File Search with Wildcard Pattern

A Bash script for recursively searching files and directories matching a wildcard pattern.

Description

This script searches for files and directories that match a given wildcard pattern through the current directory and all subdirectories, displaying full paths of matching items.

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Usage
• Features
• Requirements
• Technical Details
• Examples
• Troubleshooting
• Contributing
• License

Installation

1. Download the script:

wget https://github.com/2077DevWave/wildcard_searcher/releases/download/V1/my.sh

2. Make it executable:

chmod +x my.sh

Usage

Basic syntax:

./my.sh <wildcard_pattern>

The pattern should be quoted to prevent premature shell expansion:

./my.sh "hello*"
./my.sh "*.txt"
./my.sh "test?"

Features

• Recursive search through directories
• Full path display
• Wildcard pattern matching
• Directory traversal
• Error handling

Supported Wildcards

• * - Matches any string of characters
• ? - Matches any single character
• [] - Matches any character within brackets

Requirements

• Bash shell environment
• Execute permissions on script
• Read permissions on directories to be searched

Technical Details

Components

1. Input Validation

   • Validates command line arguments
   • Provides usage message for incorrect input

2. Pattern Handling

   pattern="$1"

3. Recursive Search Function

   search_files() {
       local current_dir="$1"
       local pattern="$2"
       # ... search logic ...
   }

Commands Used

• cd - Directory navigation
• pwd - Working directory path
• echo - Output display
• exit - Script termination

Shell Features

• [ ] - Test command
• $# - Argument count
• $0 - Script name
• $1 - First argument
• $() - Command substitution

Examples

1. Find all Python files:

./my.sh "*.py"

2. Find directories starting with "test":

./my.sh "test*/"

Example output:

/home/user/test.py
/home/user/projects/test_dir/
/home/user/docs/testing.py

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Permission Denied

   chmod +x my.sh

2. Pattern Not Working

   • Ensure pattern is quoted
   • Check directory permissions

Debug Mode

Add -x to shebang line:

#!/bin/bash -x

Limitations

• Case-sensitive matching
• No symbolic link following
• May be slow on large directories
• Single pattern only

Future Improvements

• Case-insensitive search option
• Depth limit option
• Symbolic link support
• Multiple pattern support
• File size/date filters

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create feature branch
3. Commit changes
4. Push to branch
5. Create Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE.md file for details.

Authors

• Arian Kermani - Initial work

Acknowledgments

• Bash documentation
• Shell scripting community
• Stack Overflow contributors