Copying files from the terminal with confirmation message before copying each file

saqib

12/13/22, 7:57 PM

I want to copy files from one folder to another, but I want to make the terminal ask for confirmation of copying files before copying each file. Is there any way?

I know there is cp -i but that only asks before overwriting.

1 + 1

command-line

copy

terdon

12/14/22, 1:04 PM

Can you explain the use case a bit? What's the point of asking for confirmation for every file? If you don't want to copy something, then don't copy it. In what context would a confirmation be useful?

Score:6

Ubuntu

steeldriver

12/13/22, 10:00 PM

You could implement something with the find command's -ok predicate:

   -ok command ;
          Like  -exec but ask the user first.  If the user agrees, run the
          command.  Otherwise just return false.  If the command  is  run,
          its standard input is redirected from /dev/null.

So for example

$ find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -name '*.jpg' -ok cp -t ../newdir {} \;
< cp ... ./aaa.jpg > ? y
< cp ... ./aaa-small.jpg > ? n
< cp ... ./bbb.jpg > ? n
< cp ... ./ccc-small.jpg > ? y
< cp ... ./ccc.jpg > ? y
< cp ... ./bbb-small.jpg > ? n

$ ls ../newdir
aaa.jpg  ccc.jpg  ccc-small.jpg

0 + 1

sudodus

12/14/22, 8:59 AM

Thanks for 'find -ok command' :-)

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Copying files from the terminal with confirmation message before copying each file

TH: การคัดลอกไฟล์จากเทอร์มินัลพร้อมข้อความยืนยันก่อนที่จะคัดลอกแต่ละไฟล์

RO: Copierea fișierelor de pe terminal cu mesaj de confirmare înainte de a copia fiecare fișier

RU: Копирование файлов из терминала с сообщением подтверждения перед копированием каждого файла

VI: Sao chép tệp từ thiết bị đầu cuối với thông báo xác nhận trước khi sao chép từng tệp

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