I can't move my files to folders using metacharacters (mv ./.blah ../?[0-9]/)

Cyberman · 06-29-2008, 12:17 AM

So, I have these folders:

../listdata/
../listdata/.scripts/
../listdata/.scripts/.subscripts/

inside of ../listdata/ are a bunch of folders going up to 100

example:
../listdata/1/
../listdata/2/
../listdata/9/
../listdata/25/
../listdata/100/

Anyway, the way I had it, I used the mv command and had all 100 folders listed (100+ lines of code). I mean, this was the only way I could do it without lots of scripting knowledge. My knowledge has increased since then, but I guess not enough. I figured using metacharacters and wildcards in the proper way would simplify things, but I haven't been able to get anything to work.

so, i tried doing this now

the .movescripts folder is inside of ../listdata/.scripts/

$ bash ./.movescripts.sh/

Code:

#!/bin/sh
mv ./.subscripts/.script1.sh ./.subscripts/.script2.sh ./.subscripts/.script3.sh ./.subscripts/.script4.sh ../listdata/[0-9]/
mv ./.subscripts/.script1.sh ./.subscripts/.script2.sh ./.subscripts/.script3.sh ./.subscripts/.script4.sh ../listdata/?[0-9]/
mv ./.subscripts/.script1.sh ./.subscripts/.script2.sh ./.subscripts/.script3.sh ./.subscripts/.script4.sh ../listdata/??[0-9]/

each is suppose to be representative of each 0-9, 10-99, and 100-999 folders. But it doesn't work. I don't know why. Matter of fact, it likes to add files to folder "98," which doesn't make sense to me. I don't know what to do, really. I tried googling this, and I can't figure it out.

/bin/bash · 06-29-2008, 06:21 AM

Not real sure what you are trying to do? I think you are trying to move the files based on the number in the filename or maybe how many digits are in the filename. So this may help you extract the number from the script name:

Code:

$ ls
script1.sh    script135.sh  script171.sh  script29.sh  script65.sh
script101.sh  script137.sh  script173.sh  script3.sh   script67.sh
script103.sh  script139.sh  script175.sh  script31.sh  script69.sh
script105.sh  script141.sh  script177.sh  script33.sh  script7.sh
script107.sh  script143.sh  script179.sh  script35.sh  script71.sh
script109.sh  script145.sh  script181.sh  script37.sh  script73.sh
script11.sh   script147.sh  script183.sh  script39.sh  script75.sh
script111.sh  script149.sh  script185.sh  script41.sh  script77.sh
script113.sh  script15.sh   script187.sh  script43.sh  script79.sh
script115.sh  script151.sh  script189.sh  script45.sh  script81.sh
script117.sh  script153.sh  script19.sh   script47.sh  script83.sh
script119.sh  script155.sh  script191.sh  script49.sh  script85.sh
script121.sh  script157.sh  script193.sh  script5.sh   script87.sh
script123.sh  script159.sh  script195.sh  script51.sh  script89.sh
script125.sh  script161.sh  script197.sh  script53.sh  script9.sh
script127.sh  script163.sh  script199.sh  script55.sh  script91.sh
script129.sh  script165.sh  script21.sh   script57.sh  script93.sh
script13.sh   script167.sh  script23.sh   script59.sh  script95.sh
script131.sh  script169.sh  script25.sh   script61.sh  script97.sh
script133.sh  script17.sh   script27.sh   script63.sh  script99.sh

$ for file in *.sh;do temp=${file/#script/};num=${temp/%.sh/};echo "$num";done
1
101
103
105
107
109
11
111
113
115
...
...
89
9
91
93
95
97
99

Now if you wanted to know how many digits were in the number you would do this:

<EDIT> Maybe this isn't so clear
$ for file in *.sh;do temp=${file/#script/};num=${temp/%.sh/};echo "$file has ${#num} digits";done
script1.sh has 1 digits
script101.sh has 3 digits
script103.sh has 3 digits
script105.sh has 3 digits
script107.sh has 3 digits
script109.sh has 3 digits
script11.sh has 2 digits
script111.sh has 3 digits
script113.sh has 3 digits
script115.sh has 3 digits
...
...
script89.sh has 2 digits
script9.sh has 1 digits
script91.sh has 2 digits
script93.sh has 2 digits
script95.sh has 2 digits
script97.sh has 2 digits
script99.sh has 2 digits

temp=${file/#script/} #<- This strips the string "script" from the front of the string.
num=${temp/%.sh/} #<- This strips the string ".sh" from the end of the string.

Of course in the above you would replace the echo with a mv command.

pixellany · 06-29-2008, 08:31 AM

The syntax for mv is:
mv <source> <destination>

I can't relate this to the command structure you are using.

How about a simple loop?

Cyberman · 06-29-2008, 07:01 PM

imagine this:

Code:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~/Desktop/listdata$ ls
1  100  15  2  5  66  77  9
ubuntu@ubuntu:~/Desktop/listdata$ ls -a
.  ..  1  100  15  2  5  66  77  9  .scripts
ubuntu@ubuntu:~/Desktop/listdata$ cd ./.scripts/
ubuntu@ubuntu:~/Desktop/listdata/.scripts$ ls -a
.  ..  movefiles.sh  .subscripts
ubuntu@ubuntu:~/Desktop/listdata/.scripts$ cd ./.subscripts/
ubuntu@ubuntu:~/Desktop/listdata/.scripts/.subscripts$ ls -a
.  ..  .capitalize.sh  .disguise.sh  .noterize.sh  .organize.sh
ubuntu@ubuntu:~/Desktop/listdata/.scripts/.subscripts$ cd ..
ubuntu@ubuntu:~/Desktop/listdata/.scripts$ bash ./movefiles.sh

When I execute ./movefiles.sh it will move all the files from ./.subscripts/ into the folders, which there are 100 of them (in reality), that are located in ./listdata/

so, all the files in ./.subscripts would be moved into the numbered folders that exist in ./listdata

Thank you for the replies so far.

/bin/bash · 06-29-2008, 08:33 PM

If you started in listdata directory and _if_ all the numbered directories are sequential then this would work:
for dir in $(seq 1 100);do cd "$dir";cp -a ../.scripts/.subscripts/.?* ./;cd ../;done

chrism01 · 06-29-2008, 08:34 PM

It looks like you've got 100 numbered dirs in the listdata dir, and 'some' scripts (not numbered) in the (hidden) dir .scripts/.subscripts.
(incidentally notarize has an 'a' not an 'e')
It seems that you want 100 copies of the scripts, 1 set in each numbered dir.

Here's simplified version that works for me:

Code:

for file in `ls tmp`
do
    for num in `seq 24`
    do
        cp tmp/$file /home/chris/${num}/$file
    done
done

In your case, subst subdirs for my tmp, and run script from listdata dir. Subst listdata for /home/chris