Script for finding string in filename then copy file

[Vaphell]

my understanding is that + respects the limits enforced by the system and splits the bulk command if necessary.

In some cases, eg mv oldname newname + wouldn't even work, so i guess the rule of thumb would be "use + if your find supports it, unless it doesn't make sense". And if i have to do something remotely complicated on a per file basis i prefer to roll my own while read loop fed with find -print0 and not be restricted by a huge oneliner.

[schragge]

Yup, this is my understanding as well. Citing the find manual:

This expansion is done in such a way as to avoid exceeding the maximum command line length available on the system.

Different approaches are discussed at some length in the manual cited above (See info -f find -n 'Deleting Files').

[mark bower]

Well thanks. I went to "info -f coreutils . . ." and, well, got smothered. I am going to settle for Vaphells explanation for now.

1)Now I have grown the code a bit to implement as a script file, but have trouble inputing the variable "string" (= a person's name). It would seem the problem is related to the placement of "$" which I have placed before the first " ' ", and between " ' ", and " * "; neither position works. Any suggestions regarding the syntax needed would be appreciated? (Inputing "source" and "catch" works just fine)

2)Also, the variables source and string are unhappy unless I input the explicit paths, eg /home/rocky/Desktop vs ~/Desktop. I can easily live with that small discomfort - but maybe there is a way?

#!/bin/bash

read -p "Please enter full path to directory of image folders  : " source
echo ""
read -p "Please enter destination folder for copied image files  : " catch
echo ""
read -p "Please enter string to search for within file names  : " string


#SAVE LINE BELOW AS WORKING LINE
#find /home/rocky/Desktop/ -type f -name '*Dulcey*' -exec cp -t /home/rocky/Desktop/catch/ - {} +

#following line works - except for trying to introduce the variable for string
find $source -type f -name '$*string*' -exec cp -t $catch - {} +

Thanks
mark

[Vaphell]

quote your "$variables" ($source $catch) or any space inside will make it go boom due to word splitting

"*$string*". ' ' are literal quotes, so even if you didn't put $ in the wrong place, it wouldn't work. Also i suggest using -iname, which is case insensitive, instead of case sensitive -name

-- not -

~: you might use something like ${source/#~/$HOME}

[steeldriver]

The single-quotes around $*string* prevent it from being expanded by the shell - you need to change those to double-quotes, and in any case it should be *$string*. You should also double-quote your other variables. The `-` should be two `--`

find "$source" -type f -name "*$string*" -exec cp -t "$catch" -- {} +

EDIT: oops beaten by Vaphell!

[mark bower]

Thank you both!

The "*$string*" syntax works just great, and I corrected the "-" to what it was supposed to be, "--".

Sorry, and again a very,very minor issue, but I did not understand how to shorten the path, eg, /home/rocky/Desktop/catch to ~/Desktop/catch?

Anyhow, you guys have been a big help and I have "piece of mind".

mark

[Vaphell]

instead of "$source" use "${source/#~\//$HOME/}". It will translate ~/some/dir to /home/you/some/dir so you don't have to type full path.

[ofnuts]

Yup, this is my understanding as well. Citing the find manual:

Different approaches are discussed at some length in the manual cited above (See info -f find -n 'Deleting Files').

Definitely sheds some light on the problem. Thx.

[mark bower]

Well, I couldn't get the abbreviated path ($source" use "${source/#~\//$HOME/}" to work? My understanding is that it is intended to "take care of ~/home" part of the path?

So I tried entries of "rocky/Desktop" and "/rocky/Desktop" for "source" with msg "Bad substitution". Also tried ~/rocky/Desktop with msg "No such file or directory". Getting it right is probably not worth more effort since it is such a minor issue. At any rate, I am v. pleased with out the script executes.

Thanks
mark

[steeldriver]

The ~ is a synonym for your home directory (usually that would correspond to the absolute path /home/rocky - assuming your username is rocky) so your Downloads directory would simply be

~/Downloads

Vaphell's substitution would convert that to /home/rocky/Downloads e.g.

$ bash -c 'read -p "Enter source directory: " source; echo "${source/#~\//$HOME/}"'
Enter source directory: ~/Downloads
/home/steeldriver/Downloads