Linux scripting question

qwertyiop

I would like to create a shell or python script that will copy multiple directories one after the other and am not sure how to start.

for example
cp -au /home/user /backup
cp -au /home/user /backup
cp -au /tmp/ /backup


Please not that the source and destinations of my actual files will all be in different directories

qwertyiop

Sorry for posting this in the wrong section.

jibbajabba

Actually you could just add those lines into a file called

something.sh

then make it executable

chmod +x something.sh

and execute it

./something.sh

Dirty - but works

qwertyiop

Gomjaba wrote: »

Actually you could just add those lines into a file called

something.sh

then make it executable

chmod +x something.sh

and execute it

./something.sh

Dirty - but works

Thanks for that. I have another question, In linux how could O script a check? By this I mean check if a directory exist and if not then make directory and continue on to the next step.

jibbajabba

Not 100% sure, what I do is for example

TODAY_DATE=`date +%d%m%Y`
mkdir /backup/$TODAY_DATE

That creates a folder based on the current date. If the folder exists, it simply says

mkdir: cannot create directory `25032011': File exists

But continues with the operation .. Not sure if that is what you need though

lordy

You should have a look at "man test". There are a bunch of these tests that you can run. Example:

if [ -d /tmp ]; then
  echo "/tmp exists"
fi

if [ -x /bin/true ]; then
  echo "/bin/true is executable"
fi

You can invert these checks by using !.

if [ ! -z /etc/motd ]; then
  echo "/etc/motd is NOT empty"
fi

PS: The message filter on this board sukcs. You cannot write "/etc/p a s s w d" in your post. Took 5 minutes of my precious time to figure that out...

qwertyiop

lordy wrote: »

You should have a look at "man test". There are a bunch of these tests that you can run. Example:

if [ -d /tmp ]; then
  echo "/tmp exists"
fi

if [ -x /bin/true ]; then
  echo "/bin/true is executable"
fi

You can invert these checks by using !.

if [ ! -z /etc/motd ]; then
  echo "/etc/motd is NOT empty"
fi

PS: The message filter on this board sukcs. You cannot write "/etc/p a s s w d" in your post. Took 5 minutes of my precious time to figure that out...

Thanks alot for your help, i really appreciate it.
I hope you can answer me one more question.

The first portion that you posted about checking if the /tmp exists. Thats exactly what im trying to do but id like it to execute a command if it is true. Is that possible and ifso how?


If that doesn't make much sense, in batch I would do something like this:
if exist c:\foo goto next
:next
copy c:\foo d:\backup

lordy

It's easy. You can put anything between if and fi that you need. Example:

if [ -d /some/directory ]; then
  cp /some/directory/* /some/other/directory/
fi

qwertyiop

lordy wrote: »

It's easy. You can put anything between if and fi that you need. Example:

if [ -d /some/directory ]; then
  cp /some/directory/* /some/other/directory/
fi

Am I correct to assume that if the directory above doesn't exist that it will skip to the next line in my script?

MentholMoose

Yes. Check the man page for "test". For "-d" it says:

FILE exists and is a directory

qwertyiop

thanks for your help