[SOLVED] Find Command

TheNewGuy2936 · 04-15-2011, 09:25 AM

Hello everyone:

I have checked the man pages but I am still having issues understanding them. I have a directory on my server which contains files that have spaces in the names ex. This Is How It Looks.mp3

Can I use the find command to remove the spaces and replace it with _ underscore? If not, which command can I use to complete this task?

Thank you for your help!

H_TeXMeX_H · 04-15-2011, 09:44 AM

Within one directory containing files you can do:

Code:

for i in *
do
  mv -n "$i" $(echo "$i" |  tr [:space:] _)
done

or instead of [:space:] meaning all white space you can use

Code:

' '

, meaning just a space.

TheNewGuy2936 · 04-15-2011, 10:10 AM

When I ran that command I get the following:

jailshell-3.2$ for i in * do mv -n "$i" $(echo "$i" | tr [:space:] _);
>
>

I did it in different ways and I just keep getting that > simple which means I am doing something wrong. Do I have to run this as a script or I'm sure that it's that I am messing up

MTK358 · 04-15-2011, 11:49 AM

H_TeXMeX_H made a mistake. It should say "done" at the end of that command (to mark the end of the loop). The ">" prompt means that your command isn't yet finished (use Ctrl+C to cancel it).

Also, remember that it will only work in the current directory. It will not go into subdirectories like find would.

j1alu · 04-15-2011, 12:52 PM

rename would also work:
rename -n 's/ /_/g' *
-n is a dry run, to test if one is happy. If all files end with mp3, *mp3 is probably a better wildchard.
The man-page (on Debian) is rather short.

crts · 04-15-2011, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheNewGuy2936

When I ran that command I get the following:

jailshell-3.2$ for i in * do mv -n "$i" $(echo "$i" | tr [:space:] _);
>
>

I did it in different ways and I just keep getting that > simple which means I am doing something wrong. Do I have to run this as a script or I'm sure that it's that I am messing up

Hi,

I do not see any syntactical mistakes in H_TexMex_H's solution. However, if you want to make a one liner then you will have to put a semicolon before the 'do'. You also forgot the trailing done, which also needs t be preceeded by a ';'.
Here is a similiar, bash only solution:

Code:

for f in *;do echo mv -n "$f" "${f// /_}";done

If the results look ok, then remove the 'echo' to make the changes actually happen.
Hope this helps.

TheNewGuy2936 · 04-15-2011, 12:58 PM

That is fine because I only want it for that one directory. I tried to do what you said and now I get the following:

-jailshell-3.2$ for i in * do mv -n "$i" $(echo "$i" | tr [:space:] _); done
-jailshell: syntax error near unexpected token `done'

Do I have to put any other characters around the word done or anything?

Thank you!

TheNewGuy2936 · 04-15-2011, 12:59 PM

Wow sorry guys I did not see the other replies! I will try those now

TheNewGuy2936 · 04-15-2011, 01:04 PM

Ok, so I ran the command and this is what I got:

-jailshell-3.2$ for f in *;do mv -n "$f" "${f// /_}";done
mv: invalid option -- n
Try `mv --help' for more information.

I got an error like that for each file. When the echo command was in there like -jailshell-3.2$ for f in *;do echo mv -n "$f" "${f// /_}";done

It showed how it would look if you ran the command for real. When I removed the echo command I got those errors.

szboardstretcher · 04-15-2011, 01:06 PM

You should use the "Code" tag, the little hash in the top of the editor, around your code so it looks more like this:

Code:

-jailshell-3.2$ for f in *;do mv -n "$f" "${f// /_}";done
mv: invalid option -- n
Try `mv --help' for more information.

TheNewGuy2936 · 04-15-2011, 01:09 PM

Oh ok cool I will remember for the next time, thank you!

Sorry about that

szboardstretcher · 04-15-2011, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheNewGuy2936

Oh ok cool I will remember for the next time, thank you!

Sorry about that

No prob.

Also, you might find this small program helpful. Its at sourceforge and looks very cool.

http://stahlworks.com/dev/index.php?tool=deblank

crts · 04-15-2011, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheNewGuy2936

Ok, so I ran the command and this is what I got:

-jailshell-3.2$ for f in *;do mv -n "$f" "${f// /_}";done
mv: invalid option -- n
Try `mv --help' for more information.

I got an error like that for each file. When the echo command was in there like -jailshell-3.2$ for f in *;do echo mv -n "$f" "${f// /_}";done

It showed how it would look if you ran the command for real. When I removed the echo command I got those errors.

This is strange. Can you paste the output of

Code:

mv --help

The -n option tells 'mv' to not overwrite existing files. This should work equally:

Code:

for f in *;do if [[ ! -f "${f// /_}" ]];then mv "$f" "${f// /_}";fi;done

TheNewGuy2936 · 04-15-2011, 01:18 PM

YES!!! The above command worked! It removed the blanks and replaced them with the underscore just like I wanted! Just ask requested, here is the output anyway.

Quote:

-jailshell-3.2$ mv --help
Usage: mv [OPTION]... [-T] SOURCE DEST
or: mv [OPTION]... SOURCE... DIRECTORY
or: mv [OPTION]... -t DIRECTORY SOURCE...
Rename SOURCE to DEST, or move SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
--backup[=CONTROL] make a backup of each existing destination file
-b like --backup but does not accept an argument
-f, --force do not prompt before overwriting
-i, --interactive prompt before overwrite
--strip-trailing-slashes remove any trailing slashes from each SOURCE
argument
-S, --suffix=SUFFIX override the usual backup suffix
-t, --target-directory=DIRECTORY move all SOURCE arguments into DIRECTORY
-T, --no-target-directory treat DEST as a normal file
-u, --update move only when the SOURCE file is newer
than the destination file or when the
destination file is missing
-v, --verbose explain what is being done
--help display this help and exit
--version output version information and exit

The backup suffix is `~', unless set with --suffix or SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX.
The version control method may be selected via the --backup option or through
the VERSION_CONTROL environment variable. Here are the values:

none, off never make backups (even if --backup is given)
numbered, t make numbered backups
existing, nil numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise
simple, never always make simple backups

Report bugs to <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.

Thank you everyone for all of your help!!

Have a great weekend!