Make a list of filenames

Question

I'm looking for an easy way to build a list in a txt file of the filenames inside a given directory. Filenames only preferred, though I could trim other fields if necessary.

Please get rid of the version else your question might be closed! — George Udosen, Jul 13 '18 at 16:20
similar to the question https://askubuntu.com/q/1028197/283843 — αғsнιη, Jul 13 '18 at 16:52
The post named in comment above wanted subfolders, path, size, and creation (or last modified) date . The original question for this post wanted none of that, just names. — K7AAY, Jul 13 '18 at 16:57
Possible duplicate of File list command line (hidden and subfolders) combined with How do I save terminal output to a file? — David Foerster, Jul 14 '18 at 10:46

George Udosen · Answer 1 · 2018-07-14T11:51:53.257

This command should be helpful:

find -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -name flist.txt -printf  "%P\n" > flist.txt

Command information:

-maxdepth: Don't search for files below folders of one level down.
type f: Search for only files
-printf "%P\n": Print the names only and on separate lines
> flist.txt: Store those names (using output redirection) in a file to be created on the fly called `flist.txt
! -name flist.txt: Skips the name of the output file from the generated list

K7AAY · Answer 2 · 2018-07-13T17:31:33.023

-1

The ls (list) command executed in a terminal window is the key, and its man page lists options.

Let's say you are in your home directory, and you want a list of all the files in directory /x/y . The command would be

ls -b1A /x/y > listoffiles

for the -b option lists all files even with spaces, -1 (number one, not letter l) option of ls will list with one line per file name, and -A will make sure hidden files are shown, but not directories.

edited Jul 13 '18 at 17:31

answered Jul 13 '18 at 16:39

K7AAY

17,202

Doesn't works for filenames with spaces. – A.B. Jul 13 '18 at 17:09
Corrected to solve special case above – K7AAY Jul 13 '18 at 17:20
1

... or use ls -b which will quote any special characters (including \n) in the filenames. – PerlDuck Jul 13 '18 at 17:21
Now you have one line in the output file? – A.B. Jul 13 '18 at 17:22
Forget the ls approach – A.B. Jul 13 '18 at 17:22
2

@A.B. LOL, you mean because of this: https://mywiki.wooledge.org/ParsingLs ? – PerlDuck Jul 13 '18 at 17:23
Cases I see will be unlikely to have spaces in filenames. Also this is the only response that worked out of the box. Thanks much for help. GB – Gary Bollenbach Jul 13 '18 at 17:29

score -3 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 14 '18 at 10:48

-3

In terminal, change directory to the required folder, then use the command:

ls > files.txt

This will redirect a list of the contents of the folder to the text file files.txt. You didn't indicate what form the contents of the folder takes. If there are sub-folders present, in addition to a group of files, the folder names will also be included. But, once you have the text version you can sort/edit it any way you desire.

edited Jul 14 '18 at 10:48

David Foerster

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answered Jul 13 '18 at 16:40

CentaurusA

2,672

1

It will also list "files.txt" which is probably undesirable behavior. – K7AAY Jul 13 '18 at 16:54
ls omits “hidden” dot files (unless instructed otherwise) and mangles file names with some unusual characters. Don't use it to list file names for anything but display to a human reader. -1 – David Foerster Jul 14 '18 at 10:48
Many people don't like this solution and downvote the answer - which is their prerogative. However, I would point out that the OP asked for an "easy way" to list files. Some of us have simple folder structures. We don't have concerns with hidden files. And, I did realize that the simple command would include files.txt, but I did say that the result could be edited. Anyway, for what it's worth, that's the simple-minded way I do things. – CentaurusA Aug 17 '18 at 02:09

Make a list of filenames

3 Answers3