[SOLVED] using find to display ALL directories

fanoflq · 03-14-2017, 12:24 PM

From man find:

Quote:

-name pattern
...
The metacharacters (`*', `?', and `[]')
match a `.' at the start of the base
name (this is a change in findutils-4.2.2;
see section STANDARDS CONFORMANCE below).
...

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
...
-name This option is supported, but
POSIX conformance depends on the
POSIX conformance of the system's
fnmatch(3) library function.
As of findutils-4.2.2, shell
metacharacters (`*', `?' or `[]' for example)
will match a leading `.', because
IEEE PASC interpretation 126 requires this.
This is a change from previous
versions of findutils.
...

So it appears you can use metacharacters wildcard
for -name option.

I am trying to get the equivalent of
these combined commands
of listing ALL directories in
current directories using
find commmand:

Code:

> ls -dl */
> ls -dl .*/

BTW, can you use ls to display both
hidden and visible directories ONLY
(excluding files) in a single command?

Here is the find command I tried with no success:

Code:

find . -maxdepths 0 -type d -name *

Which gives an error
"find: paths must precede expression: ..... "

Why does -name option not work?
Thank you.

szboardstretcher · 03-14-2017, 12:31 PM

If you want to list all directories in the current directory using the command and parameters you have mentioned in your post then:

Code:

find . -maxdepth 1 -type d

Should get you there. That will list all directory entries regardless of their name.

fanoflq · 03-14-2017, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by szboardstretcher

If you want to list all directories in the current directory using the command and parameters you have mentioned in your post then:

Code:

find . -maxdepth 1 -type d

Should get you there. That will list all directory entries regardless of their name.

Thank you.
I obviously misunderstood -maxdepth description in man page.

I still did not understand why option, -name *,
produces an error.

kakistocrat · 03-14-2017, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fanoflq

Thank you.
I obviously misunderstood -maxdepth description in man page.

I still did not understand why option, -name *,
produces an error.

The asterisk * is not quote or escaped, thus it is exposed raw to the shell which interprets it for you before passing it to find. See it in the context of a for loop using your default shell (which is probably bash)

Code:

for i in *;do echo "$i"; done

for i in '*';do echo "$i"; done

fanoflq · 03-14-2017, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turbocapitalist

The asterisk * is not quote or escaped, thus it is exposed raw to the shell which interprets it for you before passing it to find. See it in the context of a for loop using your default shell (which is probably bash)

Code:

for i in *;do echo "$i"; done

for i in '*';do echo "$i"; done

Thank you.
This works now.

Code:

find . -type d -name "*"

OR 

find . -type d -name '*'

Reminder to self:
Add quotes if you want to prevent current shell
from globbing arguments to command or its options.

suicidaleggroll · 03-14-2017, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fanoflq

I am trying to get the equivalent of
these combined commands
of listing ALL directories in
current directories using
find commmand:

Code:

> ls -dl */
> ls -dl .*/

BTW, can you use ls to display both
hidden and visible directories ONLY
(excluding files) in a single command?

Code:

ls -dl {,.}*/

or

Code:

shopt -s dotglob
ls -dl */

fanoflq · 03-14-2017, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by suicidaleggroll

Code:

ls -dl {,.}*/

or

Code:

shopt -s dotglob
ls -dl */

Thanks.

Now I will have to read up on brace expansion!

cesarbergara · 03-16-2017, 01:17 PM

Hi. fanoflq answer is a good method.

By the way, you can use it to find directories with pattern name:
find . -type d -name 'pattern*pattern2'
or must be to dont show directories with a pattern name:
find . -type d -prune 'pattern1*pattern2'

Have a nice day.