pipe commands inside find -exec?












4















Let's suppose I want to find all .txt files and search for some string. I would do:



find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -exec egrep -iH 'something' '{}' ;


What if I want to do a more complex filtering, like this:



egrep something file.txt | egrep somethingelse | egrep other


Inside find -exec? (or similar)



Please keep in mind that I'm searching for a solution that I could easily type when I need it. I know that this could be done with a few lines using a shell script, but that isn't what I'm looking for.










share|improve this question





























    4















    Let's suppose I want to find all .txt files and search for some string. I would do:



    find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -exec egrep -iH 'something' '{}' ;


    What if I want to do a more complex filtering, like this:



    egrep something file.txt | egrep somethingelse | egrep other


    Inside find -exec? (or similar)



    Please keep in mind that I'm searching for a solution that I could easily type when I need it. I know that this could be done with a few lines using a shell script, but that isn't what I'm looking for.










    share|improve this question



























      4












      4








      4








      Let's suppose I want to find all .txt files and search for some string. I would do:



      find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -exec egrep -iH 'something' '{}' ;


      What if I want to do a more complex filtering, like this:



      egrep something file.txt | egrep somethingelse | egrep other


      Inside find -exec? (or similar)



      Please keep in mind that I'm searching for a solution that I could easily type when I need it. I know that this could be done with a few lines using a shell script, but that isn't what I'm looking for.










      share|improve this question
















      Let's suppose I want to find all .txt files and search for some string. I would do:



      find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -exec egrep -iH 'something' '{}' ;


      What if I want to do a more complex filtering, like this:



      egrep something file.txt | egrep somethingelse | egrep other


      Inside find -exec? (or similar)



      Please keep in mind that I'm searching for a solution that I could easily type when I need it. I know that this could be done with a few lines using a shell script, but that isn't what I'm looking for.







      shell find pipe






      share|improve this question















      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited Mar 18 at 16:43









      terdon

      133k32266446




      133k32266446










      asked Mar 18 at 16:38









      1nt3rn3t1nt3rn3t

      232




      232






















          2 Answers
          2






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          10














          If you must do it from within find, you need to call a shell:



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -exec sh -c 'grep -EiH something "$1" | grep -E somethingelse | grep -E other' sh {} ;


          Other alternatives include using xargs instead:



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" | 
          xargs -I{} grep -EiH something {} |
          grep -EiH somethingelse |
          grep -EiH other


          Or, much safer for arbitrary filenames (assuming your find supports -print0):



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -print0 | 
          xargs -0 grep -EiH something {} |
          grep -Ei somethingelse |
          grep -Ei other


          Or, you could just use a shell loop instead:



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -print0 | 
          while IFS= read -d '' file; do
          grep -Ei something "$file" |
          grep -Ei somethingelse |
          grep -Ei other
          done





          share|improve this answer


























          • The first one is exactly what I was looking for. Extremely simple and small enough to type depending on my needs. Thanks.

            – 1nt3rn3t
            Mar 18 at 16:57






          • 1





            ... and xargs could also be used as xargs -I {} sh -c '...' sh {}, if one wanted to (it makes it possible to run parallel jobs with -P if one wanted to).

            – Kusalananda
            Mar 18 at 17:23



















          1














          Edit: This answer is not preferred, but is left here for comparison and illustration of potentially dangerous pitfalls in bash scripting.





          You can put bash (or another shell) as your -exec command:



          find -type -f -name "*.txt" -exec bash -c 'egrep -iH something "{}" | egrep somethingelse | egrep other' ;


          One of the downsides of doing it this way is that it creates more potential for nested quoting issues as your commands get more complex. If you want to avoid that, you can break it out into a for-loop:



          for i in $(find -type -f -name "*.txt"); do
          if egrep -iH something "$i" | egrep somethingelse | egrep other; then
          echo "Found something: $i"
          fi
          done





          share|improve this answer





















          • 1





            The first one is exactly what I was looking for. Extremely simple and small enough to type depending on my needs. Thanks.

