documented in the POSIX standard (or the Bash manual if you prefer), has the effect that cp myfile.txt $_ only gets executed if mkdir -p /foo/bar executes successfully. This means the cp command won't try to execute if mkdir fails for one of the many reasons it might fail.
Finally, the $_ we pass as the second argument to cp is a "special parameter" which can be handy for avoiding repeating long arguments (like file paths) without having to store them in a variable. Per the Bash manual, it:
expands to the last argument to the previous command
In this case, that's the /foo/bar we passed to mkdir. So the cp command expands to cp myfile.txt /foo/bar, which copies myfile.txt into the newly created /foo/bar directory.
Note that $_ is not part of the POSIX standard, so theoretically a Unix variant might have a shell that doesn't support this construct. However, I don't know of any modern shells that don't support $_; certainly Bash, Dash, and zsh all do.
A final note: the command I've given at the start of this answer assumes that your directory names don't have spaces in. If you're dealing with names with spaces, you'll need to quote them so that the different words aren't treated as different arguments to mkdir or cp. So your command would actually look like:
mkdir -p "/my directory/name with/spaces" && cp "my filename with spaces.txt" "$_"
Such an old question, but maybe I can propose an alternative solution.
You can use the install programme to copy your file and create the destination path "on the fly".
install -D file /path/to/copy/file/to/is/very/deep/there/file
There are some aspects to take in consideration, though:
you need to specify also the destination file name, not only the destination path
the destination file will be executable (at least, as far as I saw from my tests)
You can easily amend the #2 by adding the -m option to set permissions on the destination file (example: -m 664 will create the destination file with permissions rw-rw-r--, just like creating a new file with touch).
And here it is the shameless link to the answer I was inspired by =)
Shell function that does what you want, calling it a "bury" copy because it digs a hole for the file to live in:
bury_copy() { mkdir -p `dirname $2` && cp "$1" "$2"; }
Here's one way to do it:
mkdir -p `dirname /path/to/copy/file/to/is/very/deep/there` \
&& cp -r file /path/to/copy/file/to/is/very/deep/there
dirname will give you the parent of the destination directory or file. mkdir -p `dirname ...` will then create that directory ensuring that when you call cp -r the correct base directory is in place.
The advantage of this over --parents is that it works for the case where the last element in the destination path is a filename.
And it'll work on OS X.
with all my respect for answers above, I prefer to use rsync as follow:
$ rsync -a directory_name /path_where_to_inject_your_directory/
example:
$ rsync -a test /usr/local/lib/
install -D file -m 644 -t /path/to/copy/file/to/is/very/deep/there
This does it for me
cp -vaR ./from ./to
This is very late but it may help a rookie somewhere. If you need to AUTO create folders rsync should be your best friend.
rsync /path/to/sourcefile /path/to/tragetdir/thatdoestexist/
Simply add the following in your .bashrc, tweak if you need. Works in Ubuntu.
mkcp() {
test -d "$2" || mkdir -p "$2"
cp -r "$1" "$2"
}
E.g
If you want to copy 'test' file to destination directory 'd'
Use,
mkcp test a/b/c/d
mkcp will first check if destination directory exists or not, if not then make it and copy source file/directory.
Just to resume and give a complete working solution, in one line.
Be careful if you want to rename your file, you should include a way to provide a clean dir path to mkdir. $fdst can be file or dir.
Next code should work in any case.
fsrc=/tmp/myfile.unk
fdst=/tmp/dir1/dir2/dir3/myfile.txt
mkdir -p $(dirname ${fdst}) && cp -p ${fsrc} ${fdst}
or bash specific
fsrc=/tmp/myfile.unk
fdst=/tmp/dir1/dir2/dir3/myfile.txt
mkdir -p ${fdst%/*} && cp -p ${fsrc} ${fdst}
As suggested above by help_asap and spongeman you can use the 'install' command to copy files to existing directories or create create new destination directories if they don't already exist.
Option 1
install -D filename some/deep/directory/filename
copies file to a new or existing directory and gives filename default 755 permissions
Option 2
install -D filename -m640 some/deep/directory/filename
as per Option 1 but gives filename 640 permissions.
