find a file in a nested directory structure

Question

I am attempting to find a file by its name within a directory. I am not sure what the best approach to this problem is. The file could be nested in other directories within the root directory.

See http://stackoverflow.com/q/2370702/128421. While not an exact duplicate it covers the various ways of scanning a directory. Settle on one of those, and you can craft a solution easily. — the Tin Man, May 27 '16 at 19:42

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 29 '12 at 16:13

4

You could use Dir.glob or Dir[]:

Dir['the_directory/**/the_filename']

The ** matches 0 or more directories recursively. It returns an array of filenames that match.

answered Nov 29 '12 at 16:13

matt

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score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 29 '12 at 16:18

4

You can use Dir.glob, for example:

Dir.glob(File.join("**","*.rb"))

It will recursively look for "*.rb" files in your current directory.

answered Nov 29 '12 at 16:18

lhdv

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score 3 · Answer 3 · 2012-11-29T16:09:05.453

3

this should work for you:

require 'find'

file_name = /log\Z/
path = './'

found_files = Find.find(path).inject([]) do |files, entry|
  File.file?(entry) && File.basename(entry) =~ file_name ?
    files << entry : files
end

p found_files
#=> ["./Maildir/dovecot.index.log", "./pgadmin.log"]

change file_name and path to your needs.

edited Nov 29 '12 at 16:09

answered Nov 29 '12 at 16:03

I am giving lhoffman the accept because his is shorter, but yours works as well – richsoni Nov 29 '12 at 16:24
Shorter shouldn't be the criteria, speed, memory usage and maintainability are more important than size. – the Tin Man May 27 '16 at 19:43

find a file in a nested directory structure

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