How to store directory files listing into an array?

Question

I\'m trying to store the files listing into an array and then loop through the array again. Below is what I get when I run ls -ls command from the console.

Answer 1

I'd use

files=(*)

And then if you need data about the file, such as size, use the stat command on each file.

Answer 2

This might work for you:

OIFS=$IFS; IFS=$'\n'; array=($(ls -ls)); IFS=$OIFS; echo "${array[1]}"

Answer 3

Try with:

#! /bin/bash

i=0
while read line
do
    array[ $i ]="$line"        
    (( i++ ))
done < <(ls -ls)

echo ${array[1]}

In your version, the while runs in a subshell, the environment variables you modify in the loop are not visible outside it.

(Do keep in mind that parsing the output of ls is generally not a good idea at all.)

Answer 4

Running any shell command inside $(...) will help to store the output in a variable. So using that we can convert the files to array with IFS.

IFS=' ' read -r -a array <<< $(ls /path/to/dir)

Answer 5

Here's a variant that lets you use a regex pattern for initial filtering, change the regex to be get the filtering you desire.

files=($(find -E . -type f -regex "^.*$"))
for item in ${files[*]}
do
  printf "   %s\n" $item
done