            – 1nt3rn3t
            Mar 18 at 16:59






          • 1





            That for loop is a very bad idea.Also known as bash pitfall #1.

            – terdon
            Mar 18 at 17:04






          • 1





            This "{}" in your first command may even lead to code injection. Imagine you got files from me and there's a file literally named " & rm -rf ~ & : ".txt. Luckily for you -type -f is invalid, it just saved your home directory. Fix the typo and try again. :) terdon did it right: find … -exec sh -c '… "$1" …' foo {} ;.

            – Kamil Maciorowski
            Mar 18 at 17:55











          • Thanks for the information! Yeah, the -type -f is a typo I make constantly when using find, and I didn't notice it in my answer. Whoops. terdon's answer is better, but I'll leave this for comparative purposes.

            – trobinson
            Mar 18 at 20:20











          • @terdon: tx for referencing the mywiki.wooledge.org page. It's nice to have a bunch of GPs neatly summarized in one place.

            – Cbhihe
            Mar 19 at 8:03












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          2 Answers
          2






          active

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          2 Answers
          2






          active

          oldest

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          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes









          10














          If you must do it from within find, you need to call a shell:



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -exec sh -c 'grep -EiH something "$1" | grep -E somethingelse | grep -E other' sh {} ;


          Other alternatives include using xargs instead:



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" | 
          xargs -I{} grep -EiH something {} |
          grep -EiH somethingelse |
          grep -EiH other


          Or, much safer for arbitrary filenames (assuming your find supports -print0):



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -print0 | 
          xargs -0 grep -EiH something {} |
          grep -Ei somethingelse |
          grep -Ei other


          Or, you could just use a shell loop instead:



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -print0 | 
          while IFS= read -d '' file; do
          grep -Ei something "$file" |
          grep -Ei somethingelse |
          grep -Ei other
          done





          share|improve this answer


























          • The first one is exactly what I was looking for. Extremely simple and small enough to type depending on my needs. Thanks.

            – 1nt3rn3t
            Mar 18 at 16:57






          • 1





            ... and xargs could also be used as xargs -I {} sh -c '...' sh {}, if one wanted to (it makes it possible to run parallel jobs with -P if one wanted to).

            – Kusalananda
            Mar 18 at 17:23
















          10














          If you must do it from within find, you need to call a shell:



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -exec sh -c 'grep -EiH something "$1" | grep -E somethingelse | grep -E other' sh {} ;


          Other alternatives include using xargs instead:



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" | 
          xargs -I{} grep -EiH something {} |
          grep -EiH somethingelse |
          grep -EiH other


          Or, much safer for arbitrary filenames (assuming your find supports -print0):



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -print0 | 
          xargs -0 grep -EiH something {} |
          grep -Ei somethingelse |
          grep -Ei other


          Or, you could just use a shell loop instead:



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -print0 | 
          while IFS= read -d '' file; do
          grep -Ei something "$file" |
          grep -Ei somethingelse |
          grep -Ei other
          done





          share|improve this answer


























          • The first one is exactly what I was looking for. Extremely simple and small enough to type depending on my needs. Thanks.

            – 1nt3rn3t
            Mar 18 at 16:57






          • 1





            ... and xargs could also be used as xargs -I {} sh -c '...' sh {}, if one wanted to (it makes it possible to run parallel jobs with -P if one wanted to).

            – Kusalananda
            Mar 18 at 17:23














          10












          10








          10







          If you must do it from within find, you need to call a shell:



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -exec sh -c 'grep -EiH something "$1" | grep -E somethingelse | grep -E other' sh {} ;


          Other alternatives include using xargs instead:



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" | 
          xargs -I{} grep -EiH something {} |
          grep -EiH somethingelse |
          grep -EiH other


          Or, much safer for arbitrary filenames (assuming your find supports -print0):



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -print0 | 
          xargs -0 grep -EiH something {} |
          grep -Ei somethingelse |
          grep -Ei other


          Or, you could just use a shell loop instead:



