Mixing
Properly quote bash alias definition
I have the following command that I am trying to put into a bash alias. The command by itself works fine, but when I try to alias it, I am getting the following errors:
The Command
find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec sh -c 'echo "$(find "{}" -type f | wc -l)" {}' ; | sort -nr
The Alias
alias csfiles='find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec sh -c 'echo "$(find "{}" -type f | wc -l)" {}' ; | sort -nr'
The Error:
-sh: alias 0: not found
-sh: alias {} ; | sort nr: not found
I think this means I am not using quotes right but I am having trouble determining the correct combo. Help?
bash alias
edited Nov 20 '18 at 18:00
hek2mgl
107k13144166
asked Nov 20 '18 at 17:53
zeeplezeeple
3,06263159
add a comment |
I have the following command that I am trying to put into a bash alias. The command by itself works fine, but when I try to alias it, I am getting the following errors:
The Command
find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec sh -c 'echo "$(find "{}" -type f | wc -l)" {}' ; | sort -nr
The Alias
alias csfiles='find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec sh -c 'echo "$(find "{}" -type f | wc -l)" {}' ; | sort -nr'
The Error:
-sh: alias 0: not found
-sh: alias {} ; | sort nr: not found
I think this means I am not using quotes right but I am having trouble determining the correct combo. Help?
bash alias
edited Nov 20 '18 at 18:00
hek2mgl
107k13144166
asked Nov 20 '18 at 17:53
zeeplezeeple
3,06263159
2
It's been a while since I've worked with aliases but I think your alias is too complex. I believe alias is just used to shorten one command with arguments, i.e.alias l='ls -al'. You may need to create a functioncsfiles. But it has been a while so I may be mistaken.
– Jonny Henly
Nov 20 '18 at 17:59
see stackoverflow.com/questions/25941394/…
– hek2mgl
Nov 20 '18 at 18:01
2
I second creating a bash function to do this. You would call it the same way, with the benefit of being able to pass arguments if needed.
– ahota
Nov 20 '18 at 18:01
2
As written, thefindcommand will fail for certain file names (such as those containing double quotes). Don't try to embed{}in the command; only use it as an argument tosh.sh -c '....' _ {}. Wherever you used{}, use$1.
– chepner
Nov 20 '18 at 18:17
@chepner that's a very good point!
– hek2mgl
Nov 20 '18 at 18:18
add a comment |
I have the following command that I am trying to put into a bash alias. The command by itself works fine, but when I try to alias it, I am getting the following errors:
The Command
find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec sh -c 'echo "$(find "{}" -type f | wc -l)" {}' ; | sort -nr
The Alias
alias csfiles='find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec sh -c 'echo "$(find "{}" -type f | wc -l)" {}' ; | sort -nr'
The Error:
-sh: alias 0: not found
-sh: alias {} ; | sort nr: not found
I think this means I am not using quotes right but I am having trouble determining the correct combo. Help?
bash alias
edited Nov 20 '18 at 18:00
hek2mgl
107k13144166
asked Nov 20 '18 at 17:53
zeeplezeeple
3,06263159
I have the following command that I am trying to put into a bash alias. The command by itself works fine, but when I try to alias it, I am getting the following errors:
The Command
find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec sh -c 'echo "$(find "{}" -type f | wc -l)" {}' ; | sort -nr
The Alias
alias csfiles='find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec sh -c 'echo "$(find "{}" -type f | wc -l)" {}' ; | sort -nr'
The Error:
-sh: alias 0: not found
-sh: alias {} ; | sort nr: not found
I think this means I am not using quotes right but I am having trouble determining the correct combo. Help?
bash alias
bash alias
edited Nov 20 '18 at 18:00
hek2mgl
107k13144166
asked Nov 20 '18 at 17:53
zeeplezeeple
3,06263159
edited Nov 20 '18 at 18:00
hek2mgl
107k13144166
asked Nov 20 '18 at 17:53
zeeplezeeple
3,06263159
edited Nov 20 '18 at 18:00
hek2mgl
107k13144166
edited Nov 20 '18 at 18:00
hek2mgl
107k13144166
edited Nov 20 '18 at 18:00
hek2mgl
107k13144166
107k13144166
asked Nov 20 '18 at 17:53
zeeplezeeple
3,06263159
asked Nov 20 '18 at 17:53
zeeplezeeple
3,06263159
asked Nov 20 '18 at 17:53
zeeplezeeple
3,06263159
3,06263159
2
It's been a while since I've worked with aliases but I think your alias is too complex. I believe alias is just used to shorten one command with arguments, i.e.alias l='ls -al'. You may need to create a functioncsfiles. But it has been a while so I may be mistaken.
