Globbing means matching files by name patterns containing wildcards.
25
votes
5answers
2k views
The result of ls * , ls ** and ls ***
I know using the command ls will list all the directories. But what does the ls * command do ? I used it and it just lists the directories. Is the star in front of ls means how deep it can list the ...
18
votes
7answers
11k views
Rsync filter: copying one pattern only
I am trying to create a directory that will house all and only my PDFs compiled from LaTeX. I like keeping each project in a separate folder, all housed in a big folder called LaTeX. So I tried ...
17
votes
1answer
647 views
Why doesn't 'find' show this file?
Using find with grep, one can locate files that match a pattern:
# find | grep error
./solr-modifiedSolr4/SolrPhpClient/phpdocs/errors.html
./error_log
./includes/classes/error_log
However, using ...
17
votes
2answers
786 views
What does .??* mean in a shell command?
The following command will tar all "dot" files and folders:
tar -zcvf dotfiles.tar.gz .??*
I am familiar with regular expressions, but I don't understand how to interpret .??*. I executed ls .??* ...
14
votes
4answers
2k views
How to copy some, but not all files?
So, you can use the * as a wild card for all files when using cp within context of a directory. Is there a way to copy all files except x file?
12
votes
7answers
10k views
Converting multiple image files from JPEG to PDF format
I want to convert some files from jpeg to pdf. I am using following command.
$ convert image1.jpg image1.pdf
But I have 100 images. How should I convert all of them to corresponding pdfs?
I ...
12
votes
3answers
11k views
How do you move all files (including hidden) in a directory to another?
How do I move all files in a directory (including the hidden ones) to another directory?
For example, if I have a folder "Foo" with the files ".hidden" and "notHidden" inside, how do I move both ...
12
votes
5answers
3k views
How to match case insensitive patterns with ls?
I would like to list all files matching a certain pattern while ignoring the case.
For example, I run the following commands:
ls *abc*
I need to see all the file that have "abc" as a part of the ...
11
votes
4answers
417 views
How do I choose specific files in a different directory using bash?
I want to list (or delete, or do some other operation) on certain files in a directory, like this:
$ ls /opt/somedir/
aa bb cc aa.txt bb.txt cc.txt
$ ls /opt/somedir/(aa|bb|cc) ## pseudo-bash ...
11
votes
2answers
212 views
Can I make `rm` interactive only when using globbing? (in either bash or zsh or both)
Whenever I rm multiple items at once with shell globbing and there's even the slightest possibility that the pattern expands to more than I expect it to, I always try to remember to add -i, but (of ...
10
votes
5answers
345 views
Pattern matching on path names in bash
I want to act on a list of subdirectories in a directory. Consider:
for x in x86-headers/*/C/populate.sh; do echo $x; done
This gives
x86-headers/elf/C/populate.sh
x86-headers/gl/C/populate.sh
...
9
votes
3answers
306 views
what is wild card to select all directories in a directory
i want to set sticky bit for all directories in a directory excluding files. is there any wild card to do this?
#sudo chmod g+s /var/www/<WILD_CARD_FOR_ALL_DIRECTORIES>
8
votes
3answers
1k views
How can I remove all symbolic links with a special target?
With the command:
ls -la *
I can list all my symbolic links.
How can I remove all symbolic links which are linked to a special folder?
For example:
In my directory usr/local/bin I have the ...
8
votes
1answer
364 views
How do ${0##*/} and ${0%/*} work?
I'm quite confused about the following regular expressions I found in a shell script:
${0##*/}
${0%/*}
How do they work?
8
votes
7answers
822 views
How do I delete everything in a directory?
I'm sorry for asking such a basic question:
How do I delete everything in a directory, including hidden files and directories?
Right now, I use the following:
rm -rf *
rm -rf .*
