Count Files in C code and break when more than X nodes

[tgkprog]

We sometimes have directories with more than 800,000 files. Is there a command or way to read the the entries, and without blocking, stop reading when count of files is above a certain number?

Or even a direct way to read the file count in a directory, without using ls ?

Looking for the most performant way to count files. And the ability to stop counting (if we need to call an API or com mand) when a certain limit is reached. like say

ls -max 20000

[TheFu]

Having even 1K files in a single directory is a poor design choice. Split them up into chunks.
You can use the readdir() function in C.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/...ectory-using-c
Can't imagine any faster way. As you can see from the link, there isn't any way to stop reading, once started.
Manpage confirms this:

READDIR(3)                 Linux Programmer's Manual                READDIR(3)

NAME
       readdir, readdir_r - read a directory

SYNOPSIS
       #include <dirent.h>

       struct dirent *readdir(DIR *dirp);

       int readdir_r(DIR *dirp, struct dirent *entry, struct dirent **result);

I only went with C, because you posted to the Development & Programming subforum.