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -print0 | 
          while IFS= read -d '' file; do
          grep -Ei something "$file" |
          grep -Ei somethingelse |
          grep -Ei other
          done





          share|improve this answer















          If you must do it from within find, you need to call a shell:



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -exec sh -c 'grep -EiH something "$1" | grep -E somethingelse | grep -E other' sh {} ;


          Other alternatives include using xargs instead:



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" | 
          xargs -I{} grep -EiH something {} |
          grep -EiH somethingelse |
          grep -EiH other


          Or, much safer for arbitrary filenames (assuming your find supports -print0):



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -print0 | 
          xargs -0 grep -EiH something {} |
          grep -Ei somethingelse |
          grep -Ei other


          Or, you could just use a shell loop instead:



          find ./ -type f -name "*.txt" -print0 | 
          while IFS= read -d '' file; do
          grep -Ei something "$file" |
          grep -Ei somethingelse |
          grep -Ei other
          done






          share|improve this answer














          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer








          edited Mar 18 at 17:20









          Kusalananda

          138k17258426




          138k17258426










          answered Mar 18 at 16:51









          terdonterdon

          133k32266446




          133k32266446













          • The first one is exactly what I was looking for. Extremely simple and small enough to type depending on my needs. Thanks.

            – 1nt3rn3t
            Mar 18 at 16:57






          • 1





            ... and xargs could also be used as xargs -I {} sh -c '...' sh {}, if one wanted to (it makes it possible to run parallel jobs with -P if one wanted to).

            – Kusalananda
            Mar 18 at 17:23



















          • The first one is exactly what I was looking for. Extremely simple and small enough to type depending on my needs. Thanks.

            – 1nt3rn3t
            Mar 18 at 16:57






          • 1





            ... and xargs could also be used as xargs -I {} sh -c '...' sh {}, if one wanted to (it makes it possible to run parallel jobs with -P if one wanted to).

            – Kusalananda
            Mar 18 at 17:23

















          The first one is exactly what I was looking for. Extremely simple and small enough to type depending on my needs. Thanks.

          – 1nt3rn3t
          Mar 18 at 16:57





          The first one is exactly what I was looking for. Extremely simple and small enough to type depending on my needs. Thanks.

          – 1nt3rn3t
          Mar 18 at 16:57




          1




          1





          ... and xargs could also be used as xargs -I {} sh -c '...' sh {}, if one wanted to (it makes it possible to run parallel jobs with -P if one wanted to).

          – Kusalananda
          Mar 18 at 17:23





          ... and xargs could also be used as xargs -I {} sh -c '...' sh {}, if one wanted to (it makes it possible to run parallel jobs with -P if one wanted to).

          – Kusalananda
          Mar 18 at 17:23













          1














          Edit: This answer is not preferred, but is left here for comparison and illustration of potentially dangerous pitfalls in bash scripting.





          You can put bash (or another shell) as your -exec command:



          find -type -f -name "*.txt" -exec bash -c 'egrep -iH something "{}" | egrep somethingelse | egrep other' ;


          One of the downsides of doing it this way is that it creates more potential for nested quoting issues as your commands get more complex. If you want to avoid that, you can break it out into a for-loop:



          for i in $(find -type -f -name "*.txt"); do
          if egrep -iH something "$i" | egrep somethingelse | egrep other; then
          echo "Found something: $i"
          fi
          done





          share|improve this answer





















          • 1





            The first one is exactly what I was looking for. Extremely simple and small enough to type depending on my needs. Thanks.

            – 1nt3rn3t
            Mar 18 at 16:59






          • 1





            That for loop is a very bad idea.Also known as bash pitfall #1.

            – terdon
            Mar 18 at 17:04






          • 1





            This "{}" in your first command may even lead to code injection. Imagine you got files from me and there's a file literally named " & rm -rf ~ & : ".txt. Luckily for you -type -f is invalid, it just saved your home directory. Fix the typo and try again. :) terdon did it right: find … -exec sh -c '… "$1" …' foo {} ;.