Option 3
install -D filename -m640 -t some/deep/directory/
as per Option 2 but targets filename into target directory so filename does not need to be written in both source and target.
Option 4
install -D filena* -m640 -t some/deep/directory/
as per Option 3 but uses a wildcard for multiple files.
It works nicely in Ubuntu and combines two steps (directory creation then file copy) into one single step.
Simply without creating script and with simple command ...
mkdir -p /destination-folder/ && cp file-name /destination-folder/
I wrote a support script for cp, called CP (note capital letters) that's intended to do exactly this. Script will check for errors in the path you've put in (except the last one which is the destination) and if all is well, it will do an mkdir -p step to create the destination path before starting the copy. At this point the regular cp utility takes over and any switches you use with CP (like -r, -p, -rpL gets piped directly to cp). Before you use my script, there are a few things you need to understand.
all the info here can be accessed by doing CP --help. CP --help-all include's cp's switches.
regular cp won't do the copy if it doesn't find the destination path. You don't have such a safety net for typos with CP. You're destination will be created, so if you misspell your destination as /usrr/share/icons or /usr/share/icon well that's what's going to be created.
regular cp tends to model it's behavior on the existing path: cp /a/b /c/d will vary on whether d exists or not. if d is an existing folder, cp will copy b into it, making /c/d/b. If d doesn't exist, b will be copied into c and renamed to d. If d exists but is a file and b is a file, it will be overwritten by b's copy. If c doesn't exist, cp doesn't do the copy and exits.
CP doesn't have the luxury of taking cues from existing paths, so it has to have some very firm behavior patterns. CP assumes that the item you're copying is being dropped in the destination path and is not the destination itself (aka, a renamed copy of the source file/folder). Meaning:
"CP /a/b /c/d" will result in /c/d/b if d is a folder
"CP /a/b /c/b" will result in /c/b/b if b in /c/b is a folder.
If both b and d are files: CP /a/b /c/d will result in /c/d (where d is a copy of b). Same for CP /a/b /c/b in the same circumstance.
This default CP behavior can be changed with the "--rename" switch. In this case, it's assumed that
"CP --rename /a/b /c/d" is copying b into /c and renaming the copy to d.
A few closing notes: Like with cp, CP can copy multiple items at a time with the last path being listed assumed to be the destination. It can also handle paths with spaces as long as you use quotation marks.
CP will check the paths you put in and make sure they exist before doing the copy. In strict mode (available through --strict switch), all files/folders being copied must exist or no copy takes place. In relaxed mode (--relaxed), copy will continue if at least one of the items you listed exists. Relaxed mode is the default, you can change the mode temporarily via the switches or permanently by setting the variable easy_going at the beginning of the script.
Here's how to install it:
In a non-root terminal, do:
sudo echo > /usr/bin/CP; sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/CP; sudo touch /usr/bin/CP
gedit admin:///usr/bin/CP
In gedit, paste CP utility and save:
#!/bin/bash
#Regular cp works with the assumption that the destination path exists and if it doesn't, it will verify that it's parent directory does.
#eg: cp /a/b /c/d will give /c/d/b if folder path /c/d already exists but will give /c/d (where d is renamed copy of b) if /c/d doesn't exists but /c does.
#CP works differently, provided that d in /c/d isn't an existing file, it assumes that you're copying item into a folder path called /c/d and will create it if it doesn't exist. so CP /a/b /c/d will always give /c/d/b unless d is an existing file. If you put the --rename switch, it will assume that you're copying into /c and renaming the singl item you're copying from b to d at the destination. Again, if /c doesn't exist, it will be created. So CP --rename /a/b /c/d will give a /c/d and if there already a folder called /c/d, contents of b will be merged into d.
