[SOLVED] Globbing in ls...

mangya · 01-08-2016, 12:06 PM

Hello

I'm using CentOS 7.

Following is the directory listing:

Code:

[root@c72 /etc/systemd/system]# ls
basic.target.wants                           dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-dispatcher.service  getty.target.wants       sysinit.target.wants
dbus-org.fedoraproject.FirewallD1.service    default.target                              multi-user.target.wants  system-update.target.wants
dbus-org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.service  default.target.wants                        sockets.target.wants

I want to list any file which has 'target' in it.

So I issued the command ls *target*, but its not working.

Code:

[root@c72 /etc/systemd/system]# ls *target*
default.target

basic.target.wants:
firewalld.service  microcode.service

default.target.wants:
systemd-readahead-collect.service  systemd-readahead-replay.service

getty.target.wants:
getty@tty1.service

multi-user.target.wants:
auditd.service  crond.service  irqbalance.service  kdump.service  NetworkManager.service  postfix.service  remote-fs.target  rsyslog.service  sshd.service  tuned.service

sockets.target.wants:
dm-event.socket

sysinit.target.wants:
lvm2-lvmetad.socket  lvm2-lvmpolld.socket  lvm2-monitor.service

system-update.target.wants:
systemd-readahead-drop.service

This guide says it will. But why I am not getting correct results?

Thanks

TB0ne · 01-08-2016, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mangya

Hello
I'm using CentOS 7. Following is the directory listing:

Code:

[root@c72 /etc/systemd/system]# ls
basic.target.wants                           dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-dispatcher.service  getty.target.wants       sysinit.target.wants
dbus-org.fedoraproject.FirewallD1.service    default.target                              multi-user.target.wants  system-update.target.wants
dbus-org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.service  default.target.wants                        sockets.target.wants

I want to list any file which has 'target' in it. So I issued the command ls *target*, but its not working.

Code:

[root@c72 /etc/systemd/system]# ls *target*
default.target

basic.target.wants:
firewalld.service  microcode.service

default.target.wants:
systemd-readahead-collect.service  systemd-readahead-replay.service

getty.target.wants:
getty@tty1.service

multi-user.target.wants:
auditd.service  crond.service  irqbalance.service  kdump.service  NetworkManager.service  postfix.service  remote-fs.target  rsyslog.service  sshd.service  tuned.service

sockets.target.wants:
dm-event.socket

sysinit.target.wants:
lvm2-lvmetad.socket  lvm2-lvmpolld.socket  lvm2-monitor.service

system-update.target.wants:
systemd-readahead-drop.service

This guide says it will. But why I am not getting correct results?Thanks

You *ARE* getting the correct results. You're seeing EVERYTHING with "target" in it...including directories. There is no option in ls to only show files. There are glob qualifiers that WILL do this, but not in bash...you'll have to use zsh instead. If you want to use bash, I'd suggest a compound-command, using "find" instead:

Code:

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -print0 | xargs -0r ls | grep target"

Bear in mind that if you leave out the "maxdepth" flag, it will recursively search that tree. You can also do:

Code:

ls -p | grep -v / | grep target

...which is another way to do it.

grail · 01-08-2016, 01:07 PM

I would have gone with find also:

Code:

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -name '*target*'

mangya · 01-08-2016, 02:07 PM

@TB0ne and @grail

Unfortunately none of the commands worked.

Code:

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -print0 | xargs -0r ls | grep target = No result.
ls -p | grep -v / | grep target                                 = Same as ls *target
find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -name '*target*'                     = No result.

Quote:

TB0ne
There is no option in ls to only show files. There are glob qualifiers that WILL do this, but not in bash...you'll have to use zsh instead.

Didn't knew bash wont support it. And with this knowledge i'll figure out some other way to do it.

Thanks anyway.

TB0ne · 01-08-2016, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mangya

@TB0ne and @grail
Unfortunately none of the commands worked.

Code:

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -print0 | xargs -0r ls | grep target = No result.
ls -p | grep -v / | grep target                                 = Same as ls *target
find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -name '*target*'                     = No result.

I have *NO IDEA* what you're running, but on CentOS (6 and 7), and openSUSE 13.2, ALL of those commands work just fine, and return exactly what you're after. What context are you running this in?? Any details???

Quote:

Didn't knew bash wont support it. And with this knowledge i'll figure out some other way to do it.Thanks anyway.

Good luck...the three ways provided already do work.

mangya · 01-08-2016, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TB0ne

I have *NO IDEA* what you're running, but on CentOS (6 and 7), and openSUSE 13.2, ALL of those commands work just fine, and return exactly what you're after. What context are you running this in?? Any details???

Good luck...the three ways provided already do work.

I figured it out. They are actually symbolic links. -type l will do. Nevermind, i just removed -type f and got results.

