How can I use inverse or negative wildcards when pattern matching in a unix/linux shell?

Question

Say I want to copy the contents of a directory excluding files and folders whose names contain the word \'Music\'.

cp [exclude-matches] *Music* /target_direc         


        

Answer 1

In bash, an alternative to shopt -s extglob is the GLOBIGNORE variable. It's not really better, but I find it easier to remember.

An example that may be what the original poster wanted:

GLOBIGNORE="*techno*"; cp *Music* /only_good_music/

When done, unset GLOBIGNORE to be able to rm *techno* in the source directory.