Copying files with multiple extensions

Question

I would like to copy files with multiple extensions to a single destination directory.

For example, I can use the following command to copy all .txt files in the working directory to a directory called destination:

cp -v *.txt destination/

And I can use the following to copy all .png directories in the working directory to destination:

cp -v *.png destination/

But it's time consuming to type these as separate commands (even with the use of command history). So, is there any way that I can tell cp to copy files with either the pattern *.txt or the pattern *.png to destination? Ideally, I would like to be able to specify more than two patterns -- like instructing cp to copy all *.txt or *.png or *.jpg files to destination, for example.

I'm sure that all of this is possible using a shell script -- I'm using bash, for example -- but is there any way to accomplish it more simply, just from the console? Could I somehow use brace expansion to do it?

I know that it is possible to copy all files in the working directory except those matching certain specified patterns, but since my working directory contains far more file extensions that I don't want to copy than those I do, that would be a pain.

Do you have any thoughts on this?

• iruvar: cp -v *.txt *.png destination/?

Answer 1

Brace expansion will get the job done. man bash and search for Brace Expansion.

cp *.{txt,jpg,png} destination/

EDIT:

In keeping with the OP's request, the command above was missing the verbose option:

cp -v *.{txt,jpg,png} destination/

• sergiol: Can I do this on Windows?
• BradGreens: If I do cp data/images/*.{jpg,jpeg,png,mp4} destination/ and an mp4 file does not exist, I get a No such file or directory error which breaks the script. Can I make the multiple extensions gracefully handle any missing formats?
• Timothy Martin: @BradGreens You should really post a new question rather than asking here in the comments. Your question may even have an answer already. Posting a new question will not only get you an answer but it will then be searchable by others who need the same help.
• yoyoma2: @BradGreens Try redirecting standard error to the null device cp -v *.{txt,jpg,png} destination/ 2>/dev/null which doesn't affect standard output.

Answer 2

for filename in /Photos/directory/* ; do
 filenameWithoutPath="${filename##*/}"
 first_num="${filenameWithoutPath%%.*}"
 last_num="${filenameWithoutPath##*.}"
 cp $filename /Photos/directory/$first_num-$last_num.jpg
done

Thats working!