Using find.

stf92 · 10-25-2012, 05:26 AM

Hi:
I use the find command and get the following output:

Code:

semoi@darkstar:/mnt/cd0/Bach/Partitas_violin$ find . -name "*flac"
./PARTITA_1/Bach_Partita_I_Kuijken_24-bit.flac
./PARTITA_1/Bach_Sonata_I_Kuijken_24-bit.flac
./PARTITA_2/Bach_Kuijken_Partita_IIa_24-bit-cr.flac
./PARTITA_2/Bach_Kuijken_Partita_IIb_24-bit-cr.flac
./PARTITA_2/Bach_Kuijken_Sonata_II_24-bit-cr.flac
./PARTITA_3/Bach_Kuijken_Partita_III_24-bit.flac
./PARTITA_3/Bach_Kuijken_Sonata_III_24-bit.flac
semoi@darkstar:/mnt/cd0/Bach/Partitas_violin$

Now I'd like to copy all the listed files into a single directory. Could somebody give me a command or series of commands to do it?

pixellany · 10-25-2012, 05:44 AM

Code:

find . -name "*flac" -exec cp "{}" dirname \;

replace "dirname" with the path to the desired destination directory

stf92 · 10-25-2012, 05:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pixellany

Code:

find . -name "*flac" -exec cp "{}" dirname \;

replace "dirname" with the path to the desired destination directory

Thanks pixellany. I'll add it to my 'find' examples list.

colucix · 10-25-2012, 05:48 AM

Code:

find . -name \*.flac -exec cp {} /path/to/destination \;

In general this has a downside effect: since find searches recursively into subdirectories, it may find files with the same name. In this case the files are overwritten into the destination directory. To avoid that you can use the --backup option of cp in order to keep the different files with a suffix added to their name. Example:

Code:

find . -name \*.flac -exec cp --backup=numbered {} /path/to/destination \;

See man cp for details.

stf92 · 10-25-2012, 05:51 AM

Very considerate of you. I had been trying some syntaxis but I do not think I would have guess the answer(s).

rambolinuxbuddy · 10-25-2012, 06:03 AM

you can use this command:-

Code:

ubuntu$ cp $(find . -name "*flac") direcory/you/want/to/copy/

hope you got your answer.

David the H. · 10-25-2012, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rambolinuxbuddy

you can use this command:-

Code:

ubuntu$ cp $(find . -name "*flac") direcory/you/want/to/copy/

No, do not use that. Never use a substitution pattern to insert lines of text from a file or command into another command. Shell word-splitting will break up any entries with whitespace in their names, and globbing characters might possibly expand, and you'll end up with errors and possibly worse.

It's basically the same problem as this. Unless you can tell your command to operate on filenames directly, you really need to use a while+read loop or similar.

How can I read a file (data stream, variable) line-by-line (and/or field-by-field)?
http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ/001

How can I find and deal with file names containing newlines, spaces or both?
http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ/020

linux_BSD · 10-25-2012, 07:03 PM

Code:

find . -name "*flac" -exec cp -t target_dir '{}' \;

The -t is a switch for target directory.