Say I have a file /templates/apple and I want to
So, /templates/apple will be copied to /templates/used AND /templates/inuse
and then after that I’d like to remove the original.
Is cp the best way to do this, followed by rm? Or is there a better way?
I want to do it all in one line so I’m thinking it would look something like:
cp /templates/apple /templates/used | cp /templates/apple /templates/inuse | rm /templates/apple
Is this the correct syntax?
You are using | (pipe) to direct the output of a command into another command. What you are looking for is && operator to execute the next command only if the previous one succeeded:
cp /templates/apple /templates/used && cp /templates/apple /templates/inuse && rm /templates/apple
Or
cp /templates/apple /templates/used && mv /templates/apple /templates/inuse
To summarize (non-exhaustively) bash's command operators/separators:
| pipes (pipelines) the standard output (stdout) of one command into the standard input of another one. Note that stderr still goes into its default destination, whatever that happen to be.|&pipes both stdout and stderr of one command into the standard input of another one. Very useful, available in bash version 4 and above.&& executes the right-hand command of && only if the previous one succeeded.|| executes the right-hand command of || only it the previous one failed.; executes the right-hand command of ; always regardless whether the previous command succeeded or failed. Unless set -e was previously invoked, which causes bash to fail on an error.& executes the left-hand command as a background job, and also concurrently runs the right-hand command (which can also be terminated with & to run as a background job).