– Jonny Henly
Nov 20 '18 at 17:59
see stackoverflow.com/questions/25941394/…
– hek2mgl
Nov 20 '18 at 18:01
2
I second creating a bash function to do this. You would call it the same way, with the benefit of being able to pass arguments if needed.
– ahota
Nov 20 '18 at 18:01
2
As written, thefindcommand will fail for certain file names (such as those containing double quotes). Don't try to embed{}in the command; only use it as an argument tosh.sh -c '....' _ {}. Wherever you used{}, use$1.
– chepner
Nov 20 '18 at 18:17
@chepner that's a very good point!
– hek2mgl
Nov 20 '18 at 18:18
add a comment |
2
It's been a while since I've worked with aliases but I think your alias is too complex. I believe alias is just used to shorten one command with arguments, i.e.alias l='ls -al'. You may need to create a functioncsfiles. But it has been a while so I may be mistaken.
– Jonny Henly
Nov 20 '18 at 17:59
see stackoverflow.com/questions/25941394/…
– hek2mgl
Nov 20 '18 at 18:01
2
I second creating a bash function to do this. You would call it the same way, with the benefit of being able to pass arguments if needed.
– ahota
Nov 20 '18 at 18:01
2
As written, thefindcommand will fail for certain file names (such as those containing double quotes). Don't try to embed{}in the command; only use it as an argument tosh.sh -c '....' _ {}. Wherever you used{}, use$1.
– chepner
Nov 20 '18 at 18:17
@chepner that's a very good point!
– hek2mgl
Nov 20 '18 at 18:18
2
2
It's been a while since I've worked with aliases but I think your alias is too complex. I believe alias is just used to shorten one command with arguments, i.e.
alias l='ls -al'. You may need to create a function csfiles. But it has been a while so I may be mistaken.– Jonny Henly
Nov 20 '18 at 17:59
It's been a while since I've worked with aliases but I think your alias is too complex. I believe alias is just used to shorten one command with arguments, i.e.
alias l='ls -al'. You may need to create a function csfiles. But it has been a while so I may be mistaken.– Jonny Henly
Nov 20 '18 at 17:59
see stackoverflow.com/questions/25941394/…
– hek2mgl
Nov 20 '18 at 18:01
see stackoverflow.com/questions/25941394/…
– hek2mgl
Nov 20 '18 at 18:01
2
2
I second creating a bash function to do this. You would call it the same way, with the benefit of being able to pass arguments if needed.
– ahota
Nov 20 '18 at 18:01
I second creating a bash function to do this. You would call it the same way, with the benefit of being able to pass arguments if needed.
– ahota
Nov 20 '18 at 18:01
2
2
As written, the
find command will fail for certain file names (such as those containing double quotes). Don't try to embed {} in the command; only use it as an argument to sh. sh -c '....' _ {}. Wherever you used {}, use $1.– chepner
Nov 20 '18 at 18:17
As written, the
find command will fail for certain file names (such as those containing double quotes). Don't try to embed {} in the command; only use it as an argument to sh. sh -c '....' _ {}. Wherever you used {}, use $1.– chepner
Nov 20 '18 at 18:17
@chepner that's a very good point!
– hek2mgl
Nov 20 '18 at 18:18
@chepner that's a very good point!
– hek2mgl
Nov 20 '18 at 18:18
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
Your outer find doesn't do anything you couldn't do with a simple glob. This eliminates a layer of quotes (along with the sh process for each directory found).
# Ignoring the issue of assuming no file name contains a newline
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(find "$d" -type f | wc -l) $d"
done
Just define a shell function to eliminate the second layer imposed on the argument to alias.
csfiles () {
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(find "$d" -type f | wc -l) $d"
done
}
The remaining call(s) to find can also be replaced with a for loop, eliminating the problematic assumption of one line per file name:
csfiles () {
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(for f in "$d"/*; do [ -f "$f" ] && echo; done | wc -l) $d"
done
}
You could keep find if it supports the -printf primary, because you don't care about the actual names of the files, just that you get exactly one line of output per file.
csfiles () {
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(find "$d" -type f -printf . | wc -l) $d"
done
}
answered Nov 20 '18 at 18:31
chepnerchepner
248k33234328
add a comment |
You can use double quotes around the definition, like this:
alias foo="find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec sh -c 'echo "$(find "{}" -type f | wc -l)" {}' ; | sort -nr"
Every literal " inside the definition gets escaped: ".
Note: You also need to escape the inner command substitution to prevent it from getting expanded upon alias definition time. Like this ... $(...)
