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Accepted
Callmeed
Asked: 2010-08-26 13:21:44 +0800 CST

How to use find to replace several files of the same name

  • 772

I have several files of the same name (say, somefile.php) scattered within several directories under /var/

If I want to replace all of them with a new version of somefile.php located in, say, /home/me/somefile.php ... how would I do that? Every search result I find relates to replacing text in a file but I want to replace the entire file.

I know I can find all the files with:

find /var/ -type f -name somefile.php

But I'm not sure how to move /home/me/somefile.php into the results and replace 'em all.

linux files find

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    find /var -type -f -name somefile.php -exec cp /home/me/somefile.php {} \;

    be careful!

    • 3

  2. As you see, this works with files with whitespaces too:

    hoeha@dw:/tmp/test$ mkdir my\ dir{1,2,3}/ ; touch my\ dir{1,2,3}/file\ to\ replace
hoeha@dw:/tmp/test$ tree
.
├── my dir1
│   └── file to replace
├── my dir2
│   └── file to replace
└── my dir3
    └── file to replace

3 directories, 3 files
hoeha@dw:/tmp/test$ echo "the new one" > the\ new\ one
hoeha@dw:/tmp/test$ find . -type f -name 'file to replace' -exec cp the\ new\ one \{\} \; -execdir mv \{\} the\ new\ one \;
hoeha@dw:/tmp/test$ tree
.
├── my dir1
│   └── the new one
├── my dir2
│   └── the new one
├── my dir3
│   └── the new one
└── the new one

3 directories, 4 files
hoeha@dw:/tmp/test$ cat my\ dir1/the\ new\ one
the new one
hoeha@dw:/tmp/test$ find -version | head -1
find (GNU findutils) 4.4.2
hoeha@dw:/tmp/test$

    Is this what you wanted?

    • 0

  3. GNU-extension-free version:

    find /var -name somefile.php | while read LINE; do cp /home/me/somefile.php "$LINE"; done

    • 0