#cp+ $source $destination
#mkdir -p /foo/bar && cp myfile "$_"
err=0 # error count
i=0 #item counter, doesn't include destination (starts at 1, ex. item1, item2 etc)
m=0 #cp switch counter (starts at 1, switch 1, switch2, etc)
n=1 # argument counter (aka the arguments inputed into script, those include both switches and items, aka: $1 $2 $3 $4 $5)
count_s=0
count_i=0
easy_going=true #determines how you deal with bad pathes in your copy, true will allow copy to continue provided one of the items being copied exists, false will exit script for one bad path. this setting can also be changed via the custom switches: --strict and --not-strict
verbal="-v"
help="===============================================================================\
\n CREATIVE COPY SCRIPT (CP) -- written by thebunnyrules\
\n===============================================================================\n
\n This script (CP, note capital letters) is intended to supplement \
\n your system's regular cp command (note uncapped letters). \n
\n Script's function is to check if the destination path exists \
\n before starting the copy. If it doesn't it will be created.\n
\n To make this happen, CP assumes that the item you're copying is \
\n being dropped in the destination path and is not the destination\
\n itself (aka, a renamed copy of the source file/folder). Meaning:\n
\n * \"CP /a/b /c/d\" will result in /c/d/b \
\n * even if you write \"CP /a/b /c/b\", CP will create the path /a/b, \
\n resulting in /c/b/b. \n
\n Of course, if /c/b or /c/d are existing files and /a/b is also a\
\n file, the existing destination file will simply be overwritten. \
\n This behavior can be changed with the \"--rename\" switch. In this\
\n case, it's assumed that \"CP --rename /a/b /c/d\" is copying b into /c \
\n and renaming the copy to d.\n
\n===============================================================================\
\n CP specific help: Switches and their Usages \
\n===============================================================================\n
\
\n --rename\tSee above. Ignored if copying more than one item. \n
\n --quiet\tCP is verbose by default. This quiets it.\n
\n --strict\tIf one+ of your files was not found, CP exits if\
\n\t\tyou use --rename switch with multiple items, CP \
\n\t\texits.\n
\n --relaxed\tIgnores bad paths unless they're all bad but warns\
\n\t\tyou about them. Ignores in-appropriate rename switch\
\n\t\twithout exiting. This is default behavior. You can \
\n\t\tmake strict the default behavior by editing the \
\n\t\tCP script and setting: \n
\n\t\teasy_going=false.\n
\n --help-all\tShows help specific to cp (in addition to CP)."
cp_hlp="\n\nRegular cp command's switches will still work when using CP.\
\nHere is the help out of the original cp command... \
\n\n===============================================================================\
\n cp specific help: \
\n===============================================================================\n"
outro1="\n******************************************************************************\
\n******************************************************************************\
\n******************************************************************************\
\n USE THIS SCRIPT WITH CARE, TYPOS WILL GIVE YOU PROBLEMS...\
\n******************************************************************************\
\n******************************* HIT q TO EXIT ********************************\
\n******************************************************************************"
#count and classify arguments that were inputed into script, output help message if needed
while true; do
eval input="\$$n"
in_=${input::1}
if [ -z "$input" -a $n = 1 ]; then input="--help"; fi
if [ "$input" = "-h" -o "$input" = "--help" -o "$input" = "-?" -o "$input" = "--help-all" ]; then
if [ "$input" = "--help-all" ]; then
echo -e "$help"$cp_hlp > /tmp/cp.hlp
cp --help >> /tmp/cp.hlp
echo -e "$outro1" >> /tmp/cp.hlp
cat /tmp/cp.hlp|less
cat /tmp/cp.hlp
rm /tmp/cp.hlp
else
echo -e "$help" "$outro1"|less
echo -e "$help" "$outro1"
fi
exit
fi
if [ -z "$input" ]; then
count_i=$(expr $count_i - 1 ) # remember, last item is destination and it's not included in cound
break
elif [ "$in_" = "-" ]; then
count_s=$(expr $count_s + 1 )
else
count_i=$(expr $count_i + 1 )
fi
n=$(expr $n + 1)
done
#error condition: no items to copy or no destination
if [ $count_i -lt 0 ]; then
echo "Error: You haven't listed any items for copying. Exiting." # you didn't put any items for copying
elif [ $count_i -lt 1 ]; then
echo "Error: Copying usually involves a destination. Exiting." # you put one item and no destination
fi
#reset the counter and grab content of arguments, aka: switches and item paths
n=1
while true; do
eval input="\$$n" #input=$1,$2,$3,etc...
