Google drive client (gdrive) for command line

17 Jun 2019

A git-like command line tool called drive has implemented all the features though auth2 secret key. Follow the instructions in its readme file, run

 	drive init ~/gdrive

to start the service. In the command line, it will give you a link to visit to get a secret key which you enter in the command line. After that pull, push etc covers everything, Look at the Readme in the github for all information.

Usage

After drive init, go to the directory you initiated drive and then

 	drive pull 'directory name'

pulls all the files, directories etc of ‘directory’ name.

Similar to git, to push files to drive, you can create subdirectory inside the local gdrive structure. For example,

 	cd ~/grive
	mkdir new-folder
	cd new-folder
	cp ~/newfile ./
	drive push

Be aware, if you do not have a copy of the remote files in the local location, drive push will delete the ones that are not present in the local path or in its children.

Issue: the authentication token expires occasionally, forcing you to follow some link, clicking on “Accept” and generate token, copy-paste it to the terminal window.

Deleting files from drive:

Either

 	drive trash 'file to be trashed'

Or, remember the name (with path) of the directory you want to delete. rm -r in local path. Then

  drive push 'path to the deleted file'

to delete it remotely.

To empty trash
```
 	drive emptytrash
```
To permanently delete files without trashing it first (no need because I have infinite space in my institution-given drive) use
```
 	drive delete 'file to be deleted forever'
```
To list files upto 1 depth inside some directory
```
 	drive list
```
To list files upto 3 directory depth
```
 	drive list -depth 3
```
You can use strings to look for while listing
```
 	drive list --matches mp4 pdf mp3
```
To first sort by modTime, then largest-to-smallest and finally most number of saves inside the directory Photos
```
 	 drive list --sort modtime,size_r,version_r Photos
```

To see stats of a directory recursively

 	drive stat -r 'directory name'

or until depth 3

  	drive stat -depth 3 'directory'

drive allows you to create an empty file or folder remotely Sample usage:

 $ drive new --folder flux
 $ drive new --mime-key doc bofx
 $ drive new --mime-key folder content
 $ drive new --mime-key presentation ProjectsPresentation
 $ drive new --mime-key sheet Hours2015Sept
 $ drive new --mime-key form taxForm2016 taxFormCounty
 $ drive new flux.txt oxen.pdf # Allow auto type resolution from the extension

Show all information about your drive account
```
 	drive quota
```
in more detail
```
 	drive about
```
drive allows you to copy content remotely without having to explicitly download and then reupload.
```
 $ drive copy -r blobStore.py mnt flagging
 $ drive copy blobStore.py blobStoreDuplicated.py
```

To perform a rename:

 $ drive rename url_test url_test_results
 $ drive rename openSrc/2015 2015-Contributions

drive allows you to move content remotely between folders. To do so:
```
 $ drive move photos/2015 angles library archives/storage
```
Command Aliases: drive supports a few aliases to make usage familiar to the utilities in your shell e.g:

cp : copy ls : list mv : move rm : delete

The url command prints out the url of a file. It allows you to specify multiple paths relative to root or even by id

 $ drive url Photos/2015/07/Releases intros/flux