Find files where filename ends with space

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

Hello all,

I would like to find files where the filename ends with a space - like Test.dat

I tried it with:

#!/bin/bash
for file in $(find . -name 'Test.dat*')
do
   echo "($file)"
done

I found the file I have searched for - but unfortunately the output is as:

(Test.dat)

But I would like to have the real name:

(Test.dat )

How could I do this?

2

Hello API,

Could you please try following and let me know if this helps you(haven't tested it though).

find -type f -name "* "

Thanks,
R. Singh

3

@RavinderSingh13: I tried it, but it is same output as described: (Test.dat)

4

The problem is that the for loop is parsing the arguments it gets, based on the space.

If you let find control the loop, it should work:-

find . -name "Test.*" -exec echo "({})" \;

I get this output:-

$ touch "Test.dat "
$ find . -name "Test.*" -exec echo "({})" \;
(./Test.dat )
$

I hope that this helps, but I'm sure you need to use it in some wider context. How can we help you there?

Robin

5

The IFS (input field separator) default includes a space so even though "find" is pulling the right file name when the assignment happens to the variable "file" in your for loop the trailing spaces get chopped.

I think you may be looking for:

#!/bin/bash

IFS=$'\n'
for file in $(find . -name '*\ ' )
do
   echo "($file)"
done
6

Hello API,

I don't think there is a need of a loop and then putting find command's value to it, you could only use find command to print the file names.

Thanks,
R. Singh

7

If there is no sub directory, and not too many files, then you can simply print them

printf "(%s)\n" Test.dat*
8

RavinderSingh13's response works for me (tested in bash and zsh):

-0-1- ~/tmp  > echo xx >'ab '
-0-1- ~/tmp  > find . -name '* ' -exec echo '({})' \;
(./ab )

As you can see, I can clearly see the space after ./ab . If you don't see a space with this command, it means that your file doesn't have one at the end.

9

Thanks a lot for your help...

The best solution for me is the hint of ronaldxs:

IFS=$'\n'
for file in $(find . -name '*\ ' )
do
   echo "($file)"
done

Thats fine for me.

---------- Post updated at 03:59 PM ---------- Previous update was at 03:56 PM ----------

@rovf:

Sorry, but all what I get is:

({})
({})
({})
({})

---------- Post updated at 04:02 PM ---------- Previous update was at 03:59 PM ----------

@ravf: Ah yes, now I tested it on my Linux machine - there it works as you described!!

The Problem I have is on an AIX...

10

Why is using a for loop better then the solution that has been suggested earlier ?

find . -type f -name '* ' -exec echo "({})" \;

--
If you insist on the for loop approach,
On AIX, you would need to use:

IFS="
"
11

Some Unix find cannot handle -exec echo "({})" !
My previous post suggested printf. It worked for the current directory only. Likewise the external printf can be used in find

find . -type f -name '* ' -exec printf "(%s)\n" {} +

Should work on all LUnix.
Comment on the $ quoting: only bash,zsh,ksh93 support the $'\n' .

12

You wrote the find command differently from what I gave in my example ....