Linux/Cygwin Recursively Copy File Change Extension

Linux/Cygwin recursively copy file change extension

find . -name "*.js" -exec bash -c 'name="{}"; cp "$name" "${name%.js}.ts"' \;

Using find, you can execute a command directly on a file that you've found, by using the -exec option; you don't need to pipe it through xargs. It takes the command name followed by arguments to the command, followed by a single argument ;, which you have to escape to avoid the shell interpreting it. find will replace any occurrence of {} in the command name or arguments with the file found.

In order call a command with the appropriate ending substituted, there are multiple approaches you can take, but a simple one is to use Bash's parameter expansion. You need to define a shell parameter that contains the name (in this case, I creatively chose name={}), and then you can use parameter expansion on it. ${variable%suffix} strips off suffix from the value of $variable; I then add on .ts to the end, and have the name I'm looking for.

Recursively change file extensions in Bash

Use:

find . -name "*.t1" -exec bash -c 'mv "$1" "${1%.t1}".t2' - '{}' +

If you have rename available then use one of these:

find . -name '*.t1' -exec rename .t1 .t2 {} +

find . -name "*.t1" -exec rename 's/\.t1$/.t2/' '{}' +

How do I rename the extension for a bunch of files?

For an better solution (with only bash functionality, as opposed to external calls), see one of the other answers.

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The following would do and does not require the system to have the rename program (although you would most often have this on a system):

for file in *.html; do
    mv "$file" "$(basename "$file" .html).txt"
done

EDIT: As pointed out in the comments, this does not work for filenames with spaces in them without proper quoting (now added above). When working purely on your own files that you know do not have spaces in the filenames this will work but whenever you write something that may be reused at a later time, do not skip proper quoting.

How can you recursively copy all of the *.foo files in src to target using cp and/or find?

If you want to use find / cp then the following should do the trick:

find -f -name *.jsp -exec cp --parents {} /dest/path \;

but rsync is probably the better tool.

Find multiple files and rename them in Linux

You can use find to find all matching files recursively:

$ find . -iname "*dbg*" -exec rename _dbg.txt .txt '{}' \;

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EDIT: what the '{}' and \; are?

The -exec argument makes find execute rename for every matching file found. '{}' will be replaced with the path name of the file. The last token, \; is there only to mark the end of the exec expression.

All that is described nicely in the man page for find:

 -exec utility [argument ...] ;
         True if the program named utility returns a zero value as its
         exit status.  Optional arguments may be passed to the utility.
         The expression must be terminated by a semicolon (``;'').  If you
         invoke find from a shell you may need to quote the semicolon if
         the shell would otherwise treat it as a control operator.  If the
         string ``{}'' appears anywhere in the utility name or the argu-
         ments it is replaced by the pathname of the current file.
         Utility will be executed from the directory from which find was
         executed.  Utility and arguments are not subject to the further
         expansion of shell patterns and constructs.

How can I remove the extension of a filename in a shell script?

You should be using the command substitution syntax $(command) when you want to execute a command in script/command.

So your line would be

name=$(echo "$filename" | cut -f 1 -d '.')

Code explanation:

1. echo get the value of the variable $filename and send it to standard output
2. We then grab the output and pipe it to the cut command
3. The cut will use the . as delimiter (also known as separator) for cutting the string into segments and by -f we select which segment we want to have in output
4. Then the $() command substitution will get the output and return its value
5. The returned value will be assigned to the variable named name

Note that this gives the portion of the variable up to the first period .:

$ filename=hello.world
$ echo "$filename" | cut -f 1 -d '.'
hello
$ filename=hello.hello.hello
$ echo "$filename" | cut -f 1 -d '.'
hello
$ filename=hello
$ echo "$filename" | cut -f 1 -d '.'
hello

How can I grep recursively, but only in files with certain extensions?

Just use the --include parameter, like this:

grep -inr --include \*.h --include \*.cpp CP_Image ~/path[12345] | mailx -s GREP email@domain.example

That should do what you want.

To take the explanation from HoldOffHunger's answer below:

• grep: command

• -r: recursively

• -i: ignore-case

• -n: each output line is preceded by its relative line number in the file

• --include \*.cpp: all *.cpp: C++ files (escape with \ just in case you have a directory with asterisks in the filenames)

• ./: Start at current directory.

How can I associate .sh files with Cygwin?

Ok, I've found something that works. Associating a batch file as Vladimir suggested didn't work, but the bash arguments were key.

Short and sweet: associate with this command: "C:\cygwin\bin\bash.exe" -li "%1" %*

Long version if you don't know how:

1. In Explorer, go to Tools/Folder Options/File Types.
2. I already had an SH entry for Bash Script. If you don't have one, click New and enter "SH" to create one.
3. With the SH extension selected, click Advanced.
4. Choose the "open" action and click edit (or create the action).
5. This is the command to use: "C:\cygwin\bin\bash.exe" -li "%1" %*. Note that without the -li, it was returing "command not found" on my scripts.

You may also want to add SH to your PATHEXT environment variable:

WinKey+Pause / Advanced / Environment Variables / System Variables / PATHEXT

Thanks for your help, guys!

How to replace a string in multiple files in linux command line

cd /path/to/your/folder
sed -i 's/foo/bar/g' *

Occurrences of "foo" will be replaced with "bar".

On BSD systems like macOS, you need to provide a backup extension like -i '.bak' or else "risk corruption or partial content" per the manpage.

cd /path/to/your/folder
sed -i '.bak' 's/foo/bar/g' *

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