As a follow up on chepners comment, you should pass the filename to the inner find command as an argument. Otherwise you will run into problems if one of your folders has a name with a " in it:
alias foo="find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec bash -c 'echo "$(find "${1}" -type f | wc -l) "${1}" "' -- "{}" ; | sort -nr"
answered Nov 20 '18 at 18:08
hek2mglhek2mgl
107k13144166
Good call with escaping the inner command substitution, +1.
– Jonny Henly
Nov 20 '18 at 18:17
add a comment |
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2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Your outer find doesn't do anything you couldn't do with a simple glob. This eliminates a layer of quotes (along with the sh process for each directory found).
# Ignoring the issue of assuming no file name contains a newline
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(find "$d" -type f | wc -l) $d"
done
Just define a shell function to eliminate the second layer imposed on the argument to alias.
csfiles () {
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(find "$d" -type f | wc -l) $d"
done
}
The remaining call(s) to find can also be replaced with a for loop, eliminating the problematic assumption of one line per file name:
csfiles () {
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(for f in "$d"/*; do [ -f "$f" ] && echo; done | wc -l) $d"
done
}
You could keep find if it supports the -printf primary, because you don't care about the actual names of the files, just that you get exactly one line of output per file.
csfiles () {
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(find "$d" -type f -printf . | wc -l) $d"
done
}
answered Nov 20 '18 at 18:31
chepnerchepner
248k33234328
add a comment |
Your outer find doesn't do anything you couldn't do with a simple glob. This eliminates a layer of quotes (along with the sh process for each directory found).
# Ignoring the issue of assuming no file name contains a newline
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(find "$d" -type f | wc -l) $d"
done
Just define a shell function to eliminate the second layer imposed on the argument to alias.
csfiles () {
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(find "$d" -type f | wc -l) $d"
done
}
The remaining call(s) to find can also be replaced with a for loop, eliminating the problematic assumption of one line per file name:
csfiles () {
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(for f in "$d"/*; do [ -f "$f" ] && echo; done | wc -l) $d"
done
}
You could keep find if it supports the -printf primary, because you don't care about the actual names of the files, just that you get exactly one line of output per file.
csfiles () {
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(find "$d" -type f -printf . | wc -l) $d"
done
}
answered Nov 20 '18 at 18:31
chepnerchepner
248k33234328
add a comment |
Your outer find doesn't do anything you couldn't do with a simple glob. This eliminates a layer of quotes (along with the sh process for each directory found).
# Ignoring the issue of assuming no file name contains a newline
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(find "$d" -type f | wc -l) $d"
done
Just define a shell function to eliminate the second layer imposed on the argument to alias.
csfiles () {
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(find "$d" -type f | wc -l) $d"
done
}
The remaining call(s) to find can also be replaced with a for loop, eliminating the problematic assumption of one line per file name:
csfiles () {
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(for f in "$d"/*; do [ -f "$f" ] && echo; done | wc -l) $d"
done
}
You could keep find if it supports the -printf primary, because you don't care about the actual names of the files, just that you get exactly one line of output per file.
csfiles () {
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(find "$d" -type f -printf . | wc -l) $d"
done
}
answered Nov 20 '18 at 18:31
chepnerchepner
248k33234328
Your outer find doesn't do anything you couldn't do with a simple glob. This eliminates a layer of quotes (along with the sh process for each directory found).
# Ignoring the issue of assuming no file name contains a newline
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(find "$d" -type f | wc -l) $d"
done
Just define a shell function to eliminate the second layer imposed on the argument to alias.
csfiles () {
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(find "$d" -type f | wc -l) $d"
done
}
The remaining call(s) to find can also be replaced with a for loop, eliminating the problematic assumption of one line per file name:
csfiles () {
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(for f in "$d"/*; do [ -f "$f" ] && echo; done | wc -l) $d"
done
}
You could keep find if it supports the -printf primary, because you don't care about the actual names of the files, just that you get exactly one line of output per file.
csfiles () {
for d in ./*/; do
echo "$(find "$d" -type f -printf . | wc -l) $d"
done
}
answered Nov 20 '18 at 18:31
chepnerchepner
248k33234328
edited Nov 20 '18 at 18:44
answered Nov 20 '18 at 18:31
chepnerchepner
248k33234328
answered Nov 20 '18 at 18:31
chepnerchepner
248k33234328
answered Nov 20 '18 at 18:31
chepnerchepner
248k33234328
248k33234328
add a comment |
add a comment |
You can use double quotes around the definition, like this:
alias foo="find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec sh -c 'echo "$(find "{}" -type f | wc -l)" {}' ; | sort -nr"
Every literal " inside the definition gets escaped: ".