in_=${input::1} #first letter of $input
if [ "$in_" = "-" ]; then
if [ "$input" = "--rename" ]; then
rename=true #my custom switches
elif [ "$input" = "--strict" ]; then
easy_going=false #exit script if even one of the non-destinations item is not found
elif [ "$input" = "--relaxed" ]; then
easy_going=true #continue script if at least one of the non-destination items is found
elif [ "$input" = "--quiet" ]; then
verbal=""
else
#m=$(expr $m + 1);eval switch$m="$input" #input is a switch, if it's not one of the above, assume it belongs to cp.
switch_list="$switch_list \"$input\""
fi
elif ! [ -z "$input" ]; then #if it's not a switch and input is not empty, it's a path
i=$(expr $i + 1)
if [ ! -f "$input" -a ! -d "$input" -a "$i" -le "$count_i" ]; then
err=$(expr $err + 1 ); error_list="$error_list\npath does not exit: \"b\""
else
if [ "$i" -le "$count_i" ]; then
eval item$i="$input"
item_list="$item_list \"$input\""
else
destination="$input" #destination is last items entered
fi
fi
else
i=0
m=0
n=1
break
fi
n=$(expr $n + 1)
done
#error condition: some or all item(s) being copied don't exist. easy_going: continue if at least one item exists, warn about rest, not easy_going: exit.
#echo "err=$err count_i=$count_i"
if [ "$easy_going" != true -a $err -gt 0 -a $err != $count_i ]; then
echo "Some of the paths you entered are incorrect. Script is running in strict mode and will therefore exit."
echo -e "Bad Paths: $err $error_list"
exit
fi
if [ $err = $count_i ]; then
echo "ALL THE PATHS you have entered are incorrect! Exiting."
echo -e "Bad Paths: $err $error_list"
fi
#one item to one destination:
#------------------------------
#assumes that destination is folder, it does't exist, it will create it. (so copying /a/b/c/d/firefox to /e/f/firefox will result in /e/f/firefox/firefox
#if -rename switch is given, will assume that the top element of destination path is the new name for the the item being given.
#multi-item to single destination:
#------------------------------
#assumes destination is a folder, gives error if it exists and it's a file. -rename switch will be ignored.
#ERROR CONDITIONS:
# - multiple items being sent to a destination and it's a file.
# - if -rename switch was given and multiple items are being copied, rename switch will be ignored (easy_going). if not easy_going, exit.
# - rename option but source is folder, destination is file, exit.
# - rename option but source is file and destination is folder. easy_going: option ignored.
if [ -f "$destination" ]; then
if [ $count_i -gt 1 ]; then
echo "Error: You've selected a single file as a destination and are copying multiple items to it. Exiting."; exit
elif [ -d "$item1" ]; then
echo "Error: Your destination is a file but your source is a folder. Exiting."; exit
fi
fi
if [ "$rename" = true ]; then
if [ $count_i -gt 1 ]; then
if [ $easy_going = true ]; then
echo "Warning: you choose the rename option but are copying multiple items. Ignoring Rename option. Continuing."
else
echo "Error: you choose the rename option but are copying multiple items. Script running in strict mode. Exiting."; exit
fi
elif [ -d "$destination" -a -f "$item1" ]; then
echo -n "Warning: you choose the rename option but source is a file and destination is a folder with the same name. "
if [ $easy_going = true ]; then
echo "Ignoring Rename option. Continuing."
else
echo "Script running in strict mode. Exiting."; exit
fi
else
dest_jr=$(dirname "$destination")
if [ -d "$destination" ]; then item_list="$item1/*";fi
mkdir -p "$dest_jr"
fi
else
mkdir -p "$destination"
fi
eval cp $switch_list $verbal $item_list "$destination"
cp_err="$?"
if [ "$cp_err" != 0 ]; then
echo -e "Something went wrong with the copy operation. \nExit Status: $cp_err"
else
echo "Copy operation exited with no errors."
fi
exit
cp has multiple usages:
$ cp --help
Usage: cp [OPTION]... [-T] SOURCE DEST
or: cp [OPTION]... SOURCE... DIRECTORY
or: cp [OPTION]... -t DIRECTORY SOURCE...
Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.
#AndyRoss's answer works for the
cp SOURCE DEST
style of cp, but does the wrong thing if you use the
cp SOURCE... DIRECTORY/
style of cp.
