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taylormia · #1 (**permalink**) 19-02-2009, 12:20 AM

Hello,

I have a folder/file structure like this:

Folder1/Folder11/file11.avi
Folder1/Folder11/file11.srt
Folder1/Folder12/file12.avi
Folder1/Folder12/file12.srt
.
.
.etc

I would like to move all the .srt and .avi files into the root Folder1 and delete the subfolders Folder11, Folder12 etc. even if they have contents. The new folder/file structure should look like this:

Folder1/file11.avi
Folder1/file11.srt
Folder1/file12.avi
Folder1/file12.srt

Also, how would I modify this script if I wanted to move only one file (example: file11.avi) rather than two (example: file11.avi and file11.srt) from the subfolders into the root folder.

What if I want to move three files instead of one or two, from each subfolder into the root folder?

I would appreciate any help.

I am sunning SUSE Linux 11

Thanks

ravisola · #2 (**permalink**) 20-02-2009, 02:31 PM

Try something like:
NOTE: You will be better off taking backups first.

Code:

#!/bin/bash

#run this script from Folder1

#find all the files with .srt or .avi extension only in the immediately next subfolder
MATCHING_FILES=$(find . -mindepth 2 -maxdepth 2 -name '*.avi' -o -name '*.srt')
for i in $MATCHING_FILES
do
     CURRENT_DIR=`dirname $i`
     #move the file up one level
     mv $i $CURRENT_DIR/..
done

#delete the folder only when all files with the
#required extension have been moved up one level
for i in $MATCHING_FILES
do
     CURRENT_DIR=`dirname $i`
     rm -rf $CURRENT_DIR
done

>>>Also, how would I modify this script if I wanted to move only one file (example: file11.avi) rather than two (example: file11.avi and file11.srt) from the subfolders into the root folder.

Just remove the condition in find to check for files with srt extension

Code:

MATCHING_FILES=$(find . -mindepth 2 -maxdepth 2 -name '*.avi')

>>>What if I want to move three files instead of one or two, from each subfolder into the root folder?

Add more -o -name '*.<extension>' condition to find
refer to # find --help for details

Hope that helps,
~R

taylormia · #3 (**permalink**) 21-02-2009, 03:55 AM

Thank you very much !!!!

It worked perfectly.....except for folders whose names have spaces in them i.e "Episode 9" vs. "Episode_9"

Anyway...I only had a couple of folders like that and did them manually....

Thanks again.....You saved me countless hours of work and I have a new appreciation for the power of shell scripts.

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Moving files between folders

Moving files between folders

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