Trying to figure out how to copy from multiple sources to one desitnation

ads1980 · 01-21-2013, 03:34 AM

Ok so this is the problem I have and can only figure out a bit of it, as I haven't used Linux in about 10 years so my brain is very rusty!

I have a list of file names (over 5000!) I know that these files are located over 3 different files shares in either of the 2 directories in each files share, I then want to use this list (listoffiles.txt) to find the files in each location that makes a new (locationoffiles.txt) which is then passed to something like rsync to do the copy to a new destination I want to keep the directory structure.

what would be the correct script to do this???

as an added bonus I would like to add some user interaction if I need use this script again for something similar.

so I guess ask for the listoffiles.txt location and also the destination.

Many thanks for any help.

Ads

shivaa · 01-21-2013, 03:50 AM

Make sure that all files in listoffiles.txt have mentioned with their full path as:-

Code:

/home/uesr/sample_dir1/file1
/home/uesr/sample_dir2/file2
...

Not just,

Code:

file1
file2
...

If it is, then, you can:-

Code:

#!/bin/bash
LIST=/path/to/listoffiles.txt  # Use full path of listoffiles.txt
DESTDIR=/path/to/destdir  # Mention path of destination dir.
while read -r file
do
cp $file $DESTDIR
echo "File $file copied."
done < $LIST

ads1980 · 01-21-2013, 03:59 AM

Many thanks for your prompt reply, but that's my first problem the list of files only has the file name not it's source as the list was generated by some software that told me only the filename as it doesn't know the location of the file, so that's why I thought I would need the find command first to get the location of file printed to a new .txt file

so I guess something like:

Quote:

#!/bin/bash
for f in `cat /path/to/listoffiles.txt`
do
find . -name $f -printf %p /path/to/locationoffiles.txt
LIST=/path/to/locationoffiles.txt # Use full path of locationoffiles.txt
DESTDIR=/path/to/destdir # Mention path of destination dir.
while read -r file
do
cp $file $DESTDIR
echo "File $file copied."
done < $LIST

shivaa · 01-21-2013, 04:52 AM

Try it out:-

Code:

#!/bin/bash
LIST=/path/to/listoffiles.txt
NEWLIST=/path/to/newlistoffiles.txt
DESTDIR=/path/to/destdir

while read -r file
do
find / -name "$file" -print > $NEWLIST
while read -r newfile
do
cp $newfile $DESTDIR
echo "Copying done: $newfile"
done < $NEWLIST
done < $LIST

Note:
1. Become root and execute this script because find command may give you permission denied error for some files since you're seaching files in "/" directory (and this is because you don't know where they file are).
2. The find command may take a long time in searching for files (since no. of files in large), so script might take long time to complate.
3. First test this script on a list of few files and if everything goes fine, you can do it for whole listoffile.txt file. (I have tested it).

ads1980 · 01-21-2013, 04:57 AM

great thank you for you help, I'll do a small test and report back.

David the H. · 01-22-2013, 11:10 AM

Make sure you properly quote all of your variables, particularly if the files could contain whitespace.

Code:

cp "$newfile" "$DESTDIR"

http://mywiki.wooledge.org/Arguments
http://mywiki.wooledge.org/WordSplitting
http://mywiki.wooledge.org/Quotes

ads1980 · 02-19-2013, 10:59 AM

HI forgot to report back

, I managed to narrow down where to search as I had mounted my search drives to /mnt so added /mnt after find

ads1980 · 02-22-2013, 08:57 AM

ok if I just wanted to create the newlist how would I amend the code above?

Quote:

#!/bin/bash

while read -r file
do
find /directory/location -iname "$file" -print > /location/of/new/list.txt
done < /location/of/original/file/list.txt

unSpawn · 02-22-2013, 10:05 AM

Code:

#!/bin/sh --
LIST="/path/to/listoffiles.txt"; NEWLIST="/path/to/newlistoffiles.txt"

cat "${LIST}" | while read ITEM; do
 find /mnt/one/path /mnt/two/otherpath -type f -name "${ITEM}"
done > "${NEWLIST}"
exit 0

*Note you're looking for files so narrow it down with "-type f", note Linux and UNIX have case sensitivity (as in -name vs -iname) and also note the 'cp' command shivaa posted doesn't keep the directory structure like you asked. Depending on the amount of files, the file size, the amount of changes and the location your backup goes to you can use rsync, or tar on both ends of a pipe or cpio.

ads1980 · 02-22-2013, 10:21 AM

Hey thanks unSpawn, so can you replace cp with rsync? sorry for the stupid questions, would you have to tell rsync to only process 200 at a time as I think there is limit right?

unSpawn · 02-22-2013, 11:09 AM

No such limit I'm aware of.