Ubuntu – Copy files from one folder to another folder within specific date range

bashcommand linecopy

I am already using below command to copy files from a specific date.

Previously I used this command and it worked well but now it was showing an error:

-bash: /bin/cp: Argument list too long

Commends used:

cd /share/new/
cp `find . -type f -newermt '16 july 2018'` /share/test

I need to copy all files in the folder "new" from July 20th to today date. How can I achieve this?

Best Answer

Don't use cp directly with the output of find.

It might passes way many too files in a single step (and that's why you get the error Argument list too long).

Use the -exec parameter of find, which execute the given command passing a every matched file to cp, one at a time:

cd /share/new/
find . -type f -newermt '16 july 2018' -exec cp {} /share/test \;

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Argument list too long when copying files

cp *.prj ../prjshp/ is the right command, but you've hit a rare case where it runs into a size limitation. The second command you tried doesn't make any sense.

One method is to run cp on the files in chunks. The find command knows how to do this:

find -maxdepth 1 -name '*.prj' -exec mv -t ../prjshp {} +

find traverses the current directory and the directories below it recursively.
-maxdepth 1 means to stop at a depth of 1, i.e. don't recurse into subdirectories.
-name '*.prj' means to only act on the files whose name matches the specified pattern. Note the quotes around the pattern: it will be interpreted by the find command, not by the shell.
-exec … {} + means to execute the specified command for all the files. It invokes the command multiple times if necessary, taking care not to exceed the command line limit.
mv -t ../prjshp moves the specified files into ../prjshp. The -t option is used here because of a limitation of the find command: the found files (symbolized by {}) are passed as the last argument of the command, you can't add the destination after it.

Another method is to use rsync.

rsync -r --include='*.prj' --exclude='*' . ../prjshp

rsync -r … . ../prjshp copies the current directory into ../prjshp recursively.
--include='*.prj' --exclude='*' means to copy files matching *.prj and exclude everything else (including subdirectories, so .prj files in subdirectories won't be found).

Ubuntu – How to batch copy files sequentially from one folder to another

If the files are in lexicographic order, the simplest way is:

cp * /path/to/player

If you use a loop-based approach, be sure to quote the variables ("$i") to handle filenames with spaces.

Best Answer

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Ubuntu – Argument list too long when copying files

Ubuntu – How to batch copy files sequentially from one folder to another

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