How to exclude CWD in a `find` command

Question

How can I exclude the current working directory (CWD) with find?

Consider my current working directory to contain the following directories (ls .):

a b c d e f g

Find command: find . -maxDepth 1 -type d will return:

.
./a
./b
./c
./d
./e
./f
./g

I tried the answer from here (How to exclude a directory in find . command): find . -maxdepth 1 -type d -path . -prune -false

While I can use ls I'd be curious how I could achieve the same with find.

So the expected output from a find command should be similar to the ls . output:

./a
./b
./c
./d
./e
./f
./g

Could you please try following, `find . -maxdepth 1 -type d \( ! -name '.' \) -print` if this helps you? BTW your `maxdepth` has `D` in it which should be `d` in `find` command. — RavinderSingh13, Sep 16 '20 at 07:27
there is an alternative to `find` called `fd` (https://github.com/sharkdp/fd) — Using this command yields the expected result immediately `fd --type directory --max-depth 1` — mana, Sep 16 '20 at 07:30
I'd rather not rely on external tools like `fd` because it can really be done with `find`. — stephanmg, Sep 16 '20 at 07:37

anubhava · Answer 1 · 2020-09-16T07:36:07.193

5

You can use -mindepth 1 option to avoid matching . (current) directory:

find . -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d

To be able to match only single character directories:

find . -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d -name '?'

edited Sep 16 '20 at 07:36

answered Sep 16 '20 at 07:30

anubhava

1

@stephanmg You can even leave `.` out: `find -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d` – Ted Lyngmo Sep 16 '20 at 07:36
2

@TedLyngmo: That is only allowed in `gnu find`. On BSD find it will give error – anubhava Sep 16 '20 at 07:38
@anubhava Ah... I see. I've been using gnu find for too long I guess. – Ted Lyngmo Sep 16 '20 at 07:38
1

Oh then I presume I am on an GNU sed, because BSD sed give me in fact an error. (Verified) – stephanmg Sep 16 '20 at 07:38

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 16 '20 at 07:33

1

Could you please try following, assuming you are setting maxdepth to 1 because you need to get only current directory's all directories.

find . -maxdepth 1 -type d \( ! -name '.' \) -print

answered Sep 16 '20 at 07:33

RavinderSingh13

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 16 '20 at 07:35

0

I think also this should work: find . -maxdepth 1 -type d -\! -name "." -prune

answered Sep 16 '20 at 07:35

stephanmg

3 Answers3