copy files from directory to directory without subfile
 

Hi there,
Is there any method in bash to do the following:
I want to copy all the file and subdirectories of a directory "exept" a directory called sub_abc.
Is this possible ??

Hi,

This should do the trick:

find /home/user -type d \! -path './*/sub_abc*' -exec cp -R {} /path/to/destination/ \;

Don't know how much experience you have with find, so here's a breakdown of the command.

/home/user : search starts here

-type d \! -path './*/sub_abc*' : return directories only (-type d) except (\!) if the path has sub_abc in it (-path './*/sub_abc*')

You will end up with all the dirs except the directory that is called sub_abc.

-exec cp -R {} /path/to/destination/ \;

This will exectue a cp -R. The found paths are put between {} the destination is /path/to/destination.

Don't forget the \;

A Few Notes:

Try the first part of the command before using the -exec part, especially if you're new to this stuff. Something like:

find /home/user -type d \! -path './*/sub_abc*' -exec echo "cp -R {} /path/to/destination/" \; will do nothing but show what it would do.

Or, simpler:

find . -type d \! -path './*/sub_abc*' prints what it finds.

I want to copy the file like in cp , isnt there a simpler method