Replace symbolic-link with target

mac-osxsymbolic-link

How can you replace all symbolic-links in a directory (and children) with their targets on Mac OS X? If the target is not available, I'd prefer to leave the soft link alone.

Best Answer

If you are using mac OSX aliases, then find . -type l won't come up with anything.

You can use the following [Node.js] script to move/copy the targets of your symlinks to another directory:

fs = require('fs')
path = require('path')

sourcePath = 'the path that contains the symlinks'
targetPath = 'the path that contains the targets'
outPath = 'the path that you want the targets to be moved to'

fs.readdir sourcePath, (err,sourceFiles) ->
    throw err if err

    fs.readdir targetPath, (err,targetFiles) ->
        throw err if err

        for sourceFile in sourceFiles
            if sourceFile in targetFiles
                targetFilePath = path.join(targetPath,sourceFile)
                outFilePath = path.join(outPath,sourceFile)

                console.log """
                    Moving: #{targetFilePath}
                        to: #{outFilePath}
                    """
                fs.renameSync(targetFilePath,outFilePath)

                # if you don't want them oved, you can use fs.cpSync instead
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