Recursively move files

michaelsanford · 10-02-2005, 01:06 PM

Sorry, I know this is a common question but I can't figure out how to get this to work properly. When I manage it I'll post a recursivity how to to make up for it

I have a photo library program that manages files in a very peculiar way. Organized by year, then month, then something else I can't figure out, then a series of data files, thumbnails, and then below that, in a folder called Originals, are the actual photos.

What I need to do is take every file out of the Originals (nth-subfolder) and cp or mv that to another folder, to they're all in one place.

I'm sure this is a one-liner, can anybody help me ?

linmix · 10-02-2005, 01:12 PM

how about

$mv ./*/*.jpg /destination/folder

asuka · 10-02-2005, 01:20 PM

Here's how I would do it.

find $PHOTOROOT -name "*/Originals/*" -exec mv {} $DESTDIR \;

Replace $PHOTOROOT with where your program stores files,
and $DESTDIR with where u want to move it.
;D hope it works..

Dark_Helmet · 10-02-2005, 01:34 PM

I'll throw my hat in... It's similar to asuka's:

Code:

find $PHOTOROOT -type f -path "*/Originals/*" -iname "*.jpg" -exec mv {} $DESTDIR \;

So why is mine longer??

I'm not sure if find will match part of the path as the filename (haven't tried it). Also, there may be other files besides images in those directories. The "-path" option pulls the path match out of the filename argument, and the "-iname" part matches any file ending in ".jpg", ".JPG", ".Jpg", etc.

WARNING: Never, never, never run someone else's command (mine included) that moves or deletes files without verifying it works first!!! You can examine what files are selected by changing the above command to:

Code:

find $PHOTOROOT -type f -path "*/Originals/*" -iname "*.jpg"

That will print of list of matching files. You might also consider copying the files over instead of moving them (by replacing the "mv" with "cp" in the first command). Once the files are copied and you're happy, run the exact same command, but tell it to remove the file (again, substitute "rm" for the "cp" and get rid of the $DESTDIR)

Make sense?

michaelsanford · 10-02-2005, 01:50 PM

Thanks everyone, very much appreciated !

And I was going to replace the mvs with cps

I wouldn't run a command I wasn't familiar with without first checking what it would do to my entire library, very sound advice !

AcornBBCnut · 02-17-2016, 01:24 AM

When moving items from my thumb drive to my OSMC system, I've found the following very useful:

Code:

find /media/AcornBBCnut\ 16GB/ -name '*' -exec mv -v {} /media/External\ HDD/Videos/ \;

I can't remember where I got it from, so I can't answer any questions about it, however, it works!

BTW, Don't forget to add a backslash before any spaces in the source or destination directory names (see above).

Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth.

Cheers!