organize.sh

#!/bin/sh
# Organize files by file extension
# Written in answer to http://unix.stackexchange.com/q/19110/250


# Configuration (feel free to add your types and change the path)
DOCUMENTS='
pdf
doc
'
DOCUMENT_PATH="$HOME/docs"

MUSIC='
mp3
ogg
'
MUSIC_PATH="$HOME/music"


# Take a list of file extensions and make a regex to use in `find'
function make_regex {

    REGEX=''

    for EXT in $(echo $1)
    do
        if [ -z $REGEX ]
        then REGEX=".*\.($EXT"
        else REGEX="$REGEX|$EXT"
        fi
    done

    REGEX="$REGEX)"
    echo $REGEX
}


# Find and move the files
# Delete "echo" below to let the script do things
find $HOME -type f \
           -regextype posix-egrep \
           -iregex $(make_regex $DOCUMENTS) \
           -exec echo mv -i '{}' $DOCUMENT_PATH \;

find $HOME -type f \
           -regextype posix-egrep \
           -iregex $(make_regex $MUSIC) \
           -exec echo mv -i '{}' $MUSIC_PATH \;


# Desktop notification when done
notify-send "Clean Up" "Documents and music files moved to place."