using find to locate 'dot' files

Question

using find to locate 'dot' files

Hi,
This is a pretty elementary question but should I be able to use 'find' to locate a dot file?

I needed to find a particular dot file and as I am unfamiliar with Unix command line stuff I did some tests to make sure I could find files that exist on my system. Though I could find normal (ie non dot files) I was not able to find any of the dot files present in my home directory (or anywhere else). Is this the normal behaviour for find, or did I leave out a switch (I looked for references to hidden files, but did not notice any)?
thanks,
Jeremy Harbinson

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on May 2, 2009 10:22 AM

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Answer 1

bhh48

Level 1

60 points

May 2, 2009 10:57 AM in response to Jeremy Harbinson

Finding "dotty" files in current the directory and further down can be done with

find . -name '.*'

Finding dotty files with names starting with a for example can be done with

find . -name '.a*'

The initial dot on the pattern is just that: a single dot.

Berend

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Answer 2

BobHarris

Level 9

56,933 points

May 2, 2009 2:56 PM in response to Jeremy Harbinson

The find command always displays file starting with a Dot. For example:


find / -name ".DS_Store"

If you want to find files starting with a Dot in the current directory, the just include -a in the ls command:


ls -a

There is also the locate command (assuming the locate database has been created):


locate .DS_Store

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Answer 3

May 2, 2009 5:58 PM in response to Jeremy Harbinson

Hi,
Helpful replies - thankyou.

I have a more specific question about 'find': I was using:

find -name ".*"

which did not work, whereas

find . -name '.*'

with the dot after 'find' worked: I would be grateful if you explain the function of the dot!
Thanks,
Jeremy

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Answer 4

BobHarris

Level 9

56,933 points

May 2, 2009 7:38 PM in response to Jeremy Harbinson

It could also be expressed as


find ./ -name ".*"

Longer answer, is that the find syntax is


find dirto_start_searchin another_dir yetanotherdir -option -option ...

See the find man page:


man find

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Answer 5

BobHarris

Level 9

56,933 points

May 3, 2009 1:44 PM in response to Jeremy Harbinson

"Kids Today!" 🙂 Except that DOS and the OS/2 got that concept from Unix, where . (dot) was the current directory and .. (dot dot) was the parent directory and since they both happen to start with a . (dot) they were also by default invisible files. I think you get to thank Ken Thompson for that (or someone at Bell Labs).

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Answer 6

May 3, 2009 12:47 PM in response to BobHarris

Hi,
Of course - I remember that dot from DOS and OS/2. Been too long!
Thanks,
Jeremy

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