Move (cp) all files found with the command find
$ find /home/username/Download/ -mtime -3 -print -exec cp {} /media/username/usb-stick/ \;will copy files created or modified within the last three days in the folder /Download to a USB stick that is mounted.
The beginning of this command is the usual find command, with the option -mtime. We add the option -print so the shell shows what’s being copied. Then comes -exec which runs the command cp on the selected files. The curly brackets i.e. {} come along with usage of -exec and are replaced by the current file name being processed. The semicolon i.e. ; tells -exec that it is the end of the command. Backslash i.e. \ is just here to escaped ;.
Note: -exec executes the command on each find (not as a batch).
To learn more about the option -exec, run $ man find.
To learn more about the option -mtime, check out: https://yctct.com/find-mtime
The utility find was published in 1971 and is copyleft-licensed.
Other wikis:
- Find files or directories from the command-line with find
- Find files created or modified in the last days with find
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