[X-Unix] Finding Parent Directory of Searched-For File

[Eric F Crist]

On May 4, 2009, at 12:02 AM, Rick Gordon wrote:

> How would I do a recursive search that will  provide a path to the  
> parent folder of a searched-for file?
>
> For instance, this command will find the file in a recursive search,  
> but it provides no information on the path to that file:
>
> (starting from a suitable starting place)
> 	ls -Rl | grep "Bookmarks.plist"
>
> 	-rw-rw-rw- 1 mobile mobile 100934 May  3 20:37 Bookmarks.plist
> 	-rw-rw-rw- 1 mobile mobile    143 Apr 30 22:12  
> Bookmarks.plist.anchor.plist
> 	-rw-rw-rw- 1 root   mobile 203551 Apr  9 09:00 Bookmarks.plist.bup
>
>
> ... will find all instances of files with Bookmarks.plist in the  
> name, but does not provide any paths to the found files. How can I  
> get the path?

You're going about this wrong.  The ls command doesn't print path  
information, it's just a directory listing.  You want to use the find  
command.  So, here's the example I used.  This example was run from my  
home directory.

ecrist at Swordfish:~-> find . -name "*Bookmarks.plist"
./Library/Application Support/Versions/Bookmarks.plist
./Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist
...


---
Eric Crist