:EDIT:
I think my post name should have been labeled: how to copy files and record original file location. not "retain".

Hello, this is my first post! I searched the forums a lot before posting, but was unable to answer my question.

Here's my problem:
There are several hundred text files spread out in tons of different directories which I need to copy into one folder. I can easily find and copy all the files I need into one folder, but I would also like to retain the original path with each file, so I can go to the original location, if needed. Once I have all the files copied over into one folder, I can easily find "123.txt", but I have no idea where the original file is. I need to know that information.

What is the best way to retain the original directory path with each file? Should I copy the directory path and append it to the beginning or end of each file? Is there a way to create an output list of all copied files which shows the original location from where each file was copied?

You could make symbolic links instead of copies. They'd act like files when used by programs, but would in fact be shortcuts to the originals. You can find their actual location just by doing ls -l on them.

find /absolute/path/to/folder -type f -iname '*.txt' -exec ln -s '{}' /path/to/destfolder ';'

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root          40 Nov 29  2010 file -> /absolute/path/to/file

Corona, thanks for the help. Your suggestion would work, except for one problem. The reason I copied all the files into one location is because all the copied files are then moved over onto a Windows file system, and used in an Access database. I need the original file locations, so any database search results will show the original file path in Unix, so the user can switch systems and find the files needed. Our Unix systems are old and don't have database utilities like Access, so we have to do it through Windows...

If I created a symbolic link for each file copied, would it be possible to create a list of those symbolic links which shows the original path, all in one text file?

Just make a list of their locations then.

find /absolute/path/to/folder -type f -iname '*.txt' -exec cp '{}' /path/to/destination -print | sed 's/$/\r/g' > list-of-locations.txt

Yes, that worked! I was exploring the sed command, but was using it wrong. This helped a lot, thanks!