Unix cp argument list too long

Question

I am using AIX.

When I try to copy all the file in a folder to another folder with the following command:

cp ./00012524/*.PDF ./dummy01

The shell complains:

ksh: /usr/bin/cp: 0403-027 The parameter list is too long.

How to deal with it? My folder contain 8xxxx files, how can I copy them very fast? each file have size of 4x kb to 1xx kb.

Possible duplicate of [Argument list too long error for rm, cp, mv commands](https://stackoverflow.com/q/11289551/608639) — jww, Oct 17 '19 at 06:50
Run "ulimit -S -s unlimited" command. Then perform cp/mv/rm operation — Dhiren Hamal, Feb 10 '22 at 06:16

anubhava · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-06T11:35:40.103

26

Use find command in *nix:

find ./00012524 -type f -name "*.PDF" -exec cp {} ./dummy01/ \; -print

edited Apr 06 '17 at 11:35

answered May 05 '11 at 03:44

anubhava

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In the general case, I would also add a "-type d". Directories matching */PDF should be rare, but for more general copy, it will avoid multiple copies resulting from copying first the parent directory (or failing at it without the -r flag) then the children. – FGM Apr 06 '17 at 08:12

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 29 '14 at 16:49

6

The cp command has a limitation of files which you can copy simultaneous.

One possibility you can copy them using multiple times the cp command bases on your file patterns, like:

cp ./00012524/A*.PDF ./dummy01
cp ./00012524/B*.PDF ./dummy01
cp ./00012524/C*.PDF ./dummy01
...
cp ./00012524/*.PDF ./dummy01

You can also copy trough find command:

find ./00012524 -name "*.PDF" -exec cp {} ./dummy01/ \;

answered Aug 29 '14 at 16:49

Fabio Farath

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I'm getting `omitting directory './00012524'` with the find command. – pir Jun 21 '17 at 19:37

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered May 05 '11 at 07:03

2

$ ( cd 00012524; ls | grep '\.PDF$' | xargs -I{} cp {} ../dummy01/ )

answered May 05 '11 at 07:03

vapace

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 18 '14 at 19:58

1

The best command to copy large number of files from one directory to another.

find /path/to/source/ -name "*" -exec cp -ruf "{}" /path/to/destination/ \;

This helped me a lot.

answered Feb 18 '14 at 19:58

Mirza Vu

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`cp: illegal option -- u` – geoidesic Mar 07 '23 at 23:22

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered May 05 '11 at 18:40

1

The -t flag to cp is useful here:

find ./00012524 -name \*.PDF -print | xargs cp -t ./dummy01

answered May 05 '11 at 18:40

glenn jackman

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered May 05 '11 at 03:45

0

You should be able use a for loop, e.g.

for f in $(ls ./00012524/*.pdf)
do
    cp $f ./dummy01
done

I have no way of testing this, but it should work in theory.

answered May 05 '11 at 03:45

Rafe Kettler

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The ls command will probably (read "almost certainly") get the same error. Argument too long is a standard error from the C libraries on a Unix like system (man sysconf for more on that). The best appproaches are find ... | cpio -pvumd ... or using xargs or tar c...| tar x etc. NOne of those will need a shell expanded glob which is the cause of his problem. This is really more appropriate for SeverFault or SuperUser than for SO. – Jim Dennis May 05 '11 at 04:08
Improved version: `for f in ./00012524/*.pdf; do` but `find`+`xargs`+`cp -t` is much faster. – Zsigmond Lőrinczy Apr 19 '21 at 04:04

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 19 '21 at 03:46

0

you can do something like this and grab each line of the directory


# you can use the -rv to check the status of the command verbose

for i in /from_dir/*; do cp -rv "$i" /to_dir/; done

answered Apr 19 '21 at 03:46

Ivansito87

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Unix cp argument list too long

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