Menu
I'm taking a unix/linux class and we have yet to learn variables or functions. We just learned some basic utilities like the flag and pipeline, output and append to file. On the lab assignment he wants us to find the largest files and copy them to a directory.
I can get the 5 largest files but I don't know how to pass them into cp in one command
ls -SF | grep -v / | head -5 | cp ? Directory 
345
By default, cp will overwrite files without asking. If the destination file name already exists, its data is destroyed. If you want to be prompted for confirmation before files are overwritten, use the -i (interactive) option.
You can make it do so by using the pipe character '|'. Pipe is used to combine two or more commands, and in this, the output of one command acts as input to another command, and this command's output may act as input to the next command and so on.
The xargs command builds and executes commands provided through the standard input. It takes the input and converts it into a command argument for another command. This feature is particularly useful in file management, where xargs is used in combination with rm , cp , mkdir , and other similar commands.
Copy a File ( cp ) You can also copy a specific file to a new directory using the command cp followed by the name of the file you want to copy and the name of the directory to where you want to copy the file (e.g. cp filename directory-name ).
It would be:
cp `ls -SF | grep -v / | head -5` Directory assuming that the pipeline is correct. The backticks substitute in the line the output of the commands inside it.
You can also make your tests:
cp `echo a b c` Directory will copy all a, b, and c into Directory.
186
If you love us? You can donate to us via Paypal or buy me a coffee so we can maintain and grow! Thank you!
Donate Us With
