Using xargs command and two move commands following it

Question

OS: aix shell: bsh

Hi, ppl

I have two types of files, one type ends with .pdf.marker and the other ends with .pdf

There should be always a pair with the same name (only the extensions are different).

When I move a .pdf.marker file I must also move its corresponding .pdf file.

I tried something like this:

find ${INPUT_LOCATION}/ -name "*.pdf.marker" | xargs -I file mv file ${OUTPUT_LOCATION}/. mv $(basename file .marker) ${OUTPUT_LOCATION}/.

Then I read this: xargs with multiple commands as argument and tried something like this:

find ${INPUT_LOCATION}/ -name "*.pdf.marker" | xargs -I file {mv file ${OUTPUT_LOCATION}/.; mv $(basename file .marker) ${OUTPUT_LOCATION}/.;}

but it still didnt work.

I just need to execute 2 commands after xargs.

EDIT

Following the proposed answers I got i tried to put just 2 parameters into one move command instead of two separate move commands following xargs.

find ${INPUT_LOCATION}/ -name "*.pdf.marker" | xargs -I file mv file $(basename file .marker) ${OUTPUT_LOCATION}/.

But now, the .pdf.marker is moved first, then when I try to remove the .marker from the filename to get the .pdf filename i get a warning no such file or directory.

Is there another way to get .pdf filename string?

SOLUTION

find ${INPUT_LOCATION} -name '*.pdf.marker' -exec sh -c 'mv $0 `dirname $0`/`basename $0 .marker` $1' {} ${OUTPUT_LOCATION} \;

Moved 200 000 files in cca. 25 min. without problems.

Thanks everyone who participated with their answers and a big thanks goes to you Nahuel Fouilleul!

Ortwin Angermeier · Answer 1 · 2012-07-11T10:32:46.533

3

You could try something like the following:

find ${INPUT}/ -name "*.pdf" -exec mv '{}' '{}'.marker ${OUTPUT} \;

To test if the marker file exists you could use something like the following:

find ${INPUT}/ -name "*.pdf" -exec test -e '{}'.marker \; -exec mv '{}' '{}'.marker ${OUTPUT} \;

edited Jul 11 '12 at 10:32

answered Jul 11 '12 at 09:20

Ortwin Angermeier

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i am only allowed to move a **.pdf** file if the **.pdf.marker** file exist and only then. So I need to use the **basename** command on the **.pdf.marker** file – Mandark Jul 11 '12 at 09:30
i updated my answer, now only the pdf files with a marker file will be moved. – Ortwin Angermeier Jul 11 '12 at 10:09

Nahuel Fouilleul · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-11T11:08:14.293

2

try this (x option for debug)

find "${INPUT_LOCATION}" -name '*.pdf.marker' | xargs -i bash -cx 'pdf=`dirname {}`/`basename {} .marker`;[ -e "$pdf" ]&&{ mv {} "$pdf" "$0";}' "${OUTPUT_LOCATION}"

or shorter

find $INPUT_LOCATION -name '*.pdf.marker' | xargs -i bash -c 'mv ${0%.marker} $0 $1' {} $OUTPUT_LOCATION

or

find $INPUT_LOCATION -name '*.pdf.marker' -exec bash -c 'mv ${0%.marker} $0 $1' {} $OUTPUT_LOCATION \;

maybe more standard

find ${INPUT_LOCATION} -name '*.pdf.marker' -exec sh -c 'mv $0 `dirname $0`/`basename $0 .marker` $1' {} ${OUTPUT_LOCATION} \;

and for tests echo can be added

find ${INPUT_LOCATION} -name '*.pdf.marker' -exec sh -c 'echo mv $0 `dirname $0`/`basename $0 .marker` $1' {} ${OUTPUT_LOCATION} \;

edited Jul 11 '12 at 11:08

answered Jul 11 '12 at 10:09

Nahuel Fouilleul

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Your middle answer did the trick for me. Thanks :) I just have one more question, perhaps you'll know; the script is running under **aix** and will be executed via **bsh**, will the ...xargs -i **bash** -c 'mv.... make problems? In my testing enviroment I have **bash** but on the production enviroment(which I'm forbidden to access) its **bsh**. – Mandark Jul 11 '12 at 10:53
variable substitution ${VAR%pat} may not work with bsh so the first answer is more standard sh but maybe with -f instead of -e – Nahuel Fouilleul Jul 11 '12 at 11:00
the 4th(more standard version) says **find missing argument '-exec'** – Mandark Jul 11 '12 at 11:11
Yes, it works quite good even for 25k files, but it doesn't use **xargs** anymore. I will probably use your version, but I must be cautious because when we used **ls** command in conjuction with a **for loop** without **xargs** we got an error like Argument list too long for a large number of files cca. 15k – Mandark Jul 11 '12 at 12:26
the problem with ls is the shell expansion of * this is not the case with find because the * is between quotes there is no shell expansion to see the difference `echo '*.pdf.marker'` and `echo *.pdf.marker` – Nahuel Fouilleul Jul 11 '12 at 16:14

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 11 '12 at 09:16

1

No need to use xargs:

for i in `find ${INPUT_LOCATION} -name \*.pdf`; do mv $i ${OUTPUT_LOCATION}; mv $i.marker ${OUTPUT_LOCATION}; done

answered Jul 11 '12 at 09:16

Jenny D

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I need xargs because **find** returns >30k filenames – Mandark Jul 11 '12 at 09:22

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 11 '12 at 11:05

0

for f in *.pdf.marker; do
  if [ -e "${f%.marker}" ]; then
    mv "$f" "${f%.marker}" "$OUTPUT_LOCATION"
  fi
done

answered Jul 11 '12 at 11:05

glenn jackman

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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 13 '12 at 01:27

0

If you have GNU Parallel installed:

find ${INPUT_LOCATION} -name '*.pdf.marker' | parallel mv {} {.} ${OUTPUT_LOCATION}

To learn more watch the intro videos: http://pi.dk/1

answered Jul 13 '12 at 01:27

Ole Tange

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5
86
104

Using xargs command and two move commands following it

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