I don't get find command

When I run find command with exec option, it just hangs on me. what am I doing wrong?


find /stdlist -type d -mtime 0 -exec cp -r {} joblogs \;

Welcome to LQ.

first, does it work as expected without the -exec option?

Looking at the man page under the -exec option, I don't find syntax that relates to what you are showing. What is the generic syntax?

Hmm.. Command looks ok to me -- pixellany, what looks out of place to you?

..And the command works fine (appears to work fine) when I test it using `echo` instead of `cp`

I have a theory though: any chance "stdlist" and "joblogs" are in the same directory structure containing a lot of directories, and a recursive mess is happening? i.e. as the copying progresses, more directories are being created and copied, and on and on...?

Originally Posted by GrapefruiTgirl Hmm.. Command looks ok to me -- pixellany, what looks out of place to you?

I don't know!!! i just could not immediately match it up to the syntax examples in the man page.

Maybe its just taking a long time if you have alot of files.

Try using something like this.

find /stdlist -type d -mtime 0 -exec cp -rv -t joblogs '{}' \+

The + at the end makes -exec work more like xargs; all the files are run in a single process. Also, using the -t option in cp is safer (as is -v), and the brackets should generally be quoted.

I note also that David puts the brackets after all other arguments to cp. This seems to better match the syntax examples in the man page.

ele003, there is nothing wrong with your command. I bet it's just taking a long time. Your are copying recursively, it may be a lot more information than you thought!