只要存在某个字符串，就将所有文件从文件夹A移动到B.

Question

I am trying to move files from folder A to folder B whenever a file contains a certain string:

grep -Rli '22/05/2018' ads/ | awk -F  "//" '{print $2}' | xargs cp $0 projection/$1

cp: illegal option -- b
usage: cp [-R [-H | -L | -P]] [-fi | -n] [-apvX] source_file target_file
   cp [-R [-H | -L | -P]] [-fi | -n] [-apvX] source_file ... target_directory

how to fix this?

Answer 1

Following may help you here.

grep -L -Z -r 'your_string_to_be_checked' . | xargs -0 -I{} mv {} target_directory/

Explanation:

grep -L : Means leave those files which are NOT having that specific string which we are searching for.

-Z : means output should have \\0 in file names so space is not being used as delimiter.

-I{} mv {} new_directory/ means replace {} with file names and make it like mv filename new_directory and run it to move the files to new place.

I am using mv here you could use cp too here.

Answer 2

Not sure why you're using awk.

Solution:

grep -lir '22/05/2018' ~/ads/* | xargs cp -t $DEST_FOLDER

Source

Answer 3

Once you have the list of filenames you want to copy you could just use xargs -I:

$ cat listOfFileNames | xargs -I{} cp {} $destFolder 

the -I option gives a name to the list of arguments, allowing you to place them wherever you want.