mv : Argument list too long


 
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# 1  
Old 05-13-2013
Bug mv : Argument list too long

Hi I am using find command --

Code:
find "directory1" -type f | xargs -i mv {} "directory2"

to avoid above argument list too long problem.
But, issue i am facing is directory1 is having subdirectories due to this i am facing directory traversal problem as i dont want to traverse subdirectories coming under directory1.
I tried to use -maxdepth option also but it is not giving me correct soultion i guess.
If anyone can help me to get some solution for this....

Last edited by Franklin52; 05-13-2013 at 04:25 AM.. Reason: Please use code tags for data and code samples
# 2  
Old 05-13-2013
-maxdepth may not work sometime.. you can try this alternate way

Code:
 
find ../<<Your Directory>> \( ! -name <<Your Directory>> -prune \) -type f | xargs -i mv {} "directory2"

This User Gave Thanks to vidyadhar85 For This Post:
# 3  
Old 05-13-2013
If I understand you correctly, you want to move files in directory1 but not in sub directories into directory2?
Code:
for i in directory1/* ; do if [ -f $i ] ; then mv $i directory2/ ; fi;  done

This User Gave Thanks to Skrynesaver For This Post:
# 4  
Old 05-13-2013
You can do
with GNU find
Code:
find "directory1" -maxdepth 1 -type f | xargs -i mv {} "directory2"

or with Unix find
Code:
find "directory1" \! -name "directory1" -prune -type f | xargs -i mv {} "directory2"

But the error message looks like there is a bug either in xargs or in mv. Or you have a filename with a * character.
This User Gave Thanks to MadeInGermany For This Post:
# 5  
Old 05-13-2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by MadeInGermany
But the error message looks like there is a bug either in xargs or in mv.
The shell can hold a maximum of 131072 bytes for command line arguments. If you try to pass more than that number you will greeted with an error that read as follows:
Argument list too long
Remember each character requires one byte of storage. Smilie
This User Gave Thanks to vidyadhar85 For This Post:
# 6  
Old 05-13-2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by vidyadhar85
Code:
 
find ../<<Your Directory>> \( ! -name <<Your Directory>> -prune \) -type f | ...

Minor nit: The parentheses are redundant.

More importantly, the solution is incorrect. If ../<<Your Directory>> itself contains a directory named <<Your Directory>>, it will not be pruned since -name only looks at the basename.

A very simple fix would be to cd into the starting directory and use . as the starting directory.

Having pointed out how to prune with find, i endorse Skrynesaver's approach (although I would use quotes to be safe).

Regards,
Alister
This User Gave Thanks to alister For This Post:
# 7  
Old 05-13-2013
But with find | xargs it's not the shell.
Either xargs does not know the system limit or mv has a smaller limit than the system.
A work around is
Code:
xargs -n 50 ...

providing at maximum 50 arguments to mv.

BTW {} should be quoted "{}". This will handle most special characters alright.

Last edited by MadeInGermany; 05-13-2013 at 05:18 AM..
This User Gave Thanks to MadeInGermany For This Post:
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