Bash – How To Loop Over Files In Directory

In Bash, you can loop over the files in a directory and change their path or perform operations on them. Here’s how you can do this using a for loop or find command, depending on your needs.

Example 1: Using for loop to loop over files and change path

Suppose you want to loop over all files in a directory and change the path to a new directory.

#!/bin/bash

# Define the source and destination directories
source_dir="/path/to/source"
destination_dir="/path/to/destination"

# Loop through all files in the source directory
for file in "$source_dir"/*; do
  if [[ -f "$file" ]]; then
    # Move or change path of each file to the new directory
    mv "$file" "$destination_dir/"
    echo "Moved $file to $destination_dir/"
  fi
done

In this example:

• "$source_dir"/* lists all files in the source directory.
• The if [[ -f "$file" ]] checks if the current item is a file (not a directory).
• mv "$file" "$destination_dir/" moves each file to the new path.

Example 2: Using find command to loop over files and change path

If you want to apply the operation recursively to all files in subdirectories as well, find can be a better option.

#!/bin/bash

# Define the source and destination directories
source_dir="/path/to/source"
destination_dir="/path/to/destination"

# Use find to loop through all files in the source directory
find "$source_dir" -type f | while read file; do
  # Move each file to the new directory
  mv "$file" "$destination_dir/"
  echo "Moved $file to $destination_dir/"
done

In this example:

• find "$source_dir" -type f lists all files (not directories) in the source directory and its subdirectories.
• The while read file reads each file path from the output of find.
• mv "$file" "$destination_dir/" moves each file to the new directory.

Both approaches allow you to loop through files in a directory and change their path as needed. The first method is suitable for simple directories, while the second method is more flexible for recursive operations.