Marking Files for Transfer

[Tim Chase]

> When wanting to move files from one directory to another, is
> there a way to do so selectively, say in batches.

You don't mention the environment in which you're working (though 
you cross-posted to the Gnome list, so you might be working in 
some sort of Gnome shell).

However, if you have lynx (L Y N X the cat) installed, you can 
use its "dired" mode.  Just launch it with

   lynx /path/to/mp3_files

You can then navigate up/down the list using "t" to tag the files 
you want to move and then use "m" to move the files to another 
directory you specify.

Alternatively, you can use Midnight Commander where control+T 
will tag files to move, press <tab> to shift to the 2nd panel, 
select the destination directory and press shift+F6 to move the 
files over (the dialog box has some additional options if you 
want them).

Yet another option, you can do something like

   ls *.mp3 > all_files.txt

then edit all_files.txt with your favorite editor, deleting the 
items you don't want to move.  Once you have the files you want 
listed in the file, you can then move them with

   xargs -i{} mv {} /path/to/destination < all_files.txt

Lather, rinse, repeat for other directories.

Hope this gives you plenty of options.

And if you were looking for some Gnome answer, hopefully you'll 
get that from somebody who knows Gnome better than I do. :)

-tim