Bash how to create a txt file of all file names in a directory

Question

I am sure there is a simple answer but I have been struggling to create a txt file of all the file names in a directory.

I am currently in the directory of where I need to collect all the file names of. This is what I have tried.

for i in ls; $i |../log.txt ; done

The log.txt file exists in the directory above.

Just use `ls > ../log.txt`, no need for a loop. – Heinrich supports Monica Oct 10 '17 at 09:41 — Heinrich supports Monica, Oct 10 '17 at 09:41

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 10 '17 at 09:41

5

Too much work.

ls > ../log.txt

answered Oct 10 '17 at 09:41

Though for anything beyond trivial, see also http://mywiki.wooledge.org/ParsingLs – tripleee Oct 10 '17 at 10:46

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 10 '17 at 09:42

1

This will exclude the directories from the list, leaving only the files.

ls -p | grep -v / > log.txt

answered Oct 10 '17 at 09:42

farbiondriven

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 10 '17 at 09:43

1

Try this in case you would like to use a for:

for i in *; do echo $i >> /tmp/log.txt; done

answered Oct 10 '17 at 09:43

nbari

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 10 '17 at 10:00

1

Do this ls >> ../log.txt to append to an existing file.
If you only use '>' the file will be truncated.

answered Oct 10 '17 at 10:00

Nilkun

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 10 '17 at 09:41

0

simply run ls * > log.txt in your terminal.

answered Oct 10 '17 at 09:41

karottenbunker

1

The wildcard `*` does nothing useful here, and potentially causes problems (without `-d` it will descend into directories). http://mywiki.wooledge.org/ParsingLs explains a number of additional failure scenarios. – tripleee Oct 10 '17 at 10:45

5 Answers5