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Script to copy files and folders on macOS
To copy a file or folder to another location on a Mac, the user needs to navigate to the location of the file or folder on the Finder application and use the context menu option ‘Copy’ or use the shortcut command + C to copy the file. Then, they need to open the target location and use the context menu option ‘Paste’ or use the shortcut command + V to paste the file or folder. This method is tedious for the device administrator when managing multiple endpoints and impractical when handling multiple files or folders or performing a batch operation. On the other hand, using a script to automate this process is easy, efficient, and effective. This doc includes shell scripts that you can run using Hexnode’s Execute Custom Script action to remotely copy files or folders on a Mac.
Scripting language – Bash
File extension – .sh
The sample scripts provided below are adapted from third-party open-source sites.
Copy file/folder
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1 2 |
#!/bin/bash cp –R <path to file/folder> <new path> |
Example – cp –R Desktop/1 Desktop/2
The cp command copies the content of a source file to the target file. The -R option allows you to copy a directory and all its subfolders. If the path given ends in /, the contents in the directory are copied rather than the directory itself.
- In Bash, before inserting space while defining file or folder names, we use a backslash
\to separate the characters. This will prevent the shell interpreter from interpreting the space as a separator and assuming they were two different arguments.Hence, if the path is
New Folder/myFile, we write it asNew\ Folder/myFile. - It is recommended to manually validate the script execution on a system before executing the action in bulk.
- Hexnode will not be responsible for any damage/loss to the system on the behavior of the script.
- The commands used in the script are case sensitive.
