How can I move files with xargs on Linux?

Question

I am trying this and it's not working:

ls file_* | xargs mv {} temp/

Any ideas?

Anyone with a multi file move version of this? (`xargs -n10` for example) — Gert van den Berg, Apr 14 '16 at 09:42

score 33 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 08 '13 at 04:05

33

On OS X:

ls file_* | xargs -J {} mv {} temp/

On Linux:

ls file_* | xargs -i {} mv {} temp/

answered Jan 08 '13 at 04:05

Amadan

whats happen with -i option – Jan 08 '13 at 04:19
1

On Linux, at least, the `/` at the end is optional. You can include it if you want, but it’s not necessary. – Scott - Слава Україні Jan 08 '13 at 04:20
@Scott: I was staying as close to original, just changing to make it work. – Amadan Jan 08 '13 at 04:21
5

@user1953864: `-i` (or `-J`) specify a token that will be replaced with the incoming arguments, instead of them just being tacked onto the end. `man xargs` – Amadan Jan 08 '13 at 04:23
17

You _might_ need to say `-i{}`, without a space. Or say `-I {}`. – Scott - Слава Україні Jan 08 '13 at 04:52
1

I notice that using "%" in place of "{}" also works - what does % mean and what does {} mean? Example: ls file_* | xargs -I% mv % temp/ – dmonopoly Jun 16 '16 at 03:19
3

@dmonopoly: They don't *mean* anything. Whatever the parameter to `-i` is, it is getting replaced. `ls file_* | xargs -iFOO mv FOO temp/` works exactly the same. – Amadan Jun 16 '16 at 03:40
`-i` is deprecated according to the manual, use `-I` (uppercase i) instead. – Matthias Braun Jun 21 '18 at 11:47

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 06 '14 at 10:11

10

Use -t "specify target directoty" at mv, it should work moving files* to destination directory /temp

ex:- #ls -l file* | xargs mv -t /temp

answered Mar 06 '14 at 10:11

Ratheesh

score 8 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 08 '13 at 04:08

8

find . -name "file_*" -maxdepth 0 -exec mv {} temp/ \;

find is better than ls where there might be more files than the number of program arguments allowed by your shell.

answered Jan 08 '13 at 04:08

David-SkyMesh

2

Note that the question suggests a desire to process only the `file_*` files in the current directory, while `find` (without additional options) will search the entire directory tree under the current directory. – Scott - Слава Україні Jan 08 '13 at 04:20
1

Yes, true. Add `-maxdepth 0` to prevent this. – Jan 08 '13 at 04:22
"better" is subjective. More powerful, more complex, and slower; and while `mv` doesn't care if you process files together or individually, some other uses might. – Amadan Jan 08 '13 at 04:25
Edited (added `-maxdepth 0`) – Jan 08 '13 at 07:13

score 5 · Answer 4 · edited Jan 01 '17 at 13:50

As suggested by @user1953864: {-i, -J} specify a token that will be replaced with the incoming arguments.

For example ls:

something.java  exampleModel.java  NewsQueryImpl.java  readme someDirectory/

Then to move all java files into the someDirectory folder with xargs would be as follows:

On Linux

ls *.java | xargs -i mv {} someDirectory/

On MacOS

ls *.java | xargs -J mv {} someDirectory

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 08 '13 at 06:15

0

Another solution might be:

 for f in file_* ; do
   mv $f temp/$f
 done

The disadvantage is that it forks a new mv process for each file.

answered Jan 08 '13 at 06:15

5 Answers5