A simple Bash script to collect and consolidate files from subdirectories of a root directory into a single _all folder, while preserving their parent directory names as filename prefixes.

This script scans all subdirectories (excluding _all) of a specified root directory and copies all files found into a new _all folder under that root. Each file is renamed using the format:

<parent_directory>_<original_filename> 

This helps avoid filename collisions and keeps track of each file's origin.

Given the following directory structure:

/data ├── project1 │ └── report.txt ├── project2 │ └── report.txt 

Running:

./collect_files.sh /data

Creates:

/data/_all/ ├── project1_report.txt ├── project2_report.txt 

./collect_files.sh /path/to/root-directory

• Replace /path/to/root-directory with the actual path to the root directory containing the subfolders.
• The script will create (or update) a _all folder inside the root directory.

• Files in the _all directory are overwritten if a name collision occurs.
• The script skips the _all directory to avoid infinite recursion.
• The original directory structure is not modified.

• Bash (tested on GNU Bash 5.1+)
• find, dirname, basename, and cp utilities (available in most Unix-like systems)