CODEWITHSUNDEEP
unixtree
Mittenchops
Mittenchops

Reputation: 19664

Unix tree ignore by pattern

man tree says 

   -I pattern
          Do not list those files that match the wild-card pattern.

However, when I specify:

$ tree . -I .*~ -I *egg-info

I still see:

tree . -I .*~ -I *egg-info -I *.pyc
.
├── bin
├── LICENSE
├── Makefile
├── Makefile~

etc., it's still showing Makefile~ even though there's a terminal ~

What's the right syntax to get tree to ignore the pattern I have given it?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 876

Answers (2)

adamency
adamency

Reputation: 1508

As per the man page extract you quoted, tree uses "wild-card pattern" which is a common synonym for "glob" or "glob pattern". In this paradigm * is the syntax for "a any number of any character".

(.* is the equivalent form in the regex paradigm.)

Your first ignore pattern -I .*~ is then searching for a . character followed by a * then a ~.

In this you simply mixed up the regex form with the glob form.

And as you can see, your other patterns worked the way you wanted because they don't have a prepended . in them.

Upvotes: 0

Scottie H
Scottie H

Reputation: 354

I see a few possibilities in your command. (Not knowing the 'flavor' of your unix, it's hard to pinpoint exactly).

  1. .* Unix has "hidden" files. These are files whose name starts with a DOT. In Reg Ex, DOT ASTERISK means 0 or more characters. With file names, DOT ASTERISK means all hidden files and no visible files. Makefile~ is a visible file, not a hidden file, so it will not be excluded. You may need to replace DOT ASTERISK TILDE with ASTERISK TILDE.
  2. -I = Exclude files, not exclude directories. If Makefile~ is a directory name, the -I may not exclude it.
  3. File Globbing can bite you. -I M* will read the current directory and expand M* into every filename in the current directory. So, -I M* couild be "globbed" (or replaced) with -I Milk Money Margaret_is_a_Beauty. Use quotation marks around your wildcards. Try -I ".*~"or -I '.*~'

Upvotes: 2

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