Hello. I have a lot of binary linux files which I compiled back in the time I used linux. They are organized into several subfolders which have both the source code, a backup of the source code and the binary file. Can someone please help me to find out how to move/or delete these files, without having to drag and drop each individual file. (That would take quite a long time).
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macOS How do I move a lot of binary files in several subfolders?
- Thread starter Kalixa
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Got a naming convention? Is there a tree structure that can be followed by a script? Got a list of all the files or paths you want if they are spread across tarnation?
Not enough information to propose a solution.
Todd
Not enough information to propose a solution.
Todd
Yeah, I don't understand based on the information either. You can create a zip or tar file and then add files to it by directory. Or else, if you're at least mildly organized, you can just copy the entire uplevel folder onto your backup device. But since you're asking the question, I'm guessing that's not an option for some reason, but I don't know why?
If there is a pattern to the names you can use "find". See "man find". It will apply a command to a set of files that match a pattern. The pattern is very general and can be things like "executable files with date before X and with "s" as the third letter in the name and all are under directory Y. Find can be very usfull when you have many, many files that all need the same thing done to them.
If you're not afraid of using the terminal, this is easy. The 'file' command will give you info about a file. For a linux binary I just copied to my Mac as a test it reports:
So theoretically all you need to do is run 'file' on every file in that tree, grep for linux in the results and rm them. You can use the command below for that. Replace the '.' at the start with the start of the directory tree that has all these files:
If that's too scary, just run this:
to see what linux files it finds without actually removing them.
Code:
bash: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV),
for GNU/Linux 2.2.5, dynamically linked (uses shared libs), strippedSo theoretically all you need to do is run 'file' on every file in that tree, grep for linux in the results and rm them. You can use the command below for that. Replace the '.' at the start with the start of the directory tree that has all these files:
Code:
$ rm `find . -type f -exec file '{}' \; | grep -i linux | awk -F: '{print $1}'`If that's too scary, just run this:
Code:
$ find . -type f -exec file '{}' \; | grep -i linux | awk -F: '{print $1}'to see what linux files it finds without actually removing them.