Correct syntax for shell script

Question

Am trying to create one and add the same to the cron. This is the commands I am trying to run through the script.

#!/bin/bash
find . -mmin -60 -name "*.jpg" $(printf "! -name %s " $(cat processed.txt) ! -name cache) -exec convert -resize 1000x800 -quality 85% {} {};
find  -mmin -60 -type f -name "*.jpg" -exec basename {} \; &> processed.txt

f I am running these commands directly on shell, I don't get any error. but if say I have stored this in a file called compress and run the script as ./compress I get the error -

find: missing argument to `-exec'

what mistake I am making and how I can fix that.

You have two find commands, both having the -exec option. Which of them fail? — Some programmer dude
– Some programmer dude, Commented Jan 30, 2019 at 14:21
cannot say - on the console only it prints the error I have written. as I have tried taking out each statement one by one and there is no error. when both lines are present then only it is throwing the error. — Pawan
– Pawan, Commented Jan 30, 2019 at 14:23
Could it have something to do with one find missing a path to search in? Perhaps it's the missing backslash before the semicolon to terminate the -exec in the first find command? — Some programmer dude
– Some programmer dude, Commented Jan 30, 2019 at 14:26
Hmm. I added the backslash as you suggested and run the commnd agin, but still the same error. — Pawan
– Pawan, Commented Jan 30, 2019 at 14:27
Also, how about the order of the commands? The second command creates the file processes.txt which the first command uses... — Some programmer dude
– Some programmer dude, Commented Jan 30, 2019 at 14:28

chepner · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-30 18:42:02Z

1

Build an array of arguments for the first find command instead of relying on the command substitution.

while IFS= read -r line; do
  processed+=(! -name "$line")
done < processed.txt

Your immediate problem, though, is that you forgot to escape the semicolon so that it would be treated as an argument to find, rather than a command terminator.

find . -mmin -60 -name "*.jpg" "${processed[@]}"  \
  ! -name cache  -exec convert -resize 1000x800 -quality 85% {} {} \;
#                                                                  ^^
find  -mmin -60 -type f -name "*.jpg" -exec basename {} \; &> processed.txt

answered Jan 30, 2019 at 18:42

chepner

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1 Comment

Pawan Over a year ago

Thanks Chepner. This works perfect. where I can have reference for building this shell script?

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