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I use a simple backup bash script to copy some directories originally placed in a Debian (Testing) from a USB stick (formatted NTFS) to a MacBook. The names of directories are the same from origin to destination. Now, I need to change some names during the copy: for example, I've a hidden file (.vimrc) and a hidden directory (.abook) and I'd like to copy them as vimc and abook (not hidden), that is without point. The original code is the following one:

#!/bin/bash
declare -A BACKUP_INFOS
BACKUP_INFOS=(
    [/Users/myuser/Documents]="/Volumes/CORSAIR128/.abook    /Volumes/CORSAIR128/.vimrc          /Volumes/CORSAIR128/articles
     ...
     /Volumes/CORSAIR128/xindy"
)

for dest_dir in "${!BACKUP_INFOS[@]}"
do
  mkdir -p "$dest_dir"
  src="${BACKUP_INFOS[$dest_dir]}"
  rsync -avuz --delete --delete-after --progress $src "$dest_dir"
done

My goal is for .abook/ (a directory) and .vimrc (a file) to be copied to the destination as /abook/ and vimrc (changing the name so they are no longer "hidden files").

If I add the following two lines:

mv -v $dest_dir/.vimrc $dest_dir/vimrc
mv -v $dest_dir/.abook $dest_dir/abook

In the first case, I achieve my goal, but in the second case, the command doesn't rename the original directory, but creates a new one (abook) into which it copies the old one (.abook). So I find a sort of useless (and again hidden) duplicate:

$dest_dir/abook/.abook

A solution can be found by integrating the code as follows:

mv -v $dest_dir/.abook $dest_dir/abook && rm -r $dest_dir/abook/.abook

However, it's clear that this is a completely inefficient code: copying and then deleting... Is there a way to achieve my goal in a functional way?

Thank you

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  • 1
    I don't know why you want to rename hidden dirs to be non-hidden, I can only guess is that you want to make sure you don't miss them in a directory listing. If that's the case then there are far easier ways of achieving that. One is to make symlinks (e.g. vimrc -> .vimrc or abook -> .abook). You can do this in the src dir before running rsync or in the dst dir afterwards (if you do it before, then rsync will copy the symlinks too). Another, really simple and easy option is to get into the habit of using ls's -a or -A options. or add those to your ls alias if you use one. Commented Sep 13 at 15:25
  • 2
    Other than that, you're trying to emulate an Array of Arrays in bash. bash is not good at multi-dimensional or nested arrays...a huge understatement because it really doesn't support them at all, you can only fake them (probably the best method is to use declare -p to store arrays inside an array and then eval to extract them). But you know that, otherwise you wouldn't be trying to fake one with word splitting on the sub-array elements. I can only recommend that you either find a better way of doing it that suits bash or use a language that supports AoAs natively. e.g. perl. or python. Commented Sep 13 at 15:35
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    BTW, the only reason why the second (.abook) mv would fail in the way you describe is that there's already an abook directory in $dest_dir - so the mv isn't renaming .abook to abook, it's moving it into the existing directory. If there was an existing vimrc directory, then the first mv operation would fail in the same way. Commented Sep 13 at 15:39
  • I regularly use Debian, and files like .vimrc and directories like .abook are hidden. I also transfer them to my laptop; but sometimes I use my phone, and the hidden files copied to the cloud can't be seen from my phone. This is the main reason why I'd like to make this name change automatic. Commented Sep 13 at 15:48
  • I realized that mv operates in a different way with files and directories, I already specified it in my post. Unfortunately I'm not an expert in languages ​​like Perl or Python Commented Sep 13 at 15:51

2 Answers 2

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2

You'd need to remove the existing directory first:

rm -R $dest_dir/abook && mv -v $dest_dir/.abook $dest_dir/abook

You may want -f in addition for rm as well, which makes it ignore nonexistent target (i.e. returns "true" even in that case).

If $dest_dir/abook were empty, you'd find that you can "replace" it with $dest_dir/.abook directly with:

mv -vT $dest_dir/.abook $dest_dir/abook

-T makes sure that mv would fail as as well if e.g. $dest_dir/.abook were a file and $dest_dir/abook were a directory.

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Rsync has some file rename funtionality, but it's more on the order of transferring the file contents to a temporary file, then when the transfer is successful rename the file from the temporary name to the name it had on the source computer.

If $dir/.abook and $dir/.vimrc are files, would hard-linking them to the visible names work for you? I.e.:

cd $dir
ln .abook abook
ln .vimrc vimrc

Then both the hidden and visible files are on the source and the destination, and there's no need to rename or delete anything.

As long as the hard link between hidden and visible filenames isn't broken by your tools on the source or destination computers (you're using rsync -a so rsync links them the same on the destination as on the source), you'll be able to use the hidden files on the source and the visible files on the destination.

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  • «If $dir/.abook and $dir/.vimrc are files,»: /.abook is a directory, not a file Commented Sep 15 at 5:09

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