            – Kamil Maciorowski
            Mar 18 at 17:55











          • Thanks for the information! Yeah, the -type -f is a typo I make constantly when using find, and I didn't notice it in my answer. Whoops. terdon's answer is better, but I'll leave this for comparative purposes.

            – trobinson
            Mar 18 at 20:20











          • @terdon: tx for referencing the mywiki.wooledge.org page. It's nice to have a bunch of GPs neatly summarized in one place.

            – Cbhihe
            Mar 19 at 8:03
















          1














          Edit: This answer is not preferred, but is left here for comparison and illustration of potentially dangerous pitfalls in bash scripting.





          You can put bash (or another shell) as your -exec command:



          find -type -f -name "*.txt" -exec bash -c 'egrep -iH something "{}" | egrep somethingelse | egrep other' ;


          One of the downsides of doing it this way is that it creates more potential for nested quoting issues as your commands get more complex. If you want to avoid that, you can break it out into a for-loop:



          for i in $(find -type -f -name "*.txt"); do
          if egrep -iH something "$i" | egrep somethingelse | egrep other; then
          echo "Found something: $i"
          fi
          done





          share|improve this answer





















          • 1





            The first one is exactly what I was looking for. Extremely simple and small enough to type depending on my needs. Thanks.

            – 1nt3rn3t
            Mar 18 at 16:59






          • 1





            That for loop is a very bad idea.Also known as bash pitfall #1.

            – terdon
            Mar 18 at 17:04






          • 1





            This "{}" in your first command may even lead to code injection. Imagine you got files from me and there's a file literally named " & rm -rf ~ & : ".txt. Luckily for you -type -f is invalid, it just saved your home directory. Fix the typo and try again. :) terdon did it right: find … -exec sh -c '… "$1" …' foo {} ;.

            – Kamil Maciorowski
            Mar 18 at 17:55











          • Thanks for the information! Yeah, the -type -f is a typo I make constantly when using find, and I didn't notice it in my answer. Whoops. terdon's answer is better, but I'll leave this for comparative purposes.

            – trobinson
            Mar 18 at 20:20











          • @terdon: tx for referencing the mywiki.wooledge.org page. It's nice to have a bunch of GPs neatly summarized in one place.

            – Cbhihe
            Mar 19 at 8:03














          1












          1








          1







          Edit: This answer is not preferred, but is left here for comparison and illustration of potentially dangerous pitfalls in bash scripting.





          You can put bash (or another shell) as your -exec command:



          find -type -f -name "*.txt" -exec bash -c 'egrep -iH something "{}" | egrep somethingelse | egrep other' ;


          One of the downsides of doing it this way is that it creates more potential for nested quoting issues as your commands get more complex. If you want to avoid that, you can break it out into a for-loop:



          for i in $(find -type -f -name "*.txt"); do
          if egrep -iH something "$i" | egrep somethingelse | egrep other; then
          echo "Found something: $i"
          fi
          done





          share|improve this answer















          Edit: This answer is not preferred, but is left here for comparison and illustration of potentially dangerous pitfalls in bash scripting.





          You can put bash (or another shell) as your -exec command:



          find -type -f -name "*.txt" -exec bash -c 'egrep -iH something "{}" | egrep somethingelse | egrep other' ;


          One of the downsides of doing it this way is that it creates more potential for nested quoting issues as your commands get more complex. If you want to avoid that, you can break it out into a for-loop:



          for i in $(find -type -f -name "*.txt"); do
          if egrep -iH something "$i" | egrep somethingelse | egrep other; then
          echo "Found something: $i"
          fi
          done






          share|improve this answer














          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer








          edited Mar 20 at 6:43

























          answered Mar 18 at 16:55









          trobinsontrobinson

          443




          443








          • 1





            The first one is exactly what I was looking for. Extremely simple and small enough to type depending on my needs. Thanks.

            – 1nt3rn3t
            Mar 18 at 16:59






          • 1





            That for loop is a very bad idea.Also known as bash pitfall #1.

