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Old 08-01-2009, 11:45 AM   #1
David the H.
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listing directories containing files of certain type


I'm looking to create a list of directories that contain files of a certain type, such as .mp3 files. I've got it mostly working with this command:
Code:
find . -name "*.mp3" -printf "%h\n"|sort -u
The problem is that it also lists parent directories as well. For example, "./dira/dirb/dirc/song.mp3" would give me

./dira
./dira/dirb
./dira/dirb/dirc

I only want the last entry. Is there any simple way to filter out the unwanted ones?

Note that sometimes the parent directories can contain files as well, so I can't just remove partial duplicates from the list after it's compiled (i.e. there are times when ./dira/dirb would also be a legitimate hit).
 
Old 08-01-2009, 11:55 AM   #2
colucix
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I cannot reproduce this behaviour. It prints only the name of the directories actually containing mp3 files, even if they are two or three levels below the current dir:
Code:
$ find . -name "*.mp3"
./test1.mp3
./dirname/files/songs/test2.mp3
./dirname/files/test3.mp3
$ find . -name "*.mp3" -printf "%h\n"
.
./dirname/files/songs
./dirname/files
Can you provide more details about the actual content of the directories in the search path?
 
Old 08-01-2009, 12:05 PM   #3
David the H.
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Doh! Actually, I've just discovered that it is working the way I want.

After posting I took a closer look at the list I had generated and found that all the "duplicates" it listed actually do have matching files in them. My memory of what was in the upper directories was a bit off and I failed to notice that it was only listing some of the upper directories.

Forget I ever asked anything.
 
  


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