Hi Frineds,

I am executing this command ls -a | grep .* on my systems but it is showing confusing output so can anyone please tell me what output it is showing.


Regards--
krishna_sicsr

Assuming you want to ouput a list of all files starting with '.' (dot) e.g. .profile, .cshrc, etc.
the easiest way is

NO I am using

ls -a | grep .* only but what output it is showing I am not getting on different systems it is showing different output.

ls -a .* shows output in the form of directory within directory form.

So please if are getting that what output ls -a | grep .* is showing let me know.

murphy's method is the better one
Please show the output, sometime, the ouput speaks better that our words

RUV

Hey,

When we use murphy's syntax we'll get something like that :

------------------------------------------------------------------
.mh_profile .profile .sh_history .vi_history

.:
. VIPSCFqstat_output_archive smit.log
.. VIPSqstat_output smit.script
.mh_profile VIPSqstat_output_archive smit.transaction
.profile XptionAudit_SuccessMessages.txt sumanta
.sh_history XptionsAuditFailMessages.txt temp.598178
.ssh XptionsAuditMessages.txt tempdspmq.txt.598178
.vi_history backup test1
EBRM deploy test2
GetRateVIPSCF.gz gtb vinay
HLD_LLD.zip mike vips
ILLogs mqILScript.sh vipscf
Mail sanjay vipsscript
VIPSCFqstat_output sed wbimb6_broker

..:
. .. dspmq_temp mqsi mqsiadm mqsiprd mqsitst t1917mk t5615rw

.ssh:
. .. known_hosts

------------------------------------------------------------------

where all the hidden files are listed including the normal files and directories.

If want to list out only directories the use the conditional script for that

if [ -f ] then

fi

OR

id [ -d ] then

fi


where as ls -a | grep .* command will list all the files that are hidden and nonhidden files, and in those you will serach the string ".*"
So obviously in different files and systems output will be different.

Thanks

How about using "ls -a | grep \.*"?

use
What is happening is that you are getting shell filename expansion. Without the single quotes, shell is expanding to something like