find -exec cp

How to move or copy files listed by 'find' command in unix?

find / -name core-* -exec cp {} /mnt/sda/OTHER/5.1.4bld1.0_log/aim_test/ \;

 find . -name *.pdf | xargs -i cp {} ../docbook_pdf/

的写法的含义解释：

• find . -name *.pdf ：递归式的找出当前文件夹及其子文件下的所有.pdf文件
• xargs -i xxx ：其中xxx==cp {} ../docbook_pdf/，表示将输入的内容，用{}替换
• cp {} ../docbook_pdf/ ：对于每一个find出来的文件，拷贝到对应的目标文件夹中。

 

 

 

 

How to move or copy files listed by 'find' command in unix?

up vote 3 down vote favorite

4

I have a list of certain files that I see using the command below, but how can I copy those files listed into another folder, say ~/test?

find . -mtime 1 -exec du -hc {} +

unix find cp mv

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edited Dec 8 '14 at 22:09 the Tin Man 86.5k15107172

asked Jun 28 '13 at 15:56 L P 1161416

3

find . -mtime 1 -exec cp {} ~/test/ \; –  user529758 Jun 28 '13 at 15:58

1

Also, consider piping to xargs. That way, you can copy the files in batches. –  Eric Jablow Jun 28 '13 at 16:01

hey thanks a lot both of you –  L P Jun 28 '13 at 16:07

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3 Answers

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up vote 10 down vote accepted

Adding to Eric Jablow's answer, here is a possible solution (it worked for me - linux mint 14 /nadia)

find /path/to/search/ -type f -name "regular-expression-to-find-files" | xargs cp -t /target/path/

You can refer to "How can I use xargs to copy files that have spaces and quotes in their names?" as well.

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edited Dec 8 '14 at 22:10 the Tin Man 86.5k15107172

answered Oct 3 '13 at 6:01 Ankur Kumar 750819

1

-name takes a glob match, not a regular expression. An important distinction... –  sanmiguel Dec 18 '13 at 12:45

Please edit my answer in that case :) –  Ankur Kumar Dec 20 '13 at 11:14

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up vote 8 down vote

Actually, you can process the find command output in a copy command in two ways:

1. If the find command's output doesn't contain any space, i.e if the filename doesn't contain a space in it, then you can use:

   Syntax:
       find <Path> <Conditions> | xargs cp -t <copy file path>
   Example:
       find -mtime -1 -type f | xargs cp -t inner/
   

2. But our production data files might contain spaces, so most of time this command is effective:

   Syntax:
      find <path> <condition> -exec cp '{}' <copy path> \;
   
   Example 
      find -mtime -1 -type f -exec cp '{}' inner/ \;
   

In the second example, the last part, the semi-colon is also considered as part of the find command, and should be escaped before pressing Enter. Otherwise you will get an error something like:

find: missing argument to `-exec'

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edited Dec 8 '14 at 22:13 the Tin Man 86.5k15107172

answered Dec 7 '13 at 18:13 Thiyagu ATR 68221429

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up vote 5 down vote

find /PATH/TO/YOUR/FILES -name NAME.EXT -exec cp -rfp {} /DST_DIR \;

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answered Dec 18 '13 at 11:28 Laith Al Obaidy 5113

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