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I need to run this command in a shell script to copy source > destination and exclude a folder.

No rsync, tar, find, mv, etc.

Exactly this command:

cp -var test/!(test2) testbkp

  1. In the shell it works
  2. Run from a Bash script without exclude like cp -var test testbkp it works.

When I try to run from a Bash script with the exclude option

cp -var test/!(test2) testbkp, it doesn't work.

There isn't any output, nothing, and no error message.

I checked this post too, but no result: cp command won't run if executed from shell script

How can I run this cp command in a Bash script and exclude folders?

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3
  • 2
    cp is not part of bash -- it's a separate executable (typically something like /usr/bin/cp) you can use without any shell at all; so "bash 'cp' command" is somewhat misleading. On the other hand, it is the shell responsible for taking a glob expression (like test/!(test2)) and generating a list of filenames from that expression before the cp executable (or whatever other executable you run) is started.
    – Charles Duffy
    Mar 10 at 16:44
  • @Charles Duffy "use cp command in a bash shell script..."?
    – Blockchain Office
    Mar 10 at 16:59
  • nod, that wording would avoid the confusion.
    – Charles Duffy
    Mar 10 at 17:04

1 Answer 1

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16

You should enable the extglob option, it isn't enabled by default in scripts:

#!/bin/bash
shopt -s extglob
cp -var test/!(test2) testbkp

Also verify that the script is indeed running under bash.

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