LinuxQuestions.org - Stripping whitespace in a find command

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kj6loh

12-11-2009 05:13 PM

Stripping whitespace in a find command

I don't want to strip the beginning or the end.
but I want to do something like

find <dir> -iname *<1wd><spaces><2wd>*

I've tried
find <dir> -iname *1wd\ +2wd*
find <dir> -iname *1wd[\ ]+2wd*
find <dir> -iname *1wd[\ ]\+2wd*
to no avail.

Komakino

12-11-2009 05:27 PM

You want something along the lines of:

Code:

find <dir> -iregex "*wd\ *2wd"

but the -iregex syntax is odd because it matches on the whole file name, even if you've already specified a directory.
e.g. the file:

/folder/afile.bat

will match with

-iregex "folder/a.*\.bat"

but not

-regex "a.*\.bat"

(and any number of spaces would be "\ *")

ghostdog74

12-11-2009 07:04 PM

do it like this

Code:

find /path -type f -iname "* *"

kj6loh

12-12-2009 08:23 AM

ghostdog yours would not work and I tell you why that gets every file with a space.

Let me give you guys a more concrete example.

I have 11 files

Code:

aaaaab  caaaa

aaaad daaaaaa

aaab  caaaa

aae  faa

aaaaaaab              c

aab      ccccaaa

ddddd

b    c

aaaaC  B

B      Caaaa

baaac

I want to get all the files with b then c regardless of the number of spaces in between and regardless of case. So this is the output:

Code:

aaaaab  caaaa

aaab  caaaa

aaaaaaab              c

aab      ccccaaa

b    c

B      Caaaa

ghostdog74

12-12-2009 08:28 AM

then add your "b"s and "c"s into the expression. Its easy, so I leave it to you to experiment. the command line is there for you to use.

colucix

12-12-2009 08:45 AM

Why not simply a good-ol' pipe?

Code:

find . -type f | grep -E '.*[bB][ ]+[cC].*'

catkin

12-12-2009 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kj6loh (Post 3788798)

I want to get all the files with b then c regardless of the number of spaces in between and regardless of case.

Then you want

Code:

find /path -type f -iname "wrd1* *wrd2"

or maybe

Code:

find /path -type f -iname "*wrd1* *wrd2*"

ghostdog74

12-12-2009 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colucix (Post 3788820)

Why not simply a good-ol' pipe?

Code:

find . -type f | grep -E '.*[bB][ ]+[cC].*'

because you are not going to call grep for every file it finds, even the ones that are not needed?? this produces overhead. Its better to let find do the walk and talk.

Code:

find . -type f <for OP to find out> ".*b[ ]+c.*"

colucix

12-12-2009 09:09 AM

Putting together suggestions by Komakino, ghostdog74 and catkin, most likely this is what you're looking for:

Code:

find . -type f -iname "*b* *c*" -iregex '.*b[ ]+c.*'

the output will not contain matching directories (see note by Komakino).

colucix

12-12-2009 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghostdog74 (Post 3788833)

because you are not going to call grep for every file it finds, even the ones that are not needed?? this produces overhead.

That's true. I stand corrected.

ghostdog74

12-12-2009 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catkin (Post 3788825)

Then you want

Code:

find /path -type f -iname "wrd1* *wrd2"

or maybe

Code:

find /path -type f -iname "*wrd1* *wrd2*"

according to OP, that's not his requirement. he wants to find multiple spaces as well..

ghostdog74

12-12-2009 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colucix (Post 3788836)

Putting together suggestions by Komakino, ghostdog74 and catkin, most likely this is what you're looking for:

Code:

find . -type f -iname "*b* *c*" -iregex '.*b[ ]+c.*'

the output will not contain matching directories (see note by Komakino).

don't need -iname

catkin

12-12-2009 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghostdog74 (Post 3788839)

according to OP, that's not his requirement. he wants to find multiple spaces as well..

The * pattern elements also match spaces.

Code:

c:/tmp$ touch 'a  b'

c:/tmp$ find . -iname 'a* *b'

./a  b

ghostdog74

12-12-2009 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catkin (Post 3788850)

The * pattern elements also match spaces.

Code:

c:/tmp$ touch 'a  b'

c:/tmp$ find . -iname 'a* *b'

./a  b

i originally wanted to give him this

Code:

find . -iname "*b* *c*"

but i am considering the fact that he might have files like

Code:

blahb blah cblahblah

so, anyway, best to let OP decide

catkin

12-12-2009 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghostdog74 (Post 3788860)

i originally wanted to give him this

Code:

find . -iname "*b* *c*"

but i am considering the fact that he might have files like

Code:

blahb blah cblahblah

so, anyway, best to let OP decide

Sorry -- you are right; I misunderstood the requirement which is clearly expressed by example in this post

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