UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Could someone help me please. I'm trying to write a shell script that prints the number of files I have in my home directory. Files only though, directories not included. I was thinking about using a pipe that includes wc but I don't know any commands that isolate the number of files you have in your current directory only. Any help would be appreciated

Could someone help me please. I'm trying to write a shell script that prints the number of files I have in my home directory. Files only though, directories not included. I was thinking about using a pipe that includes wc but I don't know any commands that show you the files that you have in your current directory. I don't think ls works because it takes into account directories as well. I know this is pretty basic, but any help would be appreciated

You might try something like:

ls -l | grep -v drw | wc -l

This should list all files within a directory while skipping directory names. -mk

ls -l * | grep -v "^d" | wc -l

explaination:

ls -ld * shows all files -- I added the * because some systems list a total at the beginning and I didn't want this counted as file. The d prevents any recursion into directories.

grep -v "^d" that excudes all lines with a ' d ' at the beginning. In the long listing directory entries alway start with d.

You can look up wc in man.

Note: All links will be dispayed as files with this script regardless of whether they are to files or directories, and any devices listed in your directory (unlikely ) will be listed as files.

[moderator's note: Please don't start two threads with the same question. This fragments the discussion and doubles our work. I have merged the threads.]