Move a sequential range of numbered files to new directories

Question

In my parent directory I have 78,160 files.
File names are: sb_604_dpm_0089000.dpx, sb_604_0089001.dpx etc.

I want to move the files to 4 sub directories subdir1, subdir2, subdir3, subdir4. There must be exactly 20,000 files in each directory in sequential order.

Is it to possible to move a certain range of files from the parent directory to the sub-directories i.e., sb_604_dpm_0089000.dpx to sb_604_dpm_0108,999.dpx files to subdir1 sb_604_dpm_0109000.dpx to sb_604_dpm_0128,999.dpx files to subdir2 etc.

The final folder will only contain the remaining files after the first 60,000.

All of these should be done using a batch file, ideally being able to specify/check the range before the move proceeds. Is this possible?

In DOS I would probably be able to work this out for myself writing a batch file, but with Linux I'm a little lost... I'm not a programmer, I'm just a linux user looking for faster/better ways to do this rather than the GUI, so any help appreciated. Please keep it as simple as possible!

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

If it's a one-time task, you could use shell expansion like so:

mkdir subdir1 subdir2 subdir3 subdir4
mv sb_604_dpm_{0089000..0108999}.dpx subdir1
mv sb_604_dpm_{0109000..0128999}.dpx subdir2
mv sb_604_dpm_{0129000..0148999}.dpx subdir3
mv sb_604_dpm_*.dpx                  subdir4

{1..5} expands to 1 2 3 4 5, so the above commands expand to the first/second/third 20,000 files, and the last line handles the rest.

Answer 2

Something like this little script should do it for you:

#!/bin/bash

files=(*.dpx)
folder=1
count=0

if [ ! -d "folder$folder" ]; then
   mkdir "folder$folder"
fi

for i in "${files[@]}"
do
   mv "$i" "folder$folder"
   let count=$count+1
   if [ "$count" == "20000" ]; then
      let count=0
      let folder=$folder+1
      if [ ! -d "folder$folder" ]; then
        mkdir "folder$folder"
      fi
   fi
done

Put script into a file inside of the folder with the files you want to move (eg folder in your home folder named "my-files") and name the file "move". Then from the command line:

$ cd ~/my-files
$ chmod 755 move
$ ./move