How do I exclude certain directories while using the find command under UNIX or Linux operating systems?
You can use the find command as follows to find all directories except tmp directory:
find /path/to/dest -type d \( ! -name tmp \) -print
Find all directories except tmp and cache:
find /path/to/dest -type d \( ! -name tmp \) -o \( ! -name cache \) -print
The -prune option make sure that you do not descend into directory:
find /path/to/dest -type d \( ! -name tmp \) -o \( ! -name cache -prune \) -print
You can find all *.pl find except in tmp and root directory, enter:
find / \( ! -name tmp \) -o \( ! -name root -prune \) -name "*.pl" -print
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
find / \( ! -name tmp \) -o \( ! -name root -prune \) -name “*.pl” -print
it’s also displaying the files in tmp directory ?? this isn’t working
using findutils.x86_64 1:4.2.27-6.el5 version
On my Ubuntu 11 this command will search for all “pl” files in the entire / dir but will not descend in /tmp:
find . -path ./tmp -prune -o -iname “**.pl” -print
To exclude multiple directories, the option to use is -a, which is AND operation; not -o as listed in the above article.
Therefore, to find all directories except tmp and cache
find /path/to/dest -type d \( ! -name tmp \) -a \( ! -name cache \) -print
we have the below directory structure:
/secure/data/bus/PREP_MDATA/preserve
/secure/data/bus/PREP_TDATA/preserve
/secure/data/bus/PREP_QDATA/preserve
/secure/data/bus/PREP_RDATA/preserve
I want to exclude the below 2 directories from my search but show up the other 2
/secure/data/bus/PREP_TDATA/preserve
/secure/data/bus/PREP_QDATA/preserve
How do I do that using the above stated commands.
Thanks for the help
I’m just trying to exclude ONE directory, and the code doesn’t work. All directories are printed.
Joe,
Try this
This will list a non case sensitive list of all files with some phrase but will exlude some other folder with some non case sensitive phrase in it.
Remember if you just want it to list all files you can use * or *.ext for all files with .ext etc.
It seems counter intuitive to use the -o flag but it works here on csh
The dot right after the find command signifies THIS directory or whatever directory you are in. You can always replace that with another directory path.
find . -type f -iname “insert_file_names_you_want_listed_here” -print -o -type d -iname “insert_folder_name_you_dont_want_here” -prune