Code:

[root@c72 /etc/systemd/system]# ls -l
total 4
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root   54 Jan  5 21:40 basic.target.wants
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root   41 Jan  5 21:40 dbus-org.fedoraproject.FirewallD1.service -> /usr/lib/systemd/system/firewalld.service
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root   46 Jan  5 20:57 dbus-org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.service -> /usr/lib/systemd/system/NetworkManager.service
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root   57 Jan  5 20:57 dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-dispatcher.service -> /usr/lib/systemd/system/NetworkManager-dispatcher.service
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root   37 Jan  5 21:00 default.target -> /lib/systemd/system/multi-user.target
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root   85 Jan  5 20:57 default.target.wants
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root   31 Jan  5 20:57 getty.target.wants
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Jan  5 20:58 multi-user.target.wants
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root   28 Jan  5 20:57 sockets.target.wants
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root   86 Jan  5 20:57 sysinit.target.wants
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root   43 Jan  5 20:57 system-update.target.wants

[root@c72 /etc/systemd/system]# find -maxdepth 1 -iname '*target*'
./multi-user.target.wants
./getty.target.wants
./default.target.wants
./system-update.target.wants
./sockets.target.wants
./sysinit.target.wants
./basic.target.wants
./default.target

Thanks

Habitual · 01-08-2016, 03:18 PM

"next time" try

Code:

type ls

to see if it's aliased "funny".

mangya · 01-08-2016, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Habitual

"next time" try

Code:

type ls

to see if it's aliased "funny".

Code:

[root@c72 /etc/systemd/system]# type ls
ls is aliased to `ls --color=auto'

Its all fine. Thanks

suicidaleggroll · 01-08-2016, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mangya

I figured it out. They are actually symbolic links. -type l will do. Nevermind, i just removed -type f and got results.

You said in the original post that you only wanted files. If you want everything with "target" in the name just add the "-d" flag to ls to tell it to print the directory names rather than the contents. There's no need for find in this case since you don't care about the type.

mangya · 01-08-2016, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by suicidaleggroll

You said in the original post that you only wanted files. If you want everything with "target" in the name just add the "-d" flag to ls to tell it to print the directory names rather than the contents. There's no need for find in this case since you don't care about the type.

Sorry about that... I should have typed 'list anything'. My apologies. Anyway, that folder contained both directories and files (Actually a link) with word 'target' in them. I just wanted to know why *something* doesn't work. I just chose bad example.

Cheers.

suicidaleggroll · 01-08-2016, 03:39 PM

Then the only problem was that ls prints directory contents rather than directory names for matches. If you only want the names, add the "-d" flag. From "man ls":

Code:

       -d, --directory
              list directories themselves, not their contents

mangya · 01-08-2016, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by suicidaleggroll

Then the only problem was that ls prints directory contents rather than directory names for matches. If you only want the names, add the "-d" flag. From "man ls":

Code:

       -d, --directory
              list directories themselves, not their contents

Sorry I think I couldn't make my point properly. English is not my native. I chose bad example. Let me illustrate correctly.

Code:

# mkdir linuxkernel CentosLinuxOS TheLinux somefolder1 somefolder2 somefolder3
# touch  linux.kernel Centos-Linux-OS The.Linux file1 file2 file3

# ls -l
total 0
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 6 Jan  9 03:23 CentosLinuxOS
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 0 Jan  9 03:23 Centos-Linux-OS
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 0 Jan  9 03:23 file1
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 0 Jan  9 03:23 file2
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 0 Jan  9 03:24 file3
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 6 Jan  9 03:23 linuxkernel
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 0 Jan  9 03:23 linux.kernel
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 6 Jan  9 03:23 somefolder1
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 6 Jan  9 03:23 somefolder2
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 6 Jan  9 03:24 somefolder3
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 6 Jan  9 03:23 TheLinux
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 0 Jan  9 03:23 The.Linux

# ls *linux*
linux.kernel

linuxkernel:

# find -maxdepth 1 -iname '*linux*'
./linuxkernel
./CentosLinuxOS
./TheLinux
./linux.kernel
./Centos-Linux-OS
./The.Linux

Problem solved.

Thanks

suicidaleggroll · 01-08-2016, 04:08 PM

So you wanted a case insensitive search? I didn't see you mention anything about case earlier, and indeed none of your examples had any capital letters in the word "target", so it wouldn't have mattered anyway, but...

To do that in bash you would need to use "shopt -s nocaseglob". A quick google search finds this handy little function you can put in your startup scripts:

Code:

$ function i () {
> shopt -s nocaseglob; $*; shopt -u nocaseglob
> }
$ ls *jtweet*
ls: cannot access *jtweet*: No such file or directory
$ i ls *jtweet*
JTweet.pm  JTweet.pm~  JTweet2.pm  JTweet2.pm~

Stick "i" in front of the command and it makes any resulting globbing pattern case insensitive.

mangya · 01-08-2016, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by suicidaleggroll

So you wanted a case insensitive search? I didn't see you mention anything about case earlier, and indeed none of your examples had any capital letters in the word "target", so it wouldn't have mattered anyway, but...

To do that in bash you would need to use "shopt -s nocaseglob". A quick google search finds this handy little function you can put in your startup scripts:

Code:

$ function i () {
> shopt -s nocaseglob; $*; shopt -u nocaseglob
> }
$ ls *jtweet*
ls: cannot access *jtweet*: No such file or directory
$ i ls *jtweet*
JTweet.pm  JTweet.pm~  JTweet2.pm  JTweet2.pm~

Stick "i" in front of the command and it makes any resulting globbing pattern case insensitive.

It always surprises me how stupid I behave sometimes. I don't know why I inserted capital letters. Maybe I am sleepy, its 3:45 AM at my place. I better go to sleep. Just ignore capital letters in my example, you'll understand. I just wanted to know why *something* doesn't work. Got answer from TB0ne.

I wont bother you anymore.

Thanks for your patience. You were very helpful.