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Recursively cat files in a directory with filename printed first.

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# 1  
Old 10-22-2012
Recursively cat files in a directory with filename printed first.
I want to recursively cat the content of files in a directory e.g.

Code:
find /etc -type f -exec cat {} \;

But I want it to print the file name first and then the content. For example let's say /etc/statetab and /etc/colord.conf will be printed first then I want the output to look something like;

Code:
"/etc/statetab"

#
# A list of paths which should be bind-mounted from a
# partition dedicated to persistent data
#
# See $STATE_LABEL in /etc/sysconfig/readonly-root
#
# Examples: 
#
#   /root
#   /etc/ssh
#   /var/spool/mail
#

"/etc/colord.conf"

# This controls whether we search external volumes for color profiles.
#
# default=true
SearchVolumes=true

# If we should use SANE to add scanner and camera devices.
#
# If this is set to 'true' then a colord-sane process will
# automatically be started by the daemon which watches USB scanner
# devices as they are inserted and removed.
#
# default=true
UseSANE=true

# If we should create a dummy sensor for testing

---------- Post updated at 09:09 AM ---------- Previous update was at 08:59 AM ----------

Ignore this post, I managed to figure out;

Code:
for file in $(find /etc -type f) ; do
    echo " "
    echo "Display content of files in /etc/ directory"
    echo "############START OF FILE#########"
    echo ${file}
    echo " "
    cat ${file}
    echo "##########END OF FILE########"
    echo " "
done

I am getting better at this.
# 2  
Old 10-22-2012
Quote:
Originally Posted by lewk
Code:
for file in $(find /etc -type f) ; do
    echo " "
    echo "Display content of files in /etc/ directory"
    echo "############START OF FILE#########"
    echo ${file}
    echo " "
    cat ${file}
    echo "##########END OF FILE########"
    echo " "
done

I am getting better at this.
Good....Smilie

You also can use something like this...

Code:
find /etc -type f | xargs awk 'FNR==1{print FILENAME; }{ print }'

# 3  
Old 10-22-2012
Thanks, I like your method Smilie
# 4  
Old 10-22-2012
Note: In standard form, find in combination with pipe and xargs will not work with filenames with spaces...
A loop will, but then a while read loop should be used instead of a for loop and the file references should have double quotes around them, for example..

Code:
find /etc -type f |
while read file
do
  [..]
  echo "$file"
  cat "$file"
  [..]
done

Last edited by Scrutinizer; 10-22-2012 at 06:43 AM..
# 5  
Old 10-22-2012
Noted, thank you for this this.
# 6  
Old 10-22-2012
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scrutinizer
Note: In standard form, find in combination with pipe and xargs will not work with filenames with spaces...
And that's an understatement. The approach also won't work if a filename contains a tab, single quote, double quote, or backslash. There is also the remote possibility that a file name of a single underscore could be problematic.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scrutinizer
Code:
find /etc -type f |
while read file

WARNING: Pedantic piconit (of which you are probably aware) ahead.

That will still have problems with leading/trailing spaces and backslashes. Misinterpretation of such filenames manifests as an inability to find a file that exists or as reading the wrong file.

To remedy those shortcomings:
Code:
while IFS= read -r filename

Regards,
Alister

---------- Post updated at 12:50 PM ---------- Previous update was at 12:45 PM ----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by lewk
Code:
for file in $(find /etc -type f) ; do
    echo " "
    echo "Display content of files in /etc/ directory"
    echo "############START OF FILE#########"
    echo ${file}
    echo " "
    cat ${file}
    echo "##########END OF FILE########"
    echo " "
done

Alternatively, the task can be accomplished with multiple -exec's (which properly handles every allowable filename character):
Code:
find /etc -type f -exec printf '### START OF FILE ###\n%s\n' {} \; -exec cat {} \; -exec printf '### END OF FILE ###\n' \;

However, I would suggest following Scrutinizer's advice. The while-read loop approach is both robust and readable.

Regards,
Alister
These 2 Users Gave Thanks to alister For This Post:
elixir_sinari lewk
# 7  
Old 10-22-2012
Quote:
Originally Posted by alister
[..]
WARNING: Pedantic piconit (of which you are probably aware) ahead.

That will still have problems with leading/trailing spaces and backslashes. Misinterpretation of such filenames manifests as an inability to find a file that exists or as reading the wrong file.

To remedy those shortcomings:
Code:
while IFS= read -r filename

Regards,
Alister
[..]
Indeed Smilie you are correct. I did not want to overcomplicate things, but file names with spaces occur quite frequently so I felt that was the most important note to make...

To complete the quest for the most robust solution we should probably also use printf rather than echo, since not all echoes are immune to special characters:

Code:
printf "%s\n" "$file"

This User Gave Thanks to Scrutinizer For This Post:
lewk
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