conditional find output missing












2















Im trying to build a conditional statement to search for files of a certain size (in this case 1Gb. 



if [ "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" ]

then

  > /location/sub/int/large_file_audit.txt

fi


I run this and it creates a file but the file is empty, how can I get the results of the find to populate into the file? what am I doing wrong?






command-line bash find







share|improve this question









New contributor




Shadwar is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

























    2















    Im trying to build a conditional statement to search for files of a certain size (in this case 1Gb. 



    if [ "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" ]
    
then
    
  > /location/sub/int/large_file_audit.txt
    
fi


    I run this and it creates a file but the file is empty, how can I get the results of the find to populate into the file? what am I doing wrong?






    command-line bash find







    share|improve this question









    New contributor




    Shadwar is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.























      2












      2








      2








      Im trying to build a conditional statement to search for files of a certain size (in this case 1Gb. 



      if [ "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" ]
      
then
      
  > /location/sub/int/large_file_audit.txt
      
fi


      I run this and it creates a file but the file is empty, how can I get the results of the find to populate into the file? what am I doing wrong?






      command-line bash find







      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      Shadwar is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.












      Im trying to build a conditional statement to search for files of a certain size (in this case 1Gb. 



      if [ "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" ]
      
then
      
  > /location/sub/int/large_file_audit.txt
      
fi


      I run this and it creates a file but the file is empty, how can I get the results of the find to populate into the file? what am I doing wrong?






      command-line bash find




      command-line bash find






      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      Shadwar is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.











      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      Shadwar is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited 7 hours ago









      Ravexina

      32k1482112




      32k1482112






      New contributor




      Shadwar is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      asked 8 hours ago









      ShadwarShadwar

      111




      111




      New contributor




      Shadwar is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.





      New contributor





      Shadwar is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.






      Shadwar is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.






















          2 Answers
          2






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          3














          Your test if [ "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" ] doesn't work the way you intend because it tests the non-emptiness of the string "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" - which will always be true. In any case, the redirection > /location/sub/int/large_file_audit.txt will not magically pick up the standard output of the preceding command, so will always create an empty file.



          Perhaps the closest to your intent in Bash would be to put the results of find into an array, and then test whether it has any elements:



          mapfile -t files < <(find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G)
          

          
if (( ${#files[@] > 0 )); then 
          
  printf '%sn' "${files[@]}" > /location/sub/int/large_file_audit.txt
          
fi


          This won't gracefully handle filenames containing newlines - with newer versions of bash, you could make the find and mapfile null-delimited, but there's not much benefit if you're outputting them as a newline-delimited list anyhow.






          share|improve this answer































            2














            One liner workaround:



            find -size +10G | grep ".*" > file.log || (rm file.log; echo "Can't find anything")


            Or:



            find -size +10G | grep ".*" > file.log || rm file.log



            Note that find returns 1 (False) when files are not processed correctly for any reason, so I suggest using something like:



            #!/bin/bash
            
RESULTS=$(find /path -size +1G)
            
if [ -n "$RESULTS" ];
            
 then
            
   echo "$RESULTS" > /path/file.log
            
fi


            First run the find and put the results in a variable, then if the variable contained anything save that into a log file.






            share|improve this answer





















            • 2





              While the answer is all correct, you might want to touch on why original if [ "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" ] does not work as intended ( and what it actually does instead of what user expects ).

              – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
              6 hours ago






            • 1





              find returns 1 if I ask it to look somewhere that doesn't exist, but if the path exists but -size finds nothing, it does return 0. (and 1 is false).

              – Xen2050
              2 hours ago











            • @Xen2050 To be exact , find returns 1 for any case where directory entries were not processed correctly as stated in EXIT STATUS part of the manual, which includes permission denied error on subdirectories or parent directory (try with chmod -r or touch testdir/subdir/foobar2;chmod -x testdir ).

              – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
              1 hour ago











            Your Answer








            StackExchange.ready(function() {
            var channelOptions = {
            tags: "".split(" "),
            id: "89"
            };
            initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

            StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
            // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
            if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
            StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
            createEditor();
            });
            }
            else {
            createEditor();
            }
            });

            function createEditor() {
            StackExchange.prepareEditor({
            heartbeatType: 'answer',
            autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
            convertImagesToLinks: true,
            noModals: true,
            showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
            reputationToPostImages: 10,
            bindNavPrevention: true,
            postfix: "",
            imageUploader: {
            brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
            contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
            allowUrls: true
            },
            onDemand: true,
            discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
            ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
            });


            }
            });






            Shadwar is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










            draft saved

            draft discarded


















            StackExchange.ready(
            function () {
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2faskubuntu.com%2fquestions%2f1110989%2fconditional-find-output-missing%23new-answer', 'question_page');
            }
            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown

























            2 Answers
            2






            active

            oldest

            votes








            2 Answers
            2






            active

            oldest

            votes









            active

            oldest

            votes






            active

            oldest

            votes









            3














            Your test if [ "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" ] doesn't work the way you intend because it tests the non-emptiness of the string "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" - which will always be true. In any case, the redirection > /location/sub/int/large_file_audit.txt will not magically pick up the standard output of the preceding command, so will always create an empty file.



