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Need help with -exec cp command.

 
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Top Forums UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers Need help with -exec cp command.
# 29  
Old 09-09-2008
The non-absolute paths were from my example - not his. Sorry for adding to the confusion, Bakunin
# 30  
Old 09-09-2008
Quote:
Originally Posted by bakunin
This sure looks weird.

To sum up what we know so far:

OS: RedHat
Shell: bash
User: root
no chrooted environment, no special non-printing characters.

First observation: the paths in the script are not absolute paths. This might lead to no directories/files being found when the script is executed in a wrong current path. Change these paths to absolute paths to make the script more robust.

Here is another take at problem determination: modify your script by switching on printing of the interpreted lines:

Code:
#!/bin/bash

set -xv      # <--- makes every line being printed to stdout after parsing

fRootDir="/some/path"   # set an absolute starting path

find $fRootDir/dir1/dir2 -type f -name "FILE.*" -newer $fRootDir/dir1/dir2/afterme.txt -exec cp {} $fRootDir/dir1/dir2/dir3 \;

exit 0

Now start the script this way:

Code:
root@server # ./myscript.sh 2> myscript.log

and post the contents of the file myscript.log here. I would really be interested in what the problem is here and what the final solution will be.

I hope this helps.

bakunin

Contents of myscript.log:

: bad interpreter: No such file or directory
# 31  
Old 09-09-2008
Maybe something is getting lost in the translation from your environment to our sample environment.

Can you easily create a new tree with bogus data like the example that follows:
Code:
mkdir -p /script/dir1/dir2/dir3
touch /script/dir1/dir2/FILE.1 /script/dir1/dir2/FILE.2
touch /script/dir1/dir2/afterme.txt
touch /script/dir1/dir2/FILE.3 /script/dir1/dir2/FILE.4

And then run the script that Bakunin has recommend again with the new directory tree of /script/dir1/dir2

Then, you can copy and paste the actual script that you are using without worrying about exposing any sensitive data.

Failing that, identify which find you are using. Perhaps the libraries for your find utility are corrupted, or use a different set of options than the version of find that shipped with your OS.

edit: As in - more than one version of find installed
# 32  
Old 09-09-2008
Here's the results:

[root@server] /script # more myscript.log

fRootDir="/script" # set an absolute starting path
+ fRootDir=/script

find $fRootDir/dir1/dir2 -type f -name "FILE.*" -newer $fRootDir/dir1/dir2/afterme.txt -exec cp {} $fRootDir/dir1/dir2/dir3 \;
+ find /script/dir1/dir2 -type f -name 'FILE.*' -newer /script/dir1/dir2/afterme.txt -exec cp '{}' /script/dir1/dir2/dir3 ';'

exit 0
+ exit 0
# 33  
Old 09-09-2008
Did you do an ls of /script/dir1/dir2/dir3 to see if FILE.3 and FILE.4 got copied in?
# 34  
Old 09-09-2008
Yes I did, and yes they did. So why does that work and mine doesn't?
# 35  
Old 09-09-2008
I'm guessing that there's a minor typographical error in your script.

Go through it character by character. If you use vi, try
Code:
:set list

to show invisible characters. There may be something funky in there that you can't see.

To turn off the invisibles, do:
Code:
:set nolist

edit: list/nolist does not remove the characters - it simply displays/hides them as appropriate
 
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