Copy file into multiple directories - Unix

Question

I want to copy one file into many directory. My path structure is like above.

folder1-> anotherfolder -> **here I want to copy my file**
folder2-> anotherfolder -> **here I want to copy my file**
folder3-> anotherfolder -> **here I want to copy my file**
folder4-> anotherfolder -> **here I want to copy my file**

folder1,2,3,4 is in the same directory. But the names are the folders are not sequential.

I can get the name of folders with this code but after that I don't know how can I get into the folders and copy my file.

    for d in */ ; do
     echo "$d"
    done

This code gives me the folders name in directory. After this step how can I get into folders and copy my file?

Eugeniu Rosca · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-06 14:15:59Z

1

First try (has limitations)

for d in $(find . -maxdepth 2 -type d | grep "/.*/"); do
    cp file "$d"
done

LIMITATIONS:

No spaces/slashes/glob characters in the dir-names

Second try (cleaner, thanks to gniourf_gniourf)

find . -maxdepth 2 -path './*/*' -type d -exec cp file {} \;

edited Jun 6, 2015 at 14:15

answered Jun 6, 2015 at 12:24

Eugeniu Rosca

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9 Comments

Eugeniu Rosca Over a year ago

I've edited the solution to catch only paths like ./folderA/folderB/

Batuhan B Over a year ago

It copied but the file name changed into anotherfolder. My actual file name is test.java

gniourf_gniourf Over a year ago

Please, no! this is broken if directory name contains spaces or other funny characters (glob characters, etc.) Your use of grep also looks wrong.

Eugeniu Rosca Over a year ago

I've added the Limitations section. Anyone wanting to come with a generic solution is welcome!

gniourf_gniourf Over a year ago

Since you're relying on -maxdepth, I can assume GNU find or similar that has the -path predicate: find . -path './*/anotherfolder' -type d -exec cp file {} \;.

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Tom Fenech · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-06 12:20:43Z

1

Seems like you want to do something like this:

for d in */; do
    cp file "$d"/anotherfolder
done

answered Jun 6, 2015 at 12:20

Tom Fenech

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