I am trying to copy files from another user on a server over to my user.
my command is:
cp /Directory/*
cp: target /Directory/file1.txt is not a directory
What is wrong?
I want to copy all files in the "Directory"
Simple answer: You haven't provided a destination, i.e. a target where to put files.
Long answer:
cp needs two or more arguments. All arguments except the last are treated as source, the last is treated as target.
When you write cp /Directory/*, then /Directory/* is expanded to a list of all files in the directory.
Therefore cp tries to copy all files in the directory, except the last one, into the last one. But that one is not a directory, therefore the command fails.
Related
I looked up the forum but didn't find an article which matches my problem. Maybe there is some, and you can help me out with it.
My problem is I want to sync an folder with the command rsync -a -v. The point is I got 5 different Maschinen. On every maschine is a scratch folder I want to sync into the folder: ~/work_dir/scratch_maschines and inside the /scratch_maschines folder should be a folder for maschine_a, maschine_b and so on.
On the maschines it is always the same path: /scratch/my_name. So when I use now this command for the first two maschines:
rsync -a -v --exclude='*.chk' --exclude='*.rwf' --exclude='*.fchk' --delete sp02:/scratch/my_name ~/work_dir/scratch_maschine01; rsync -a -v --exclude='*.chk' --exclude='*.rwf' --exclude='*.fchk' --delete maschine02:/scratch/my_name ~/work_dir/scratch_maschine02
I got a folders for scratch_maschine01 and scratch_maschine02 in my working directory but inside these folders are not direct my data there is first a folder inside with my_name and this folder contains the data. So my question is how can I use the rsync command and get the files from the scratch directorys straight to the folders for each machine?
You might want to consider reformulating your commands similar to the following:
START=`pwd`
EXCLUDES="--exclude='*.chk' --exclude='*.rwf' --exclude='*.fchk'"
{ SOURCE="sp02:/scratch/my_name"
REMOTE="${HOME}/work_dir/scratch_maschine01"
cd "${SOURCE}"
rsync --recursive -v --delete ${EXCLUDES} "./" "${REMOTE}/"
}>${START}/job.log 2>${START}/job.err
The key elements there are
the --recursive which will rsync will expand to include all content and subdirs of the SOURCE directory.
the / behind the ${SOURCE} notifies rsync to limit itself to content of the SOURCE directory, but not the directory itself.
the / behind the ${REMOTE} notifies rsync to limit itself to depositing content into that directory and expect it to already exist, to specifically fail if that does not already exist at REMOTE; this ensures that the remote site doesn't attempt a failsafe PWD and deposit files elsewhere than expected.
The above approach lends itself to a function form that could be placed into a loop with pre-attempt condition checks, along with having a complementary case for all variable assignments grouped under a destination heading (i.e. case statements).
Using such an approach with meaningful labels for variables lends itself to a type of implicit documentation, making the code more meaningful to someone not familiar with the code, as well as a refresher for yourself after a long period of not working or using the code.
I try to avoid the "~" because I prefer to always enclose definitions for variables in double quotes, to avoid issues that might arise from paths that may include unexpected characters or spaces. That way, you are sure to have your defined paths correctly interpreted by commands in scripts.
Lastly, I prefer to use the long form for the rsync options (and almost every other command) so that I don't have to refer to the manual every time to translate the single-character options when trying to understand what is coded, if the need arises for troubleshooting unexpected errors (I have always had poor memory).
My own backup command is as follows. The only reason why the
${PathMirror}${dirC}/
is not encapsulated in single quotes within the double quotes for COM is because I know those variables all evaluate to non-complex strings which cannot be misinterpreted.
Using any of the standard Robot libraries, is it possible to recursively copy the contents of a directory to an existing destination directory?
Basically, I'm looking for the equivalent of the following shell command: cp -r foo/. bar (note the trailing dot)
I tried Copy Directory but this creates a directory foo inside bar (as documented) and it doesn't stop doing that even when supplying the trailing dot. Copy Files chokes when it encounters a directory.
Is there anything I overlooked? Or do I need to just call cp -r myself?
As I only need this to work on Linux, I ended up implementing a custom keyword calling cp -r. If this is ever needed cross-platform, then I'll follow the suggestions to directly implement it in Python.
