Print out a log file with error from a cp command

Question

I am writing an sh file I have this command

cp test/*.txt NewDirectory/

from my understanding it will go one by one in the test folder

1.txt
2.txt
5.txt
6.txt

but won't copy

3.txt
4.txt

because they are not there

I need it to print out or in a log file the files it couldn't find or couldn't copy to the new folder. How do I do that ?

Answer 1

Your understanding is incorrect. If there are only 1,2,5,6 there will be no error message in case those files are copied successfully. IF your need is to parse N number or txt files in folder and see which does not exist you can do something like: for x in {1..10}; do cp $x.txt NewDirectory/;done .Further you can append > output.log to redirect the command output to file.

Answer 2

with cp test/*.txt NewDirectory/ 2>./output.log

but the cp with * command will have to copy the files that exist and so do not show display error if files do not exist