move files with extension from a subdirectory of directory to another subdirectory with the same name of another directory

I would like to move or copy some files with a particular extension that are missing in a new data update provided into another new directory preserving the subdirectories structure. I would like to do it with bash commands. I am using a MacBook Pro.

I got a structure like this:

/dir1/a/b/c/file1.json
/dir1/a/b/k/file2.json
/dir1/a/x/z/file3.json
/dir1/a/x/z/file4.zip

I would like to move ONLY those files ending with .json into another directory preserving the subdirectories. Regarding the other directory, it can contain other files in the subfolders.

In the new directory there can be also different files:

/dir2/a/b/c/file9.HTML
/dir2/a/b/k/file1.RAR
/dir2/a/x/z/file3.xls
/dir2/a/x/z/file4.XML

The movements will be like:

/dir1/a/b/c/file1.json -> /dir2/a/b/c/file1.json
/dir1/a/b/k/file2.json -> /dir2/a/b/k/file2.json
/dir1/a/x/z/file3.json -> /dir2/a/x/z/file3.json
/dir1/a/x/z/file4.zip -> no action as it is not .json

So the final status of the structure will be this:

/dir2/a/b/c/file9.HTML
/dir2/a/b/c/file1.json

/dir2/a/b/k/file1.RAR
/dir2/a/b/k/file2.json

/dir2/a/x/z/file3.xls
/dir2/a/x/z/file3.json

/dir2/a/x/z/file4.XML

Solution

You can use this find + gnu-cp command with --parents option:

find /dir1 -name '*.json' -exec cp --parents -t /dir2/ {} +

As per man cp:

--parents      use full source file name under DIRECTORY

Which will basically create same sub-directory structure in /dir2 for each *.json file as in /dir1.