[SOLVED] Recursive directory copy

benjam1nrk · 11-05-2010, 03:45 PM

I am attempting to copy a set of sub folders from their multiple parent directories to a new location.

For example, I have three folders to copy:
/home/user/folder1/photos
/home/user/folder2/photos
/home/user/folder3/photos

I would like them to be copied to:
/newlocation/folder1
/newlocation/folder2
/newlocation/folder3

In actuality there are many folders besides folder1, folder2, folder3, and no numerical order exists. So, the folder named 'photos' would be copied to its parent folder's name in a new location. I would need this to occur for all folders in the '/home/user' directory.

Sorry if confusing, I would appreciate any assistance. Thank you!

fcintron · 11-05-2010, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benjam1nrk

I am attempting to copy a set of sub folders from their multiple parent directories to a new location.

For example, I have three folders to copy:
/home/user/folder1/photos
/home/user/folder2/photos
/home/user/folder3/photos

I would like them to be copied to:
/newlocation/folder1
/newlocation/folder2
/newlocation/folder3

In actuality there are many folders besides folder1, folder2, folder3, and no numerical order exists. So, the folder named 'photos' would be copied to its parent folder's name in a new location. I would need this to occur for all folders in the '/home/user' directory.

Sorry if confusing, I would appreciate any assistance. Thank you!

Firs of all make a backup of your directories, just to be sure.

After that, try to use this shell script:

OLD_LOCATION='/home/user'
NEW_LOCATION='/newlocation'

for i in `ls -l $OLD_LOCATION | grep ^d | awk '{print $9}'`; do
cp $OLD_LOCATION/$i/photos $NEW_LOCATION/$i
done

Regards

unSpawn · 11-05-2010, 07:18 PM

How about just using 'rsync -nvra /home/user/ /newlocation/'? The "-n" will only --dry-run the process (no modifs) and the "-v" will show you what it's doing, so after you read 'man rsync' and agree with what it's doing remove the "-n"?

crts · 11-05-2010, 07:41 PM

How about

Code:

for (i=1;i<=3;i++);do
# mkdir -p /newlocation/folder$1 # if target does not exist
cp -a /home/user/folder$i/photos/* /newlocation/folder$i
done

frieza · 11-06-2010, 01:03 PM

or a more simple answer

Code:

cp -rv {folder1,folder2,folder3,...,folderN} /path/to/destination

benjam1nrk · 11-08-2010, 09:52 AM

Thank you for all of the detailed responses! Will attempt this afternoon to determine which method works best in this situation.

benjam1nrk · 11-08-2010, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fcintron

Firs of all make a backup of your directories, just to be sure.

After that, try to use this shell script:

OLD_LOCATION='/home/user'
NEW_LOCATION='/newlocation'

for i in `ls -l $OLD_LOCATION | grep ^d | awk '{print $9}'`; do
cp $OLD_LOCATION/$i/photos $NEW_LOCATION/$i
done

Regards

Thank you, this worked absolutely perfect, especially since the original folder names were unknown, and were too extensive to place in a pre defined array.

The only change I made was to the cp command, changing to:

Code:

cp -af 	$OLD_LOCATION/$i/photos $NEW_LOCATION/$i

to avoid any directory omission.