UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Does anyone know if it's possible to import a Unix directory into an Excel spreadsheet?

I'm trying to create a report based on about several thousand files within a Unix server directory, I was thinking if I could import the directory into a spreadsheet it would be easier to sort the data based on whatever criteria I needed. (dates, file size, etc..) Unfortunately I'm a ultra-newb when it comes to Unix, I know a few basic commands but very little on data sorting. Thanks for any suggestions

I guess what you are asking, is how to import the listing of the directory, not the directory itself, something that you would not be able to do... if it is what you are looking for, then shoot something like this :

Code:

# cd your_dir
# ls -l > files_in_mydir

And then import the content into Excel.

You may find CSV easier to import into excel...

Code:

$ ls -l | sed '1d' |\
> awk '{printf("%s,%s,%s,%s,%s,%s,%s,%s,%s\n",$1,$2,$3,$4,$5,$6,$7,$8,$9)}' > somefile
$ cat somefile
-rw-r--r--,1,test,people,0,Mar,24,19:42,test_1
-rw-r--r--,1,test,people,0,Mar,24,19:42,test_2
-rw-r--r--,1,test,people,0,Mar,24,19:42,test_3

Cheers
ZB