Question

1

Move files from specifically named folders / move files up one level

rated 0 times [ 1] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 2755 / 2 Years ago, thu, december 2, 2021, 7:45:03

The goals is to move files out of the lowest level folder, back up one directory.

This does a great job but moves files higher up the folder hierarchy as well.

find . -name '*.jpg' -type f -execdir mv '{}' ../ ;

So if these jpgs were sat in a folder called 'photos', I want to move them up one level eg)

../

I've tried changing the '*.jpg' parameter to include the folder and tried using the folder instead of the dot after file. Also tried -maxdepth and -mindepth but they had no effect.

EDIT: This is for multiple folders i.e. it needs to recurse through an entire drive.

Answers

Only authorized users can answer the question. Please sign in first, or register a free account.

fatuatexen

Add To Favorites

Follow

Total Points: 451

Total Questions: 107

Total Answers: 110

Location: Trinidad and Tobago

Member since Thu, Apr 27, 2023

1 Year ago

answered 2 Years ago aclavadoug · Accepted Answer

Move files from the lowest sub directory up one level

The script below searches a directory for the lowest sub directory (= without sub directories) recursively and moves all found files in the folder(s) up one level, as literally asked for in The goals is to move files out of the lowest level folder, back up one directory:

#!/usr/bin/env python2

import shutil

import os

import sys



directory = sys.argv[1] 



for root, dirs, files in os.walk(directory):

    for dr in dirs:

        dr = root+"/"+dr

        # find folders without subfolders (= lowest level)

        if len(next(os.walk(dr))[1]) == 0:

            # direct superior directory

            up = dr[:dr.rfind("/")]

            # move files from lowest level one level up

            for f in os.listdir(dr):

                shutil.move(dr+"/"+f, up+"/"+f)

To use:

Copy the script into an empty file, save it as reorganize.py

Run it by the command:

python /path/to/reorganize.py <directory_to_reorganize>

If the name of your directory (to reorganize) contains spaces, use quotes:

python /path/to/reorganize.py '<directory_to_reorganize>'

EDIT

As mentioned in a comment, with a little change, the script can be used to only move files from a folder name up one level. The moste efficient way is to do that directly after

for dr in dirs:

Then the script would be:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import shutil

import os

import sys



directory = sys.argv[1]



for root, dirs, files in os.walk(directory):

    for dr in dirs:

        if dr == "<folder_name>":

            dr = root+"/"+dr

            # direct superior directory

            up = dr[:dr.rfind("/")]

            # move files from lowest level one level up

            for f in os.listdir(dr):

                shutil.move(dr+"/"+f, up+"/"+f)