So, you can use the * as a wild card for all files when using cp within context of a directory. Is there a way to copy all files except x file?
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asked Jun 26 '12 at 19:41
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In bash you can use extglob:
$ shopt -s extglob # to enable extglob
$ cp !(b*) new_dir/
where !(b*) exclude all b* files.
You can later disable extglob with
$ shopt -u extglob
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Unfortunately I don't. Seems like
findis the only way intcsh:find . -maxdepth 1 ! -name "exclude*" -exec cp -t destination {} \+– rush Jun 27 '12 at 5:25
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Rsync handles this nicely.
Example copy all: rsync -aP /folder1/* /folder/2
Example copy all with exclusion: rsync -aP --exclude=x /folder1/* /folder2/
The -aP switch:
a: Similar to cp -a, recursive, etc.
P: Shows progress, a nice feature of rsync.
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1On darwin/MacOS, use
-rPinstead of-aPif you want to recurse.-ais for archiving. Not sure if this changed or if it's just different on MacOS. – jpoveda Jun 2 '17 at 23:30 -
rsyncdoes have the option to make it recursive. Example:rsync --recursive -P --exclude=x /folder1/* /folder2/. (Tested only on Ubuntu) – n1k31t4 Apr 9 '18 at 10:45
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This isn't a feature of cp, it's a feature of your shell (it expands the * to mean all non-dot files), so the answer depends on which shell you're using. For example, zsh supports this syntax:
$ cp ^x /path/to/destination
Where ^x means "all files except x"
You can also combine selection and de-selection patterns, e.g. to copy all wav files except those containing xyz, you can use:
cp *.wav~*xyz*
answered Jun 26 '12 at 19:54
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@hydroparadise I don't know much about bash, but this answer seems to cover it – Michael Mrozek♦ Jun 26 '12 at 20:00
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Could also be done in plain old (portable/compatible) bourne shell in a variety of ways with standard tools in a lot less elegant ways than using advanced shell globbing or commands with built-in-exclusion options.
If there are not too many files (and not with names including spaces and/or linebreaks), this could be a way:
cp `ls | egrep -v '^excludename$'` destdir/.
Sure, bash and GNU tools are great and powerful, but they're still not always available. If you intend to put it in a portable script, I would recommend find as in the comment by Rush.
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2I find that the last part of your answer just distracts from the topic at hand. Besides, "Unix" isn't the gold standard anymore (if it ever were). It just isn't that relevant if something is "Unix" or not anymore, despite the title of this site being "Unix and Linux". – Alexander Jun 27 '12 at 8:44
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2OK. I moved the comment to here instead: Unix is not GNU. I agree that the "unixness" of things is not very interesting, but I still believe in portability and knowing a bit about your history. – MattBianco Jun 27 '12 at 8:55
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If you want to copy everything in a folder (including subfolders) to a particular sub-directory:
cp -R $(ls | grep -v '^subdir$') subdir/
Works with sh, bash, zsh (at least).
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1If you use that command "cp -R * subdir/", bash/zsh tried to copy 'subdir' recurvively. You end up with an error: "name too long (not copied)". – user2707671 Dec 23 '15 at 10:48
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Good point. Your suggestion attempts to avoid the warning from
cp(not frombash/sh), "cp: cannot copy a directory, ‘subdir’, into itself, ‘subdir/subdir’". The copy does complete correctly, though. Unfortunately your variant breaks with any filename containing a space or shell-sensitive punctuation. See unix.stackexchange.com/q/128985/135943 – roaima Dec 23 '15 at 11:41
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extglob is the best way so far I guess.
Another way is using
cp $(ls --ignore=x) subdir/
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This will break given any form of special characters whatsoever in the filenames. (Spaces, newlines,
$, etc.) Never parse the output ofls. unix.stackexchange.com/q/128985/135943 – Wildcard Dec 4 '15 at 6:14
