How can i copy only header files in an entire nested directory to another directory keeping the same hierarchy after copying to new folder

Question

I have a directory which has a lot of header files(.h) and other .o and .c files and other files. This directory has many nested directories inside. I want to copy only header files to a separate directory preserving the same structure in the new directory.

cp -rf oldDirectory newDirectory will copy all files. I want to copy only header files.

Possible duplicate of [Recursive copy of specific files in Unix/Linux?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9622883/recursive-copy-of-specific-files-in-unix-linux) — iammilind, May 09 '17 at 11:47

score 8 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 03 '17 at 04:14

8

(cd src && find . -name '*.h' -print | tar --create --files-from -) | (cd dst && tar xvfp -)

You can do something similar with cpio if you just want to hard link the files instead of copying them, but it's likely to require a little mv'ing afterward. If you have lots of data and don't mind (or need!) sharing, this can be much faster. It gets confused if dst needs to have a src in it - this is, if it isn't just a side effect:

find src -name '*.h' -print | cpio -pdlv dst
mv dst/src/* dst/.
rmdir dst/src

edited Jun 03 '17 at 04:14

taskinoor

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answered Apr 16 '12 at 17:30

user1277476

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Sounds good... I think cpio is what i was looking for esp. the -d option. – avimonk Apr 25 '12 at 06:09

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:17

2

this one worked for me:

rsync -avm --include='*.h' -f 'hide,! */' . /destination_dir

from here

edited May 23 '17 at 12:17

Community

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answered Apr 05 '15 at 12:03

Ben

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score -1 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 16 '12 at 15:16

-1

cp -rf oldDirectory/*.h newDirectory

or something like (depending on the actual paths)

find oldDirectory -type f -name "*.h" -print0 | xargs -file cp file newDirectory

answered Apr 16 '12 at 15:16

scibuff

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First solution copies .h files at depth 1 only. What if we have header files at depth 2 and 3 and so on. – avimonk Apr 16 '12 at 16:20

How can i copy only header files in an entire nested directory to another directory keeping the same hierarchy after copying to new folder

3 Answers3

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