Comment on mv *.jpg is complete bullshit.

NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

$ ls
'first file.txt'  'second file.txt'
$ cat 'first file.txt' 
this is originally named "first file.txt"
$ cat 'second file.txt' 
this is originally named "second file.txt"
$ mv *.txt
$ ls
'second file.txt'
$ cat 'second file.txt' 
this is originally named "first file.txt"

• mindbleach@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I expected people have tried to move files… using the move command.

  I did not expect I’d have to specify that there’s a destination, in an explanation of what *.jpg does, not an explanation of what mv does.

  For clarity:

  GNU bash, version 5.0.17(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)

  mv *.jpg /mnt/Example/Pictures

  Where it will then die with an error like mv: invalid option – ‘1’ depending on the contents of the current directory.

  Every search about this has led back to this StackOverflow page sooner or later. All answers address wildcard expansion.

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  • FigMcLargeHuge@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    When I run into situations like this, I use the commands that work to write out a script. Eg, in your case the wildcard isn’t working with the mv command, so do something like this:

    ls -1 *.jpg | awk ‘{print “mv "“$1”" /mnt/example/Pictures”}’ > /tmp/movefiles.sh

    Then check the movefiles.sh and make sure it has all of the commands and files properly stated, make that executable, and then run that.

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    • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      ls | grep | mv would work, except the StackOverflow discussion also highlights how parsing ls can have the same issues.

      I am moving thousands of files at once. If I have to check each one, it’s still wrong.

      The pragmatic answer turns out to be ./* instead of *.

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      • FigMcLargeHuge@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I saw that answer and was just offering another option. I am sure xargs might work, but you would need to test as you need a destination passed on each line. Back to my way, I have used it for a lot more than just the move command. I think I used it to do a chmod once where I wanted to check and make sure before I committed to actually running the command(s). You could also use find and the -exec option, which I think was also mentioned here.

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  • NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Can you run printf %s\\n *.jpg in that same directory and share the result? I’m really intrigued. If there’s private information in there, I’d be satisfied with just a handful of lines with private info replaced with ****s

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    • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      bash: alias: mv: not found

      printf %s\\n *.jpg is just a list of filenames on newlines. There’s 75,000 of them. You’ll have to take my word for it.

      Fortunately, GenderNeutralBro’s aside about using ./* instead of * works as expected. Could have been files beginning with _-. None begin with -, exactly.

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