Note: You also need to escape the inner command substitution to prevent it from getting expanded upon alias definition time. Like this ... $(...)
As a follow up on chepners comment, you should pass the filename to the inner find command as an argument. Otherwise you will run into problems if one of your folders has a name with a " in it:
alias foo="find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec bash -c 'echo "$(find "${1}" -type f | wc -l) "${1}" "' -- "{}" ; | sort -nr"
answered Nov 20 '18 at 18:08
hek2mglhek2mgl
107k13144166
Good call with escaping the inner command substitution, +1.
– Jonny Henly
Nov 20 '18 at 18:17
add a comment |
You can use double quotes around the definition, like this:
alias foo="find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec sh -c 'echo "$(find "{}" -type f | wc -l)" {}' ; | sort -nr"
Every literal " inside the definition gets escaped: ".
Note: You also need to escape the inner command substitution to prevent it from getting expanded upon alias definition time. Like this ... $(...)
As a follow up on chepners comment, you should pass the filename to the inner find command as an argument. Otherwise you will run into problems if one of your folders has a name with a " in it:
alias foo="find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec bash -c 'echo "$(find "${1}" -type f | wc -l) "${1}" "' -- "{}" ; | sort -nr"
answered Nov 20 '18 at 18:08
hek2mglhek2mgl
107k13144166
Good call with escaping the inner command substitution, +1.
– Jonny Henly
Nov 20 '18 at 18:17
add a comment |
You can use double quotes around the definition, like this:
alias foo="find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec sh -c 'echo "$(find "{}" -type f | wc -l)" {}' ; | sort -nr"
Every literal " inside the definition gets escaped: ".
Note: You also need to escape the inner command substitution to prevent it from getting expanded upon alias definition time. Like this ... $(...)
As a follow up on chepners comment, you should pass the filename to the inner find command as an argument. Otherwise you will run into problems if one of your folders has a name with a " in it:
alias foo="find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec bash -c 'echo "$(find "${1}" -type f | wc -l) "${1}" "' -- "{}" ; | sort -nr"
answered Nov 20 '18 at 18:08
hek2mglhek2mgl
107k13144166
You can use double quotes around the definition, like this:
alias foo="find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec sh -c 'echo "$(find "{}" -type f | wc -l)" {}' ; | sort -nr"
Every literal " inside the definition gets escaped: ".
Note: You also need to escape the inner command substitution to prevent it from getting expanded upon alias definition time. Like this ... $(...)
As a follow up on chepners comment, you should pass the filename to the inner find command as an argument. Otherwise you will run into problems if one of your folders has a name with a " in it:
alias foo="find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec bash -c 'echo "$(find "${1}" -type f | wc -l) "${1}" "' -- "{}" ; | sort -nr"
answered Nov 20 '18 at 18:08
hek2mglhek2mgl
107k13144166
edited Nov 20 '18 at 18:26
answered Nov 20 '18 at 18:08
hek2mglhek2mgl
107k13144166
answered Nov 20 '18 at 18:08
hek2mglhek2mgl
107k13144166
answered Nov 20 '18 at 18:08
hek2mglhek2mgl
107k13144166
107k13144166
Good call with escaping the inner command substitution, +1.
– Jonny Henly
Nov 20 '18 at 18:17
add a comment |
Good call with escaping the inner command substitution, +1.
– Jonny Henly
Nov 20 '18 at 18:17
Good call with escaping the inner command substitution, +1.
– Jonny Henly
Nov 20 '18 at 18:17
Good call with escaping the inner command substitution, +1.
– Jonny Henly
Nov 20 '18 at 18:17
add a comment |
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2
It's been a while since I've worked with aliases but I think your alias is too complex. I believe alias is just used to shorten one command with arguments, i.e.
alias l='ls -al'. You may need to create a functioncsfiles. But it has been a while so I may be mistaken.– Jonny Henly
Nov 20 '18 at 17:59
see stackoverflow.com/questions/25941394/…
– hek2mgl
Nov 20 '18 at 18:01
2
I second creating a bash function to do this. You would call it the same way, with the benefit of being able to pass arguments if needed.
– ahota
Nov 20 '18 at 18:01
2
As written, the
findcommand will fail for certain file names (such as those containing double quotes). Don't try to embed{}in the command; only use it as an argument tosh.sh -c '....' _ {}. Wherever you used{}, use$1.– chepner
Nov 20 '18 at 18:17
@chepner that's a very good point!
– hek2mgl
Nov 20 '18 at 18:18