Shell Programming and Scripting

Hi All ,

Trying to list only the files not the directories ( for /tmp ) using find command .

I have tried the following :-

Code:

find /tmp -name "*" -prune -exec ls -l {} \;

It works until this ( lists all the files and directories )

If I add ==> -type f to the command after -prune , fails ( Nothing shows up )

Code:

find /tmp -name "*" -prune -type f -exec ls -l {} \;

If I add -type f to the command before -prune , it works but it lists the files for sub directories as well .

Also , if I am not wrong -prune is to list the files in the directory not for the sub directory ( If this is wrong , could any one explain with simple example ) .Are prune and maxdepth same ?

None of them show the expected result

Code:

find /tmp -name "*" -type f -prune -exec ls -l {} \;  /* lists only the files but also for sub directories */
find /tmp -name "*" -type f -exec ls -l {} \; /* same result as above */
find /tmp -name "*" -prune -type f -exec ls -l {} \; /* Nothing shows up */ 
find /tmp -name "*"  -exec ls -l {} \;

In a simpler way : I would like to list all the files not the directories from a specific directory excluding the files from sub directories using the find command

Moderator's Comments:

Please use [code] and [/code] tags when posting code, data or logs etc. to preserve formatting and enhance readability, thanks.

Code:

find . ! -name .  -prune -type f

With zsh:

Code:

print -l -- *(D.)

Just to add that you'll need to actually go to the target directory:

Code:

cd /tmp
find . ! -name .  -prune -type f

Otherwise you should use something like this:

Code:

find /tmp/. ! -name .  -prune -type f

With some find implementations you can use the maxdepth option.

I am new to unix , not sure about the usage of dot (.) and and ! ( Exclamation)
What is the difference between -name "*" and -name .

---------- Post updated at 05:09 AM ---------- Previous update was at 03:37 AM ----------

Is dot (.) for current directory and , I am in searching in /tmp , if so , why should use dot (.) after -name

* matches any filename, . matches the file named . (a link to a current directory).

---------- Post updated at 05:09 AM ---------- Previous update was at 03:37 AM ----------

/tmpand /tmp/. point to the same file.

If you find the . confusing, you could use:

Code:

find /tmp ! -name tmp  -prune -type f

... but if a file named tmp exists in the /tmp directory, it will be skipped (you won't see it in the output).