            Perhaps the closest to your intent in Bash would be to put the results of find into an array, and then test whether it has any elements:



            mapfile -t files < <(find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G)
            

            
if (( ${#files[@] > 0 )); then 
            
  printf '%sn' "${files[@]}" > /location/sub/int/large_file_audit.txt
            
fi


            This won't gracefully handle filenames containing newlines - with newer versions of bash, you could make the find and mapfile null-delimited, but there's not much benefit if you're outputting them as a newline-delimited list anyhow.






            share|improve this answer




























              3














              Your test if [ "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" ] doesn't work the way you intend because it tests the non-emptiness of the string "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" - which will always be true. In any case, the redirection > /location/sub/int/large_file_audit.txt will not magically pick up the standard output of the preceding command, so will always create an empty file.



              Perhaps the closest to your intent in Bash would be to put the results of find into an array, and then test whether it has any elements:



              mapfile -t files < <(find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G)
              

              
if (( ${#files[@] > 0 )); then 
              
  printf '%sn' "${files[@]}" > /location/sub/int/large_file_audit.txt
              
fi


              This won't gracefully handle filenames containing newlines - with newer versions of bash, you could make the find and mapfile null-delimited, but there's not much benefit if you're outputting them as a newline-delimited list anyhow.






              share|improve this answer


























                3












                3








                3







                Your test if [ "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" ] doesn't work the way you intend because it tests the non-emptiness of the string "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" - which will always be true. In any case, the redirection > /location/sub/int/large_file_audit.txt will not magically pick up the standard output of the preceding command, so will always create an empty file.



                Perhaps the closest to your intent in Bash would be to put the results of find into an array, and then test whether it has any elements:



                mapfile -t files < <(find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G)
                

                
if (( ${#files[@] > 0 )); then 
                
  printf '%sn' "${files[@]}" > /location/sub/int/large_file_audit.txt
                
fi


                This won't gracefully handle filenames containing newlines - with newer versions of bash, you could make the find and mapfile null-delimited, but there's not much benefit if you're outputting them as a newline-delimited list anyhow.






                share|improve this answer













                Your test if [ "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" ] doesn't work the way you intend because it tests the non-emptiness of the string "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" - which will always be true. In any case, the redirection > /location/sub/int/large_file_audit.txt will not magically pick up the standard output of the preceding command, so will always create an empty file.



                Perhaps the closest to your intent in Bash would be to put the results of find into an array, and then test whether it has any elements:



                mapfile -t files < <(find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G)
                

                
if (( ${#files[@] > 0 )); then 
                
  printf '%sn' "${files[@]}" > /location/sub/int/large_file_audit.txt
                
fi


                This won't gracefully handle filenames containing newlines - with newer versions of bash, you could make the find and mapfile null-delimited, but there's not much benefit if you're outputting them as a newline-delimited list anyhow.







                share|improve this answer












                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer










                answered 5 hours ago









                steeldriversteeldriver

                66.5k11107179




                66.5k11107179

























                    2














                    One liner workaround:



                    find -size +10G | grep ".*" > file.log || (rm file.log; echo "Can't find anything")


                    Or:



                    find -size +10G | grep ".*" > file.log || rm file.log



                    Note that find returns 1 (False) when files are not processed correctly for any reason, so I suggest using something like:



                    #!/bin/bash
                    
RESULTS=$(find /path -size +1G)
                    
if [ -n "$RESULTS" ];
                    
 then
                    
   echo "$RESULTS" > /path/file.log
                    
fi


                    First run the find and put the results in a variable, then if the variable contained anything save that into a log file.






                    share|improve this answer





















                    • 2





                      While the answer is all correct, you might want to touch on why original if [ "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" ] does not work as intended ( and what it actually does instead of what user expects ).

                      – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
                      6 hours ago






                    • 1





                      find returns 1 if I ask it to look somewhere that doesn't exist, but if the path exists but -size finds nothing, it does return 0. (and 1 is false).

                      – Xen2050
                      2 hours ago











                    • @Xen2050 To be exact , find returns 1 for any case where directory entries were not processed correctly as stated in EXIT STATUS part of the manual, which includes permission denied error on subdirectories or parent directory (try with chmod -r or touch testdir/subdir/foobar2;chmod -x testdir ).

