* expansion

prasunjit · 12-10-2012, 01:37 PM

Hello

i have two text files in the current directory: lserror.txt lsouput1.txt

while executing the below command to find files without double quotes as "*.txt" it is throwing error
find . -type f -name *.txt
But the below command without double quotes as "*.txt" is giving correct result
ls *.txt

pls explain

colucix · 12-10-2012, 01:43 PM

You have to pass a literal asterisk to the find command, otherwise the shell expansion brings to a wrong command line. Since the .txt files are in the current working directory, the shell substitutes their name in the command line, givin'

Code:

find . -type f -name lserror.txt lsouput1.txt

which is wrong. On the other hand, two (or more) arguments are accepted by the ls command, so that the shell substitution

Code:

ls lserror.txt lsouput1.txt

bring to a correct command line. To pass a literal * to find, either escape it or use single or double quotes:

Code:

find . -type f -name \*.txt
find . -type f -name '*.txt'
find . -type f -name "*.txt"

All the lines above are equivalent.

prasunjit · 12-11-2012, 11:55 PM

@colucix..thnks for the stuff..
But it seems all the below commands are going to recursion giving text files within sub directories as well...

f u can help

Quote:

Originally Posted by colucix

You have to pass a literal asterisk to the find command, otherwise the shell expansion brings to a wrong command line. Since the .txt files are in the current working directory, the shell substitutes their name in the command line, givin'

Code:

find . -type f -name lserror.txt lsouput1.txt

which is wrong. On the other hand, two (or more) arguments are accepted by the ls command, so that the shell substitution

Code:

ls lserror.txt lsouput1.txt

bring to a correct command line. To pass a literal * to find, either escape it or use single or double quotes:

Code:

find . -type f -name \*.txt
find . -type f -name '*.txt'
find . -type f -name "*.txt"

All the lines above are equivalent.

colucix · 12-12-2012, 12:30 AM

find is recursive by its nature, but you can limit the level of recursion (that is how much it descends into subdirectories) using -maxdepth (and eventually the related -mindepth) expression. In order to limit the search to the current working directory, you can try:

Code:

find . -maxdepth 1 -name \*.txt

Anyway, in this case is more convenient to use

Code:

ls *.txt

unless you want to use some more strict search criteria or apply some action on the results by means of the find command facilities.

prasunjit · 12-12-2012, 07:10 AM

Thanks a lot....this was really helpful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by colucix

find is recursive by its nature, but you can limit the level of recursion (that is how much it descends into subdirectories) using -maxdepth (and eventually the related -mindepth) expression. In order to limit the search to the current working directory, you can try:

Code:

find . -maxdepth 1 -name \*.txt

Anyway, in this case is more convenient to use

Code:

ls *.txt

unless you want to use some more strict search criteria or apply some action on the results by means of the find command facilities.