Bash: for loop, copy, backup

Question

Hey, not 100% sure what this error means.

% for f in "*" ; do cp $f ../backup/backup$f ; done
cp: ../backup/backup* not found

The purpose is to copy all the files into a folder into a backup folder and rename the files to backup.

Mark Byers · Accepted Answer · 2010-03-16 21:06:14Z

11

The * shouldn't be in quotes:

for f in * ; do cp $f ../backup/$f ; done

When you use quotes this prevents the shell from expanding it, so it is looking for a file called *, not all files in the directory which is what you meant.

answered Mar 16, 2010 at 21:06

Mark Byers

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janmoesen · Accepted Answer · 2010-03-16 21:10:43Z

7

You are quoting the wrong things: quote the variables, not the wildcards!

% for f in *; do cp "$f" "../backup/$f" ; done

BTW, in this case, you can simply do:

% cp * ../backup/

answered Mar 16, 2010 at 21:10

janmoesen

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sud03r · Accepted Answer · 2010-03-16 21:35:33Z

3

Or may be this:

cp -b * ../backup

If you want them to be renamed:

% for f in * ; do cp "$f" "../backup/${f}-backup" ; done

answered Mar 16, 2010 at 21:35

sud03r

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