Copy Directory Contents
[Documentation] Recursively copies the contents of the source directory into the destination.
[Arguments] ${source} ${destination}
Directory Should Exist ${source}
Directory Should Exist ${destination}
${result} = Run Process cp -r ${source}/. ${destination}/
Should Be Equal As Integers ${result.rc} 0
I have to delete a number of files with names like "test excel-27-03-2016.xls" from a directory on a Unix machine. Can you please suggest how? I tried using command
rm -f test excel-27-03-2016.xls
but it is not deleting the file.
Does the name of the file contains a space? It seems so.
If this is the case, rm -f "test excel-27-03-2016.xls" (note double quotes around the file name) ought to do it.
Running rm -f test excel-27-03-2016.xls means trying to erase two files, one named test and the other excel-27-03-2016.xls.
So if 'test excel-27-03-2016.xls' is one filename, you have to escape the space in the rm command.
rm test\ excel-27-03-2016.xls
or
rm 'test excel-27-03-2016.xls'
otherwise rm will think 'test' and 'excel-27-03-2016.xls' are two different files.
(Also you shouldn't need to use -f.)
For a single file, if the file name contains spaces, you have to protect those spaces. By default, the shell splits file names (arguments in general) at spaces. So, enclose the name in double quotes or single quotes:
rm -f "test excel-27-03-2016.xls"
or use a backslash if you prefer (but I don't prefer backslashes; I normally use quotes):
rm -f test\ excel-27-03-2016.xls
When a delete operation doesn't work, the -f option to rm becomes your enemy; it suppresses the error messages that rm would otherwise give. For example, without the -f, you might see:
$ rm test excel-27-03-2016.xls
rm: test: No such file or directory
rm: excel-27-03-2016.xls: No such file or directory
$
That tells you that rm was given two names, not one as you intended.
From a comment:
I have 20-30 files; do I have to give rm 'test excel-27-03-2016.xls" each time and provide "Yes" permission to delete file?
Time to learn wild-cards. First thing to learn — Be Careful! Do not destroy files carelessly.
Run a command such as:
ls -ld *.xls
Does that list the files you want deleted — all the files you want deleted and nothing but the files you want deleted? If it doesn't contain any extra file names (and no directory names), then you can run:
rm -f *.xls
If it doesn't contain all the file names you need deleted, but it does contain only names that you need deleted, then run the rm to reduce the size of the problem, then devise an alternative pattern to delete the others:
ls -ld *.xlsx # Semi-plausible
If it contains too many names, you have a couple of options. One is to use rm interactively:
rm -i *.xls
and respond yes to those that should be deleted and no to those that should be kept. Another is to work out a more precise wildcard, perhaps *-27-03-2016.xls.
When using wild-cards, the shell keeps file names as single arguments, so the fact that the generated names have spaces in them isn't a problem. Be aware that many shell techniques, such as capturing that list of file names in a variable, do not preserve the spaces properly — a cause of much confusion.
And, with any mass file removal, be very careful. The Unix system will not stop you doing immense damage to your files It will take you at your word — if you say 'remove everything', it will try to do so.
From another comment:
I have taken root access so I will have all permissions.
Don't run as root when you have problems working out what you are doing. Running as root means that any mistake has the potential to be dramatically more devastating than if you run as yourself.
If you are running as root, the -f option to rm really isn't needed (unless someone has attempted to protect you by creating an alias for the rm command).
When you're root, the system does what you tell it to do. root: Remove the kernel. system: Yes, sir! Right away, sir! root: Remove the complete root file system. system: Yes, sir! Right away, sir!
Be very, very careful when running as root. It is a bad idea to experiment when running as root. It is very important to know exactly what you plan to do as root, to gain root privileges and do what you plan to do, and then lose the root privileges as soon as possible. Use sudo (or su) to temporarily gain root privileges.
