I want to cp a file to another directory but that directory doesn't exist yet.
So I would do:
mkdir /new_place cp the_file /new_place Can I do this in one?
I imagine something like cp the_file -m /new_place if "m" stood for "make dir's that don't exist"
Would this be a chance to use scp, rsync or another copying utility?
4 Answers
With --parents you can recreate the directories from the source to the destination. For example:
cp --parents ~/Downloads/test.txt ~/Desktop/ Will create the subdirectories ~/Desktop/home/desgua/Downloads and then copy test.txt into it; and
cp --parents Downloads/test.txt ~/Desktop/ will create ~/Desktop/Downloads.
You can do this with the following command
# rsync --recursive the_file /path/to/your/dir/that/doesn't/exists/ Note: Use of "/" at the end of path:
When using "/" at the end of source, rsync will copy the content of the last folder. When not using "/" at the end of source, rsync will copy the last folder and the content of the folder.
When using "/" at the end of destination, rsync will paste the data inside the last folder. When not using "/" at the end of destination, rsync will create a folder with the last destination folder name and paste the data inside that folder.
desgua's answer is proper and simple way, but what if you need a protable way ? POSIX defines cp without --parent flag, so it's not gonna work across all systems.
One option is to write it in Python if it's installed on the system:
#!/usr/bin/env python3 from os import makedirs from os.path import exists,basename from shutil import copyfile from sys import argv if len(argv) < 3: print('Not enough args',file=stderr) exit(1) filename = basename(argv[2]) dirs = argv[2].replace(filename,'') makedirs(dirs) copyfile(argv[1],argv[2]) This works as so:
$ ./mkdircp.py /etc/passwd $HOME/foodir/bardir/passwd.copy $ stat --printf "%F\n" $HOME/foodir/bardir/passwd.copy regular file $ head -n 1 $HOME/foodir/bardir/passwd.copy root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash You can easily type two commands by using ;. For instance:
mkdir folder; cp file.html folder and it should work.
