Explain: {,} in cp or mv Bash Shell Commands

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Explain: {,} in cp or mv Bash Shell Commands

In Bash, the {} characters are used to specify a range of items in a command. When used in conjunction with a comma (,), they can be used to specify multiple items that should be included in the command.

For example, the cp command is used to copy files. The following command will copy three files to the /tmp directory:

cp file1 file2 file3 /tmp

However, if you have a large number of files that you want to copy, typing out the names of all the files can be time-consuming and error-prone. Instead, you can use the {} characters to specify a range of files that should be included in the command.

For example, the following command will copy all files in the current directory with the .txt extension to the /tmp directory:

cp *.txt /tmp

You can also use the {} characters and a comma to specify multiple items that should be included in the command. For example:

cp file1 file2 file3 file4 file5 file6 file7 file8 file9 file10 /tmp

can be shortened to:

cp file{1..10} /tmp

The mv command works in a similar way. It is used to move files or directories from one location to another. The following command will move three files to the /tmp directory:

mv file1 file2 file3 /tmp

You can use the {} characters and a comma to specify multiple items that should be included in the command.

Created Time:2017-10-28 20:14:16  Author:lautturi