I think that "DEST" is ambiguous without a trailing slash in this usage (i.e. where the target directory doesn't yet exist), which is perhaps why cp has never added an option for this.
So here's my version of this function which enforces a trailing slash on the dest dir:
cp-p() {
last=${#: -1}
if [[ $# -ge 2 && "$last" == */ ]] ; then
# cp SOURCE... DEST/
mkdir -p "$last" && cp "$#"
else
echo "cp-p: (copy, creating parent dirs)"
echo "cp-p: Usage: cp-p SOURCE... DEST/"
fi
}
i strongly suggest ditto.
just works.
ditto my/location/poop.txt this/doesnt/exist/yet/poop.txt
Just had the same issue. My approach was to just tar the files into an archive like so:
tar cf your_archive.tar file1 /path/to/file2 path/to/even/deeper/file3
tar automatically stores the files in the appropriate structure within the archive. If you run
tar xf your_archive.tar
the files are extracted into the desired directory structure.
Copy from source to an non existing path
mkdir –p /destination && cp –r /source/ $_
NOTE: this command copies all the files
cp –r for copying all folders and its content
$_ work as destination which is created in last command
Oneliner to create a small script that can be used as subcommand, in find for instance:
set +H; echo -e "#!/bin/sh\nmkdir -p \$(dirname \"\$2\"); cp \"\$1\" \"$2\"\;" > ~/local/bin/cpmkdir; chmod +x ~/local/bin/cpmkdir
You can then use it like:
find -name files_you_re_lookin_for.* -exec cpmkdir {} ../extracted_copy/{} \;
rsync file /path/to/copy/file/to/is/very/deep/there
This might work, if you have the right kind of rsync.
You can use find with Perl. Command will be like this:
find file | perl -lne '$t = "/path/to/copy/file/to/is/very/deep/there/"; /^(.+)\/.+$/; `mkdir -p $t$1` unless(-d "$t$1"); `cp $_ $t$_` unless(-f "$t$_");'
This command will create directory $t if it doesn't exist. And than copy file into $t only unless file exists inside $t.
This works on GNU /bin/bash version 3.2 on MacOS (tested on both Catalina and Big Sur)
cp -Rv <existing-source-folder>/ <non-existing-2becreated-destination-folder>
the "v" option is for verbose.
And I think of the "-R" option as "Recursive".
man's full description of -R is:
If source_file designates a directory, cp copies the directory and the entire subtree connected at that point. If the source_file ends in a /, the contents of the directory are copied rather than the directory itself. This option also causes symbolic links to be copied, rather than indirected through, and for cp to create special files rather than copying them as normal files. Created directories have the same mode as the corresponding source directory, unmodified by the process' umask.
In -R mode, cp will continue copying even if errors are detected.
Note that cp copies hard-linked files as separate files. If you need to preserve hard links, consider using tar(1), cpio(1), or pax(1) instead.
In the example below, I'm using a "/" at the end of existingfolder so that it copies all the contents of existingfolder (and not the folder itself) into newfolder:
cp -Rv existingfolder/ newfolder
Try it.
Only for macOS
rsync -R <source file path> destination_folder
For macOS --parents option of cp doesn't work
Many of the other solutions don't work on files or folders which need escaping. Here is a solution which works for files and folders, and escapes spaces and other special characters. Tested in a busybox ash shell which doesn't have access to some of the fancier options.
export file="annoying folder/bar.txt"
export new_parent="/tmp/"
# Creates /tmp/annoying folder/
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$new_folder/$file")"
# Copies file to /tmp/annoying folder/bar.txt
cp -r "$file" "$new_folder/$file"
This should also work if you omit bar.txt if you need the recursive copy of a whole folder.
Let's say you are doing something like
cp file1.txt A/B/C/D/file.txt
where A/B/C/D are directories which do not exist yet
A possible solution is as follows
DIR=$(dirname A/B/C/D/file.txt)
# DIR= "A/B/C/D"
mkdir -p $DIR
cp file1.txt A/B/C/D/file.txt
hope that helps!
Simple
cp -a * /path/to/dst/
should do the trick.