problem with find command

[silverfox1981]

Hi, im new to linux and this forum. so if i posted this in the wrong place, i apologise in advance.

im trying to get this script working, it looks in a folder (pages_in) for files starting with the letter "a" and prints "yes files are here!"
i have placed files starting with the letter a in this folder. and keep getting "no files here".

ive typed

$ -find /root/pages/pages_in/a*

in to the terminal and it shows me the files begining with the letter a.

below is the script.

#checks for documents in pages_in
a=1

while [ $a = 1 ]
do

if [[ -find /root/pages/pages_in/a* ]]
then

echo "yes files are here!!"

else

echo "no files here!!"

fi
a=0
done

thanks

[bscbrit]

I don't want to appear negative, but there are several problems with your script. You don't need an Ubuntu forum but you do need to learn more about bash. The following link might be of interest:

http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html

Good Luck. :D

[abc123456]

find /long/path/name/ -name 'a*'

[Ramses de Norre]

Read up on if clauses, the use of "[" in your script is plain wrong...

[HackingYodel]

If you save this file as, let's say hasa.sh
#!/bin/bash

if [ -f $1 ];
then
echo "Yes files are here!!"
else
echo "Not in here"
fi


then from the command line, with hasa.sh in your current directory, enter:

chmod +x hasa.sh
./hasa.sh /root/pages/pages_in/a*

you should get your desired output.


The find command will iterate through a directory automatically, making the use of a while loop unneeded.

The example I show does a simple test to see if a/the file you passed to the if exist or not. Let Bash do the work for you, I always say. :wink:

[ghostdog74]

Hi, im new to linux and this forum. so if i posted this in the wrong place, i apologise in advance.

im trying to get this script working, it looks in a folder (pages_in) for files starting with the letter "a" and prints "yes files are here!"
i have placed files starting with the letter a in this folder. and keep getting "no files here".

ive typed

$ -find /root/pages/pages_in/a*

in to the terminal and it shows me the files begining with the letter a.

below is the script.

#checks for documents in pages_in
a=1

while [ $a = 1 ]
do

if [[ -find /root/pages/pages_in/a* ]]
then

echo "yes files are here!!"

else

echo "no files here!!"

fi
a=0
done

thanks

frankly speaking you don't need to actually echo "yes files are here" or "no not there" because the find command will do that for you, by giving you the necessary output. If files are found, find will show you where its found plus others, if you give it the correct flags.

[silverfox1981]

thanks for you help. I think ive tried to run before ive learnt to walk. back to the basics for me. :p