[SOLVED] How can I bulk copy files to a new extension in the same directory?

jbruyet · 01-14-2013, 06:59 PM

Ok, I'm at a loss on this one. What I frequently need to do is take a group of files in a directory, copy them so they have a different extension and have the new files remain in the original directory. For example, if I have file1.cfg, file2.cfg and file3.cfg in /dir I want to be able to copy them so I have file1.txt, file2.txt and file3.txt in /dir in addition to file1.cfg, etc... When I'm done I want to have all six files in /dir. This is very simple in Windows:

Code:

copy *.cfg *.txt

What would be the equivalent command in Linux?

Thanks,

Joe B

TobiSGD · 01-14-2013, 08:15 PM

Code:

for i in *.cfg;
do
  cp $i ${i/%.cfg/.txt}
done

See Bash parameter substitution: http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/par...stitution.html
In this specific case example 10.13 is very helpful.

mina86 · 01-15-2013, 03:54 AM

Don't forget about quoting though (also this can be done without bash extensions):

Code:

for i in *.cfg; do
  cp "$i" "${i%.cfg}.txt"
done

TobiSGD · 01-15-2013, 06:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mina86

Don't forget about quoting though (also this can be done without bash extensions):

Code:

for i in *.cfg; do
  cp "$i" "${i%.cfg}.txt"
done

Of course you can use basename instead of Bash extensions, like we did, but Bash is pretty much a common denominator nowadays, I would think, so why not take advantage of it (and I tested this also on zsh, works there, too).

mina86 · 01-15-2013, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TobiSGD

Of course you can use basename instead of Bash extensions, like we did, but Bash is pretty much a common denominator nowadays, I would think, so why not take advantage of it (and I tested this also on zsh, works there, too).

Sure, that's why this was just a minor point of my post – my main issue was with quoting.

Nonetheless I prefer sticking to POSIX shell (which may be especially useful when writing scripts as programs like dash are reported to be faster than full bash) and “${i%.cfg}.txt” is in no way less convenient than “${i/%.cfg/.txt}”.

By the way, I think it's also worth noting “rename” here. Potential solution to OP problem could also be:

Code:

cp -- source-directory/*.cfg target-directory/
cd target-directory/
rename .cfg .txt *.cfg
# or on systems with perl-based rename:
# rename 's/\.cfg$/.txt/' *.cfg

even though it has it's own limitations.

jefro · 01-15-2013, 07:36 AM

I have never tried this but it might work. See if you have mmv command.

jbruyet · 09-15-2014, 01:54 PM

Thanks everyone, and sorry about the late "Solved" notification.

Thanks,

Joe B