How to Iterate Through All Files and Subfolders in a Directory Without Including `.` and `..`?

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Asked By CuriousCoder42 On

I'm working on a script to manage my dotfiles. Although I'm aware of tools like Stow, I prefer the challenge of doing it myself. My goal is to iterate through all items in a specific folder, but since many of these items are hidden files (starting with a dot), my current approach using `ls -a` is causing issues. When I list the contents using this command, I end up including the `.` and `..` directories, which complicates my plan to delete files and create symlinks afterward. What's the best way to iterate through all the files and subfolders in my directory while avoiding those undesired entries?

4 Answers

Answered By BashGuru88 On

A solid method for looping through files is to use the `shopt` command in bash. For instance:

```bash
shopt -s nullglob
for file in *; do
echo "$file"
done
```

If you want to include hidden files too, enable `dotglob` as well. This way, you can handle both visible and hidden files without issues!

Answered By FriendlyHelp73 On

Be careful with your command! Using `ls -a` isn't the best way to go about it because it can mess things up with files that have spaces or special characters in their names. Instead, consider using shell globbing or `find` with specific options to target only the files you want.

Answered By CodeNinja99 On

You might want to try using the `find` command. It has a ton of options that can make this easier for you. You can use it to list files and directories without `.` and `..`. Just keep in mind that `find` is recursive by default, but you can control how deep it goes if you only want top-level files and folders.

Answered By ShellMaster234 On

Using `ls -A` can also be useful since it lists all entries except for the `.` and `..` directories, so you get exactly what you're looking for without including the current and parent directory links.

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