How to recursively copy directory only for recent files?


 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting How to recursively copy directory only for recent files?
# 1  
Old 04-15-2016
How to recursively copy directory only for recent files?

I love the -newerct flag for the Cygwin find command on windows.

Can I use "/usr/bin/find . -newerct '3 hours ago'" to conditionally copy a directory tree so that only the files in the directory tree that are younger than 3 hours are copied to my destination directory such that the directory structure is preserved?

Can someone give me a sample /usr/bin/find command (or some other utility) that will only recreate those parts of the directory tree on a different memory stick that are younger than 3 hours?

Thank you
Siegfried
# 2  
Old 04-15-2016
You've got the command. Where are you stuck?
# 3  
Old 04-16-2016
This command does not recreate the directory structure
Code:
/usr/bin/find .  -type f -newerct '8 days ago' -exec cp {} /cygdrive/c/deleteme.txt \; -print

This code correctly finds the one file in the directory structure. It is in a great-grandchild directory. It copies the file to the top level directory with a file name of deleteme.txt instead of creating a directory tree called deleteme.txt with the child, grand child and great grand child sub-directories.

How do I create the directory structure?

Thanks,

Siegfried

Last edited by siegfried; 04-16-2016 at 02:20 AM..
# 4  
Old 04-16-2016
List the results - don't cp yet. Then, go through the list, separate the directories from the path, and use mkdir -p to create it. Then only you can copy...
# 5  
Old 04-18-2016
Good idea!
Thanks!
Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. Shell Programming and Scripting

Copy files recursively to one single directory

I need to copy a complete directory structure into a new location. But I want to have all files copied into one directory and leave out the directory structure. So all files must be placed in one directory. (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: ReneVL
4 Replies

2. Shell Programming and Scripting

Copy Specific Files Recursively

Is it possible to only copy selected files+its directories when you are copying recursively? find /OriginalFolder/* -type -d \{ -mtime 1 -o -mtime 2 \ } -exec cp -R {} /CopyTo/'hostname'__CopyTo/ \; -print From the above line, I want to only copy *txt and *ini files from /OriginalFolder/* ... (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: apacheLinux
4 Replies

3. Shell Programming and Scripting

How to rename (move) most recent files in directory?

I'm using cygwin32 on Windows. DN is an environment variable pointed at my download directory. This command works to move the single most recent file in my download directory to my current directory: mv "`perl -e '$p = $ARGV; opendir $h, $p or die "cannot opendir $p: $!"; @f = sort { -M $a... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: siegfried
2 Replies

4. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Find most recent file and copy to another directory.

Very new to shell scripting. Not sure if my title is correct but I will try and explain. Directory has 100+ files with this format, " ABCD_ABC_Abc_AB0126.abc ". When a new file gets created, the 16-19 characters in the file name gets incremented by 1. Ex...todays most recent file is... (14 Replies)
Discussion started by: askvip
14 Replies

5. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Copy files recursively

Hello! I know what i s recursion, but can't imagine what shoudl be "recursicve copying" of files? Please, what should mean: cp -r /home/hope/files/* /home/hope/backup Can someone helpme with a simple example? Many thanks!!! (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: pinklemon
6 Replies

6. Shell Programming and Scripting

Problem with script generating files in directory recursively

I have a script which generates recursively some files in folders for a given root folder. I have checks for permissions and it works for all folders except one(i have 777 permission on it). When i try calling the script in problematic folder(problematic folder being root folder), script works as... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: bb2
2 Replies

7. Shell Programming and Scripting

Copy only files recursively

Hi, find . | xargs -s 47518 can list all the files and directories recursively , is there any possibility to copy only files from directories and subdirectoreis once it is listed. Please help Thans & Regards Uma (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: umapearl
3 Replies

8. Shell Programming and Scripting

Recursively search for most recent modification

Hello all, I'm trying to determine when the last time a file in a certain directory was modified. I don't care what file it is, I just want to know when it was last updated. So far I have ls -aRl --full-time --sort=time which is close. The problem is that it only sorts within folders, not... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: lokisapocalypse
2 Replies

9. Shell Programming and Scripting

delete files recursively in the specified directory

I have to write a shell script which can delete all the files and directories recursively inside the specified directory but should not delete the specified directory. Please some body help me in writing the script. (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: deepthi.s
3 Replies

10. Shell Programming and Scripting

Recursively copy only specific files from a directory tree

Hi I am a shell-script newbie and am looking to synchronize certain files in two directory structures. Both these directory-trees are in CVS and so I dont want the CVS directory to be copied over. I want only .sh and .pl files in each subdirectory under these directory trees to be... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: sharpsharkrocks
3 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question