I am attempting to use rsync to copy files, but I want to not copy hidden files and folders, and there is one ordinary file I want excluded from the file transfer. I believe I am eliminating the hidden folders with the --exclude="./" and I believe I am excluding the hidden file with the --exclude file path option. If I eliminate the --exclude file path option, I don't get any errors, but that file is copied, which I do not want. If I eliminate the --excluude="./" the hidden files are copied, which I do not want either. What am I doing wrong?
mbp:~ username $ rsync —-exclude /Users/username/work/java/textsearch/settings/search_config.properties --exclude=".*/" -avz /Users/username/work/java/ root#remote.local:/usr/local/java/ -n
building file list ... rsync: link_stat "/Users/username/?\#200\#224-exclude" failed: No such file or directory (2)
done
sent 9560 bytes received 20 bytes 6386.67 bytes/sec
total size is 17461760 speedup is 1822.73
rsync error: some files could not be transferred (code 23) at /SourceCache/rsync/rsync-42/rsync/main.c(992) [sender=2.6.9]
1) What is /Users/username/?#200#224-exclude and why is rsync looking for it?
2) How do I get rsync to copy everything except the hidden folders/files and the specified file?
If this is an exact copy of the command line, the "--" in front of exclude is not using the correct characters. Delete this and replace with double minus. What happens is, that rsync doesn't recognize the option, instead searching the user directory for the file "—-exclude"
So this doesn't seem like a terribly complicated question I have, but it's one I can't find the answer to. I'm confused about what the -p option does in Unix. I used it for a lab assignment while creating a subdirectory and then another subdirectory within that one. It looked like this:
mkdir -p cmps012m/lab1
This is in a private directory with normal rights (rlidwka). Oh, and would someone mind giving a little explanation of what rlidwka means? I'm not a total noob to Unix, but I'm not really familiar with what this means. Hopefully that's not too vague of a question.
The man pages is the best source of information you can find... and is at your fingertips: man mkdir yields this about -p switch:
-p, --parents
no error if existing, make parent directories as needed
Use case example: Assume I want to create directories hello/goodbye but none exist:
$mkdir hello/goodbye
mkdir:cannot create directory 'hello/goodbye': No such file or directory
$mkdir -p hello/goodbye
$
-p created both, hello and goodbye
This means that the command will create all the directories necessaries to fulfill your request, not returning any error in case that directory exists.
About rlidwka, Google has a very good memory for acronyms :). My search returned this for example: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~help/afs/afs_acls.html
Directory permissions
l (lookup)
Allows one to list the contents of a directory. It does not allow the reading of files.
i (insert)
Allows one to create new files in a directory or copy new files to a directory.
d (delete)
Allows one to remove files and sub-directories from a directory.
a (administer)
Allows one to change a directory's ACL. The owner of a directory can always change the ACL of a directory that s/he owns, along with the ACLs of any subdirectories in that directory.
File permissions
r (read)
Allows one to read the contents of file in the directory.
w (write)
Allows one to modify the contents of files in a directory and use chmod on them.
k (lock)
Allows programs to lock files in a directory.
Hence rlidwka means: All permissions on.
It's worth mentioning, as #KeithThompson pointed out in the comments, that not all Unix systems support ACL. So probably the rlidwka concept doesn't apply here.
-p|--parent will be used if you are trying to create a directory with top-down approach. That will create the parent directory then child and so on iff none exists.
-p, --parents
no error if existing, make parent directories as needed
About rlidwka it means giving full or administrative access. Found it here https://itservices.stanford.edu/service/afs/intro/permissions/unix.
mkdir [-switch] foldername
-p is a switch, which is optional. It will create a subfolder and a parent folder as well, even if parent folder doesn't exist.
From the man page:
-p, --parents no error if existing, make parent directories as needed
Example:
mkdir -p storage/framework/{sessions,views,cache}
This will create subfolder sessions,views,cache inside framework folder irrespective of whether 'framework' was available earlier or not.
PATH: Answered long ago, however, it maybe more helpful to think of -p as "Path" (easier to remember), as in this causes mkdir to create every part of the path that isn't already there.
mkdir -p /usr/bin/comm/diff/er/fence
if /usr/bin/comm already exists, it acts like:
mkdir /usr/bin/comm/diff
mkdir /usr/bin/comm/diff/er
mkdir /usr/bin/comm/diff/er/fence
As you can see, it saves you a bit of typing, and thinking, since you don't have to figure out what's already there and what isn't.
Note that -p is an argument to the mkdir command specifically, not the whole of Unix. Every command can have whatever arguments it needs.
In this case it means "parents", meaning mkdir will create a directory and any parents that don't already exist.