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I would like to know automated script for copying source files from directory to multiple directories and after copying files remove the source files from the source directory

We have one folder where the .xml files are coming. so on first step i wanted to copy these files from this source folder to another two folders i.e folder one and folder two. Folder one is for keeping the files as backup purpose only and folder two is to run another script for splitting xml files according to our requirement. After copying files remove the files from source folder

Regards

Raffa
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sunman
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  • You need to be more specific about what you want to achieve. Please [edit] your question to provide more details and examples of the desired directory/file structure before and after. – BeastOfCaerbannog Nov 22 '22 at 14:37
  • A move mv operation instead of a copy operation cp is normally what is used to automate this. If you have specific requirements not covered by this, then please edit your question and add explanation. – vanadium Nov 22 '22 at 14:42
  • @vanadium If i use mv command i am unable to copy the file to another folder – sunman Nov 22 '22 at 14:59
  • @BeastOfCaerbannog Thanks for your reply .. this is only copying the files to directories.. i wanted to copy/move the files to multiple directory and then remove the source file – sunman Nov 22 '22 at 15:24
  • For this just add && rm -rf /path/to/source_dir (obviously change the path to the correct one). Make sure to check this in a copied portion of your files to make sure that it works as intended before applying it to your files. – BeastOfCaerbannog Nov 22 '22 at 15:31
  • @BeastOfCaerbannog thanks i will test it and update you – sunman Nov 22 '22 at 15:37
  • @BeastOfCaerbannog i have used following command: for i in /opt/test2 /opt/test3; do cp /opt/test1/.txt $i && rm /opt/test1/.txt; this command copied the files from test 1 directory to test2 and then rm command delete the files without copying to test3 directory – sunman Nov 23 '22 at 10:43
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    The correct command would be: for i in /opt/test2 /opt/test3; do cp /opt/test1/*.txt "$i"; done && rm /opt/test1/*.txt The deletion of the files should happen after the for loop has completed. In your command you deleted the files right after copying them for the first time, i.e. after copying them to /opt/test2. – BeastOfCaerbannog Nov 23 '22 at 12:54
  • @BeastOfCaerbannog Oh my God its working :-D thank you so much !! – sunman Nov 23 '22 at 13:34
  • @BeastOfCaerbannog One more question can we copy from one server source files to multiple server with different folders ? i.e server1 source file>>server2(folder1,folder2) & server3(folder1,folder2) – sunman Nov 23 '22 at 15:39
  • I'm not sure, since I don't know much about using servers. You better post this as another question. – BeastOfCaerbannog Nov 23 '22 at 15:48

2 Answers2

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The following bash script will monitor the source directory for incoming new files(i.e. It will not copy or remove any preexisting files) and copy them to two destination directories then delete them afterwords ... You need to run the script and keep it running before you start receiving any new files in the source directory(i.e. The script will catch new incoming files only if it is already running) ... The script uses inotifywait that you need to install first with sudo apt install inotify-tools ... Please read the comments in the script and specify the paths first:

#!/bin/bash

Specify the full path to the source directory in the line below (keep the last "/").


source_d="/full/path/to/directory/"


Specify the fullpath to the first destination directory in the line below (keep the last "/").


destination_d1="/full/path/to/directory1/"


Specify the full path to the second destination directory in the line below (keep the last "/").


destination_d2="/full/path/to/directory2/"


inotifywait -m -q -e close_write "$source_d" |


while read -r path action file; do
    cp -- "$path$file" "$destination_d1$file"
    cp -- "$path$file" "$destination_d2$file"
    rm -- "$path$file"
  done
Raffa
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Use cp N-1 times and finally use mv for the Nth time.

cp [files] [folder1] 
cp [files] [folder2]
...
cp [files] [folderN-1]
mv [files] [folderN]
Anthony Kelly
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  • can you please give me a example of cp N-1 for moving files from one source to two destination folders – sunman Nov 23 '22 at 12:22
  • You can't do it in one command. All I'm saying is you need to copy the files to you target directories and for the copy to the last directory use mv instead of cp to make sure the source files are deleted. – Anthony Kelly Nov 23 '22 at 15:00