CODEWITHSUNDEEP
linuxcommandfindwildcard
Michael Black
Michael Black

Reputation: 689

Linux Find Command

What am I doing wrong with the FIND command? I can't figure out why this works:

find /home/michael/foxpro/mount/A1/[12][0-9][0-9][0-9] "*.dbf" -type f -exec ln -s {} \;
find /home/michael/foxpro/mount/AF/[12][0-9][0-9][0-9] "*.dbf" -type f -exec ln -s {} \;
find /home/michael/foxpro/mount/AV/[12][0-9][0-9][0-9] "*.dbf" -type f -exec ln -s {} \;

but this doesn't:

find /home/michael/foxpro/mount/[A1][AF][AV]/[12][0-9][0-9][0-9] "*.dbf" -type f -exec ln -s {} \;

My folder structure looks like this:

...../mount/A1/2012/file1.dbf
...../mount/A1/2011/file2.dbf
...../mount/A1/2010/file3.dbf
...../mount/AF/2012/file4.dbf
...../mount/AF/2011/file5.dbf
...../mount/AF/2010/file6.dbf
...

The first script when I hard code the second to last directory the find scan through all my year directories but in my second script it just gives me a "No such file or directory" error.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 658

Answers (4)

Nate C-K
Nate C-K

Reputation: 5932

This isn't a problem with find, it's a problem with shell syntax. Here's the problem:

[A1][AF][AV]

This gives you combinations like AAA, 1FV, AFV, etc. The bracket syntax matches one character in each group, it is not a choice between the groups.

In your case, I think this should work:

/home/michael/foxpro/mount/A[1FV]/[12][0-9][0-9][0-9]

Upvotes: 0

calmond
calmond

Reputation: 189

I believe the problem is with your regex. What you have is this: /[A1][AF][AV]/ which will match AAA, AAV, AFA, AFV, 1AA, 1AV, 1FA, and 1FV. What you really need is this, since each block [] of letters matches a single character: /A[1FV]/

Since each of your samples begins with the letter A, you don't need it in a [].

Upvotes: 0

knittl
knittl

Reputation: 265131

The pattern [A1][AF][AV] matches the following files/directories: AAA, AAV, AFA, AFV, 1AA, 1AV, …

To match the directories A1, AF, AV, use the pattern A[1FV] or {A1,AF,AV}.

Upvotes: 2

Jon Lin
Jon Lin

Reputation: 143856

Try:

find /home/michael/foxpro/mount/A[1FV]/[12][0-9][0-9][0-9] -name '*.dbf' -type f -exec ln -s {} \;

Upvotes: 0

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