                      – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
                      1 hour ago
















                    2














                    One liner workaround:



                    find -size +10G | grep ".*" > file.log || (rm file.log; echo "Can't find anything")


                    Or:



                    find -size +10G | grep ".*" > file.log || rm file.log



                    Note that find returns 1 (False) when files are not processed correctly for any reason, so I suggest using something like:



                    #!/bin/bash
                    
RESULTS=$(find /path -size +1G)
                    
if [ -n "$RESULTS" ];
                    
 then
                    
   echo "$RESULTS" > /path/file.log
                    
fi


                    First run the find and put the results in a variable, then if the variable contained anything save that into a log file.






                    share|improve this answer





















                    • 2





                      While the answer is all correct, you might want to touch on why original if [ "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" ] does not work as intended ( and what it actually does instead of what user expects ).

                      – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
                      6 hours ago






                    • 1





                      find returns 1 if I ask it to look somewhere that doesn't exist, but if the path exists but -size finds nothing, it does return 0. (and 1 is false).

                      – Xen2050
                      2 hours ago











                    • @Xen2050 To be exact , find returns 1 for any case where directory entries were not processed correctly as stated in EXIT STATUS part of the manual, which includes permission denied error on subdirectories or parent directory (try with chmod -r or touch testdir/subdir/foobar2;chmod -x testdir ).

                      – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
                      1 hour ago














                    2












                    2








                    2







                    One liner workaround:



                    find -size +10G | grep ".*" > file.log || (rm file.log; echo "Can't find anything")


                    Or:



                    find -size +10G | grep ".*" > file.log || rm file.log



                    Note that find returns 1 (False) when files are not processed correctly for any reason, so I suggest using something like:



                    #!/bin/bash
                    
RESULTS=$(find /path -size +1G)
                    
if [ -n "$RESULTS" ];
                    
 then
                    
   echo "$RESULTS" > /path/file.log
                    
fi


                    First run the find and put the results in a variable, then if the variable contained anything save that into a log file.






                    share|improve this answer















                    One liner workaround:



                    find -size +10G | grep ".*" > file.log || (rm file.log; echo "Can't find anything")


                    Or:



                    find -size +10G | grep ".*" > file.log || rm file.log



                    Note that find returns 1 (False) when files are not processed correctly for any reason, so I suggest using something like:



                    #!/bin/bash
                    
RESULTS=$(find /path -size +1G)
                    
if [ -n "$RESULTS" ];
                    
 then
                    
   echo "$RESULTS" > /path/file.log
                    
fi


                    First run the find and put the results in a variable, then if the variable contained anything save that into a log file.







                    share|improve this answer














                    share|improve this answer



                    share|improve this answer








                    edited 1 hour ago









                    Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy

                    71k9147312




                    71k9147312










                    answered 8 hours ago









                    RavexinaRavexina

                    32k1482112




                    32k1482112








                    • 2





                      While the answer is all correct, you might want to touch on why original if [ "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" ] does not work as intended ( and what it actually does instead of what user expects ).

                      – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
                      6 hours ago






                    • 1





                      find returns 1 if I ask it to look somewhere that doesn't exist, but if the path exists but -size finds nothing, it does return 0. (and 1 is false).

                      – Xen2050
                      2 hours ago











                    • @Xen2050 To be exact , find returns 1 for any case where directory entries were not processed correctly as stated in EXIT STATUS part of the manual, which includes permission denied error on subdirectories or parent directory (try with chmod -r or touch testdir/subdir/foobar2;chmod -x testdir ).

                      – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
                      1 hour ago














                    • 2





                      While the answer is all correct, you might want to touch on why original if [ "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" ] does not work as intended ( and what it actually does instead of what user expects ).

                      – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
                      6 hours ago






                    • 1





                      find returns 1 if I ask it to look somewhere that doesn't exist, but if the path exists but -size finds nothing, it does return 0. (and 1 is false).

                      – Xen2050
                      2 hours ago











                    • @Xen2050 To be exact , find returns 1 for any case where directory entries were not processed correctly as stated in EXIT STATUS part of the manual, which includes permission denied error on subdirectories or parent directory (try with chmod -r or touch testdir/subdir/foobar2;chmod -x testdir ).

                      – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
                      1 hour ago








                    2




                    2





                    While the answer is all correct, you might want to touch on why original if [ "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" ] does not work as intended ( and what it actually does instead of what user expects ).

                    – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
                    6 hours ago





                    While the answer is all correct, you might want to touch on why original if [ "find /location/sub/int/ -size +1G" ] does not work as intended ( and what it actually does instead of what user expects ).

                    – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
                    6 hours ago




                    1




                    1





                    find returns 1 if I ask it to look somewhere that doesn't exist, but if the path exists but -size finds nothing, it does return 0. (and 1 is false).

                    – Xen2050
                    2 hours ago





                    find returns 1 if I ask it to look somewhere that doesn't exist, but if the path exists but -size finds nothing, it does return 0. (and 1 is false).

