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Getting file without mentioning the path

 
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# 1  
Old 04-09-2016
Getting file without mentioning the path
If I am in
Code:
C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes

and I have a file in an other directory called
Quote:
example.txt
to which I want to go but I do not know the path to it . Using a Linux command , is there a way to go directly to it without knowing its.
# 2  
Old 04-09-2016
You would use the find command ..

Code:
find some_top_level_directory -name example.txt

# 3  
Old 04-10-2016
What do you mean by "go there"? Edit the file? Run the file? Use it some other way? What way?
As there may be many files with that name, Scrutinizer's proposal will show them all but won't "go there". You can edit a file in any path immediately like
Code:
vi path/shown/by/Scrutinizers/proposal/example.txt

# 4  
Old 04-20-2016
Try Below

Code:
find ./* -type f -iname "source_file.txt" -exec dirname {} \; 2> /dev/null | cd `awk '{print $0}'`

Moderator's Comments:
Mod Comment Please use CODE tags (not ICODE tags) for full-line and multi-line sample input, output, and code segments.
Last edited by Don Cragun; 04-20-2016 at 05:33 PM.. Reason: Change ICODE tags to CODE tags.
# 5  
Old 04-20-2016
Quote:
Originally Posted by ashish_samarth
Try Below

Code:
find ./* -type f -iname "source_file.txt" -exec dirname {} \; 2> /dev/null | cd `awk '{print $0}'`

Moderator's Comments:
Mod Comment Please use CODE tags (not ICODE tags) for full-line and multi-line sample input, output, and code segments.
This might work on some systems using some shells, but there are a few problems:
  1. Using find ./* ... can give you argument list too long errors when invoked in directories containing lots of files and/or several files with long filenames. It would be better to use find . ....
  2. If there is a file named source_file.txt in more than one directory in the file hierarchy rooted in the current working directory, you will be invoking cd with two or more operands instead of the single operand you're assuming will be specified.
  3. The standards say that commands in a pipeline can be executed in a subshell environment. If cd is executed in a subshell environment, the current working directory of the shell execution environment you will be in when the pipeline completes will not have been changed.
If the intent is to move into the directory containing a file named example.txt and do something in that directory for each directory that contains a file by that name, something more like:
Code:
#!/bin/ksh
spot=$PWD
find . -name 'example.txt' | while read -r path
do	file=${path##*/}
	dir=${path%/*}
	if ! cd "$dir"
	then	continue
	fi
	printf 'Process file "%s" in directory "%s"\n' "$file" "$dir"
	# do whatever you want to do in this directory...
	cd "$spot"	# return to the directory in which we started
done

This was written and tested using a Korn shell, but this should work with any shell that performs the basic parameter expansions specified in the POSIX standards.
 
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