Arg list too long - trying to move some files to a sub directory

ShatterProof

Have a directory with over 100,000 files in it. I've created a sub directory called archive_2013 and want to put last years data into it. The files have the extension .bkp

I've tried to use the following command ( 70 days is close enough to start of year)

find *.bkp -mtime +70 -type f -print | xargs -i{} mv {} /archive_2013

I keep getting "Arg list too long" , any ideas ?

I've also tried

find *.bkp -mtime +70 -type f -print -exec mv "{}" /archive_2013 \;

but same error.

Thanks.

Skrynesaver

find ./ -name \*.bkp -mtime +70 -type f -exec mv {} /archive_2013\;

You were asking the shell to expand *.bkp as an arg list for the find command

ShatterProof

Thanks but

find ./ -name \*.bkp -mtime +70 -type f -exec mv {} /archive_2013\;

is giving the error "find: incomplete statement" (meant to say this is AIX not sure if it makes a difference)

opus

Is this any use?

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -name "*.bkp" -exec mv {} /archive_2013 \;

Don't have a directory with millions of files to test it.

bonzodog2

You could move all of them, and move the newer ones back (a smaller list).

niallb

ShatterProof wrote: »

find *.bkp -mtime +70 -type f -print -exec mv "{}" /archive_2013 \;

Put single quotes around the name expression and careful with slashes and backslashes. Use -print0 in case there are spaces or weird things in the names.

find . -name '*.bkp' -mtime +70 -type f -print0 | xargs mv "{}" archive_2013 \;

AIX can be odd with expansion, and I think I remember single quotes being the magic bullet in a similar situation. Try that and see if you get a different error at least!

Alternatively, find a smaller subset of files and try for
mv *201001*.bkp archive_2013
mv *201202*.bkup archive_2013
and so on, but better to find the right command!