                    – Xen2050
                    2 hours ago













                    @Xen2050 To be exact , find returns 1 for any case where directory entries were not processed correctly as stated in EXIT STATUS part of the manual, which includes permission denied error on subdirectories or parent directory (try with chmod -r or touch testdir/subdir/foobar2;chmod -x testdir ).

                    – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
                    1 hour ago





                    @Xen2050 To be exact , find returns 1 for any case where directory entries were not processed correctly as stated in EXIT STATUS part of the manual, which includes permission denied error on subdirectories or parent directory (try with chmod -r or touch testdir/subdir/foobar2;chmod -x testdir ).

                    – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
                    1 hour ago










                    Shadwar is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










                    draft saved

                    draft discarded


















                    Shadwar is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.













                    Shadwar is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.












                    Shadwar is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
















                    Thanks for contributing an answer to Ask Ubuntu!


                    • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                    But avoid …



                    • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                    • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                    To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                    draft saved


                    draft discarded














                    StackExchange.ready(
                    function () {
                    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2faskubuntu.com%2fquestions%2f1110989%2fconditional-find-output-missing%23new-answer', 'question_page');
                    }
                    );

                    Post as a guest















                    Required, but never shown





















































                    Required, but never shown














                    Required, but never shown












                    Required, but never shown







                    Required, but never shown

































                    Required, but never shown














                    Required, but never shown












                    Required, but never shown







                    Required, but never shown







                    -

                    Popular posts from this blog

                    Сан-Квентин

                    Image
                    Сан-Квентин Местоположение Сан-Квентин, Калифорния Координаты 37°56′13″ с. ш. 122°29′20″ з. д. H G Я O L Текущий статус Действует Режим безопасности минимальный и максимальный Количество мест 3 302 Открытие Июнь 1852 Находится в ведомстве California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Начальник Mike Martel, начальник  Сан-Квентин на Викискладе Сан-Квентин (англ.  San Quentin ) — тюрьма, располагающаяся на 432 акрах (около 1,7 км²), на мысе Сан-Квентин, в округе Марин, штат Калифорния, США. Тюрьма штата Калифорния Сан-Квентин была открыта в июле 1852 года и является старейшей в штате. Она была построена заключёнными, которые проживали в течение строительства на тюремном судне Вабан. В Сан-Квентине отбывали наказание и мужчины, и женщины до 1934 года, когда построили женскую тюрьму в Техачапи и туда перевели всех заключённых женщин. В Сан-Квентине приводятся в исполнение смертные казни, для этого имеется газовая камера, но...
                    Read more

                    8-я гвардейская общевойсковая армия

                    Image
                    8-я гвардейская общевойсковая ордена Ленина армия Награды: Войска: РККА → Советская армия → СВ России Род войск: Формирование: 1943 Расформирование (преобразование): 1992 Предшественник: 62-я армия (1942—43) → 8-я гвардейская общевойсковая армия (1943—92) → 8-й гвардейский армейский корпус (1992—98) Боевой путь Изюм-Барвенковская операция Донбасская операция Запорожская операция Битва за Днепр Днепропетровская операция Березнеговато-Снигирёвская операция Одесская операция Люблин-Брестская операция Варшавско-Познанская операция Восточно-Померанская операция Берлинская наступательная операция У этого термина существуют и другие значения, см. 8-я армия. Фотография Гвардейского Красного Знамени (лицевая сторона) 8-й гвардейской армии , образца 1943 года. Фотография Гвардейского Красного Знамени (оборотная сторона) 8-й гвардейской армии , образца 1943 года. 8-я гвардейская общевойсковая ордена Ленина армия  — гвардейское фор...
                    Read more

                    Алькесар

                    Image
                    Муниципалитет Алькесар Alquézar Герб 42°10′16″ с. ш. 0°01′27″ в. д. H G Я O L Страна Испания   Испания Автономное сообщество Арагон Провинция Уэска Комарка Сомонтано-де-Барбастро Алькальд Хосе Марияно Альтемир Ласкорс (ИСРП) История и география Площадь 32,36 км² Высота НУМ 660 м Часовой пояс UTC+1, летом UTC+2 Население Население 313 человек ( 2010 ) Плотность 9,92 чел./км² Этнохороним alquezarano/-a Цифровые идентификаторы Телефонный код +34 974 Почтовые индексы 22112 Автомобильный код HU alquezar.org   (исп.) Показать/скрыть карты Алькесар Алькесар Алькесар  Аудио, фото и видео на Викискладе Алькесар (исп.  Alquézar ) — муниципалитет в Испании, входит в провинцию Уэска, в составе автономного сообщества Арагон. Муниципалитет находится в составе района (комарки) Сомонтано-де-Барбастро. Занимает площадь 32,36 км². Население — 321 челове...
                    Read more