how to copy files with some pattern from multiple directories to a single directory?

KansaiRobot

8/29/24, 2:33 AM

I have a directory structure

base
|_folder_34231
|         |_23491_this_I_want.csv
|         |_23491_this_I_dont_want.csv
|         |_some_other_things_I_dont_need
|         |_some_other_folder_I_dont_need
|
|_folder_30941
|         |_30912_this_I_want.csv
|         |_30912_this_I_dont_want.csv
|         |_some_other_things_I_dont_need
|         |_some_other_folder_I_dont_need
|
|_folder_55587
|         |_17777_this_I_want.csv
|         |_17777_this_I_dont_want.csv
|         |_some_other_things_I_dont_need
|         |_some_other_folder_I_dont_need
|
|_folder_60920
|         |_83821_this_I_want.csv
|         |_83821_this_I_dont_want.csv
|         |_some_other_things_I_dont_need
|         |_some_other_folder_I_dont_need

I want to copy all of the csv files that finish with "this_I_want" into a single folder(named for example "target") The other files (including the very similar named "this_I_dont_want" file ) should be ignored

How can I do this from the terminal?

1 + 3

command-line

bash

copy

muru

8/29/24, 2:53 AM

This should be a trivial variation of https://askubuntu.com/questions/1437037/how-can-i-copy-files-from-many-subdirectories-to-another-directory-while-preserv - just omit the `--parents` from `cp`. You know `cp` exists, you know wildcards exist, so what have you tried?

Kevin Bowen

8/30/24, 10:26 PM

Does this answer your question? [How can I copy files from many subdirectories to another directory while preserving directory structure?](https://askubuntu.com/questions/1437037/how-can-i-copy-files-from-many-subdirectories-to-another-directory-while-preserv)

KansaiRobot

8/30/24, 11:51 PM

@KevinBowen No, that is a different question.

Score:0

Ubuntu

mondotofu

8/29/24, 3:00 AM

mkdir mycsv 
find . -name "*this_I_want.csv" -exec cp -p -u {} mycsv \;

+ 0

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