How to move all folders in a directory with mv and bash variables

Question

I wanted to take paths to directories from files that we got from a user as parameters of function and from files extract the paths and move all files and folders in the source directory to the destination directory, but something went wrong: It writes to me, that "No such file or directory"

With this input

Where dest_adr.txt contains this path: C:\Users\Michal\Desktop\tmp and source_adr.txt contains this path: C:\Users\Michal\Desktop\test\

#!/bin/bash

FILE_WITH_ADRESS_TO_BLENDER_PATH=$1
FILE_WITH_ADRESS_TO_FOLDER_WITH_ADDONS=$2

function move_folders(){    
    mv "${PATH_TO_FOLDER_WITH_ADDONS_}"/* "${PATH_TO_BLENDR_DIRECTORIE_}"/
}   

if [  $# -eq 0 ]
  then
      PATH_TO_BLENDR_DIRECTORIE="C:/Program Files/Blender Foundation/Blender 3.0/3.0/scripts/addons"
      FOLDER_WITH_ADDONS="none"
      echo $PATH_TO_BLENDR_DIRECTORIE
      echo $FOLDER_WITH_ADDONS
  else  
      PATH_TO_BLENDR_DIRECTORIE_=$(cat $FILE_WITH_ADRESS_TO_BLENDER_PATH | sed -e 's/\\/\//g' -e 's/\C://g')
      PATH_TO_FOLDER_WITH_ADDONS_=$(cat $FILE_WITH_ADRESS_TO_FOLDER_WITH_ADDONS | sed -e 's/\\/\//g' -e 's/\C://g')
      echo $PATH_TO_BLENDR_DIRECTORIE_
      echo $PATH_TO_FOLDER_WITH_ADDONS_
      move_folders
  fi

Did you checked that test/ has still files, if you ran the script, they will be all already moved to your destination — SidoShiro92
– SidoShiro92, Commented Apr 28, 2022 at 12:23
Please don't post images of text. Just place the text itself in your question, formatted as a code sample. — larsks
– larsks, Commented Apr 28, 2022 at 12:29
Please don't post images of text. Just place the text itself in your question, formatted as a code sample. — larsks
– larsks, Commented Apr 28, 2022 at 12:30
"folders" and "directories" are different things. Everything you are talking about here is a directory. The word "folder" has no place anywhere in this question. — William Pursell
– William Pursell, Commented Apr 28, 2022 at 12:41
Folders are also called "directories," and they are created on the hard drive (HD) or solid-state drive (SSD) when the operating system and applications are installed. Files are always stored in folders — Michael Hajný
– Michael Hajný, Commented Apr 28, 2022 at 14:43

Adrián Bíro · Accepted Answer · 2022-04-28 12:30:08Z

0

Use Shell Parameter Expansion

adrian@pc:/tmp/move> path_to_file=/usr/share/man/man1/bash.1.gz
adrian@pc:/tmp/move> folder_path=${path_to_file%/*} 
adrian@pc:/tmp/move> echo $folder_path 
/usr/share/man/man1
adrian@pc:/tmp/move> file_name=${path_to_file##*/}
adrian@pc:/tmp/move> echo $file_name 
bash.1.gz

Don't use cat to send variable, it will send content of file no path, use echo or printf instead.

answered Apr 28, 2022 at 12:30

Adrián Bíro

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Comments

SidoShiro92 · Accepted Answer · 2022-04-28 12:31:30Z

-2

The error occurs because the test/ directory is empty.

Try again with files within it. It's expected behavior to fail with a wildcard if you don't have files in the source directory you are trying to move.

Edit: Or use mv -r

edited Apr 28, 2022 at 12:31

answered Apr 28, 2022 at 12:26

SidoShiro92

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3 Comments

Michael Hajný Over a year ago

The directory has a few folders inside from the very beginning :(

SidoShiro92 Over a year ago

Well use move with -r to recurse over your folders

SidoShiro92 Over a year ago

output of tree of the test/ folder ?

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