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Top Forums UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users Recursive directory search using ls instead of find Post 302536884 by newreverie on Wednesday 6th of July 2011 12:05:54 PM
Old 07-06-2011
Recursive directory search using ls instead of find

I was working on a shell script and found that the find command took too long, especially when I had to execute it multiple times. After some thought and research I came up with two functions.
fileScan()
filescan will cd into a directory and perform any operations you would like from within it.
directoryScan()
directoryScan will recursively cd into all directories benieth an initial provided root directory. once in a new directory, the directory is sent to fileScan so that other functions can be executed.

I found that this is blazing fast compared to find especially when searching large directory trees or if having to run more than one find in a script or chron.

enjoy the code Smilie
Code:
#!/bin/bash
# Directory Scanner using recursive ls instead of find
# Do not make any of the local variables into globals
# folder, numdirectories, and x should not be used outside fileScan() and directoryScan()
# directoryScan() will cd into all directories below the "root" directory sent to it
# fileScan() will perform operations on any directory sent to it
fileScan()
{
local folder=$1
cd $folder
if [ $folder = $PWD ]
then
#you are now inside of a directory.  Do any operations you need to do with files that may exist in this directory
fi
}
directoryScan()
{
local folder=$1
cd $folder
if [ $folder = $PWD ]
then
local numdirectories=$(ls -lS | egrep '^d' | wc -l)
fileScan $folder
local x=1
while [ $x -le $numdirectories ]
do
subdirectory=$(ls -lS | egrep '^d' | sed "s/[ \t][ \t]*/ /g" | cut -d" " -f9 | head -n $x | tail -n 1)
subdirectory="${folder}/${subdirectory}"
directoryScan $subdirectory
x=$(($x + 1))
cd $folder
done
fi
}
# sample call to directoryScan()
# directoryScan $rootdirectory
# sample call to fileScan()
# fileScan $scandirectory

 

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RMF(1)                                                               [nmh-1.5]                                                              RMF(1)

NAME
rmf - remove an nmh folder SYNOPSIS
rmf [+folder] [-interactive | -nointeractive] [-version] [-help] DESCRIPTION
Rmf removes all of the messages (files) within the specified (or default) folder, and then removes the folder (directory) itself. If there are any files within the folder which are not a part of nmh, they will not be removed, and an error will be produced. If the folder is given explicitly or the -nointeractive option is given, then the folder will be removed without confirmation. Otherwise, the user will be asked for confirmation. If rmf can't find the current folder, for some reason, the folder to be removed defaults to `+inbox' (unless overridden by user's profile entry "Inbox") with confirmation. If the folder being removed is a subfolder, the parent folder will become the new current folder, and rmf will produce a message telling the user this has happened. This provides an easy mechanism for selecting a set of messages, operating on the list, then removing the list and returning to the current folder from which the list was extracted. If rmf s used on a read-only folder, it will delete all the (private) sequences (i.e., "atr-seq-folder" entries) for this folder from your context without affecting the folder itself. Rmf irreversibly deletes messages that don't have other links, so use it with caution. FILES
$HOME/.mh_profile The user profile PROFILE COMPONENTS
Path: To determine the user's nmh directory Current-Folder: To find the default current folder Inbox: To find the default inbox SEE ALSO
rmm(1) DEFAULTS
`+folder' defaults to the current folder, usually with confirmation `-interactive' if +folder' not given, `-nointeractive' otherwise CONTEXT
Rmf will set the current folder to the parent folder if a subfolder is removed; or if the current folder is removed, it will make "inbox" current. Otherwise, it doesn't change the current folder or message. BUGS
Although intuitively one would suspect that rmf works recursively, it does not. Hence if you have a sub-folder within a folder, in order to rmf the parent, you must first rmf each of the children. MH.6.8 11 June 2012 RMF(1)
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