To count the number of files in a directory, I typically use
ls directory | wc -l
But is there another command that doesn't use wc ?
1 Answer
this is one:
ls -l . | egrep -c '^-'
Note:
ls -1 | wc -l
Which means:
ls: list files in dir
-1: (that's a ONE) only one entry per line. Change it to -1a if you want hidden files too
|: pipe output onto...
wc: "wordcount"
-l: count lines.
17 Comments
Kantura
No wait . I made a booboo . You are absolutely right Sajad Lfc . ls -1 dir | egrep -c '' This returns the number of files in dir . Thanks .
Daniel Biegler
@runios that's because
ls -l returns an additional line at the top adding up the file sizes for a total amount. You should use ls -1 and not the ls -l. Also if one wants hidden files but without the directories . and .. you should use ls -1A | wc -l
Luke H
A weird favourite of mine:
find . -type f -printf "." | wc -c
futursimple
The period in the quotes after -printf is an arbitrary (ideally 1-byte) character, correct?
Luke H
Quite! That's correct
Venfah Nazir
An effective native way without using pipe: du --inodes [root@cs-1-server-01 million]# du --inodes 1000001 ./vdb.1_1.dir 1000003 . [root@cs-1-server-01 million]#
Minh Nghĩa
Isn't this one against the tradition of not parsing
ls? |
wcthat prevents you from using it?treecommand. It will give you the tree and at the bottom tell you how many files and directories there are. If you want hidden files also usetree -a.\nin the file name? Yes, extremely unlikely! But still technically valid and possible.