            – terdon
            Mar 18 at 17:04






          • 1





            This "{}" in your first command may even lead to code injection. Imagine you got files from me and there's a file literally named " & rm -rf ~ & : ".txt. Luckily for you -type -f is invalid, it just saved your home directory. Fix the typo and try again. :) terdon did it right: find … -exec sh -c '… "$1" …' foo {} ;.

            – Kamil Maciorowski
            Mar 18 at 17:55











          • Thanks for the information! Yeah, the -type -f is a typo I make constantly when using find, and I didn't notice it in my answer. Whoops. terdon's answer is better, but I'll leave this for comparative purposes.

            – trobinson
            Mar 18 at 20:20











          • @terdon: tx for referencing the mywiki.wooledge.org page. It's nice to have a bunch of GPs neatly summarized in one place.

            – Cbhihe
            Mar 19 at 8:03














          • 1





            The first one is exactly what I was looking for. Extremely simple and small enough to type depending on my needs. Thanks.

            – 1nt3rn3t
            Mar 18 at 16:59






          • 1





            That for loop is a very bad idea.Also known as bash pitfall #1.

            – terdon
            Mar 18 at 17:04






          • 1





            This "{}" in your first command may even lead to code injection. Imagine you got files from me and there's a file literally named " & rm -rf ~ & : ".txt. Luckily for you -type -f is invalid, it just saved your home directory. Fix the typo and try again. :) terdon did it right: find … -exec sh -c '… "$1" …' foo {} ;.

            – Kamil Maciorowski
            Mar 18 at 17:55











          • Thanks for the information! Yeah, the -type -f is a typo I make constantly when using find, and I didn't notice it in my answer. Whoops. terdon's answer is better, but I'll leave this for comparative purposes.

            – trobinson
            Mar 18 at 20:20











          • @terdon: tx for referencing the mywiki.wooledge.org page. It's nice to have a bunch of GPs neatly summarized in one place.

            – Cbhihe
            Mar 19 at 8:03








          1




          1





          The first one is exactly what I was looking for. Extremely simple and small enough to type depending on my needs. Thanks.

          – 1nt3rn3t
          Mar 18 at 16:59





          The first one is exactly what I was looking for. Extremely simple and small enough to type depending on my needs. Thanks.

          – 1nt3rn3t
          Mar 18 at 16:59




          1




          1





          That for loop is a very bad idea.Also known as bash pitfall #1.

          – terdon
          Mar 18 at 17:04





          That for loop is a very bad idea.Also known as bash pitfall #1.

          – terdon
          Mar 18 at 17:04




          1




          1





          This "{}" in your first command may even lead to code injection. Imagine you got files from me and there's a file literally named " & rm -rf ~ & : ".txt. Luckily for you -type -f is invalid, it just saved your home directory. Fix the typo and try again. :) terdon did it right: find … -exec sh -c '… "$1" …' foo {} ;.

          – Kamil Maciorowski
          Mar 18 at 17:55





          This "{}" in your first command may even lead to code injection. Imagine you got files from me and there's a file literally named " & rm -rf ~ & : ".txt. Luckily for you -type -f is invalid, it just saved your home directory. Fix the typo and try again. :) terdon did it right: find … -exec sh -c '… "$1" …' foo {} ;.

          – Kamil Maciorowski
          Mar 18 at 17:55













          Thanks for the information! Yeah, the -type -f is a typo I make constantly when using find, and I didn't notice it in my answer. Whoops. terdon's answer is better, but I'll leave this for comparative purposes.

          – trobinson
          Mar 18 at 20:20





          Thanks for the information! Yeah, the -type -f is a typo I make constantly when using find, and I didn't notice it in my answer. Whoops. terdon's answer is better, but I'll leave this for comparative purposes.

          – trobinson
          Mar 18 at 20:20













          @terdon: tx for referencing the mywiki.wooledge.org page. It's nice to have a bunch of GPs neatly summarized in one place.

          – Cbhihe
          Mar 19 at 8:03





          @terdon: tx for referencing the mywiki.wooledge.org page. It's nice to have a bunch of GPs neatly summarized in one place.

          – Cbhihe
          Mar 19 at 8:03


















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