Calling dir names from a paramater list file

Question

Wondering if there is a best way to call directory names and iterate as parameter from a list.

Example

cat /dropbox/script/DirList.txt


DIR_A
DIR_B
DIR_C
DIR_D

/dropbox/dev/inbox/<DIR_A>/ *.*
/dropbox/dev/inbox/<DIR_B>/ *.*
/dropbox/dev/inbox/<DIR_C>/ *.*
/dropbox/dev/inbox/<DIR_D>/ *.*

considering folders/directories already exist If file exist in each of the mentioned directories then move them to outbox

mv /dropbox/dev/inbox/<DIR_D>/ *.* to /dropbox/dev/outbox/<DIR_D>/ *.*

I tried

if [ -d /dropbox/dev/inbox/<DIR_D>/ ]; then
  mv  /dropbox/dev/inbox/<DIR_D>/ *.* to /dropbox/dev/outbox/<DIR_D>/ 
fi

I'm not sure what you are trying to accomplish. Can you try to reword it some? — jesse_b, Jan 02 '19 at 22:08
Do these directory names actually have <s and >s in them? — DopeGhoti, Jan 02 '19 at 22:20
What are you hoping to accomplish with /dropbox/dev/inbox/<DIR_A>/ *.* Did you intentionally put a space there? Do you want to glob all files in that directory with an extension? — jesse_b, Jan 02 '19 at 22:21
no space i am trying to move all the files in the dir if exist by using . — user2292524, Jan 02 '19 at 22:26
All files that exist in these folders trying to move to outbox if exist sorry if it is confusing, trying to explain with examples is getting complicated /dropbox/dev/inbox/DIR_A/ /dropbox/dev/inbox/DIR_B/ /dropbox/dev/inbox/DIR_C/ /dropbox/dev/inbox/DIR_D/ — user2292524, Jan 02 '19 at 22:27

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 02 '19 at 22:29

1

Something like this should work for looping over lines in a file:

while read dir_name; do
    cp -pR /dropbox/dev/inbox/$dir_name/* /dropbox/dev/outbox/$dir_name/
done < /dropbox/script/DirList.txt

You may need a mkdir -p /dropbox/dev/outbox/$dir_name in there if outbox directories don't already exist.

answered Jan 02 '19 at 22:29

Jeff A

481

You many need to quote $dir_name in the cp ("$dir_name"). You might also want read -r just in case there's a backslash in the file! – Stephen Harris Jan 03 '19 at 01:55

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 02 '19 at 22:25

0

If I understand correctly, this should work. Note that "*.*" only matches files with a period in the name (unlike Windows where it matches all files).

#!/bin/sh
INBOX=/dropbox/dev/inbox
OUTBOX=/dropbox/dev/outbox
for d in $(cat /dropbox/script/DirList.txt); do
    if [ -d $INBOX/$d ]; then
        mkdir -p $OUTBOX/$d
        mv $INBOX/$d/* $OUTBOX/$d/
    fi
done

answered Jan 02 '19 at 22:25

Ken Jackson

307

for d in $(cat ...) needs some caveats - see for example Reading lines from a file with bash: for vs. while – steeldriver Jan 03 '19 at 00:08

Calling dir names from a paramater list file

2 Answers2