8/17    How can one match wildcards '*' with files that start with a '.' in
        bash and tcsh?
        \_ .[^.]* works for most cases, but will not match "..foo"
        \_ ls -A1 | grep '^\.'
        \_ ls * .*
        \_ i personally prefer .??* .
        \_ ls `find . -type f -name .\*`
        \_ ls `find . -type f -name .\*`, although it's not using the wildcard
           facility in the shells.
           \_ this will traverse down the directory tree.  this behavior
              would be different from what the others do and may or may not
              be desirable.
              \_ Use this then: echo `find . -type f -name .\* -maxdepth 1`
                 \_ At this point, what do you gain by using find?  It would
                    be better if you were tall enough to use xarg or even
                    -exec.  There would still be no point in using find though.
                    \_ Example without using "find" please?
                       \_ from above, .* or .??*
                          \_ ".*" will always exclude the parent directory
                             because ......?  And ".??*" will still work if
                             there's a file named ".f" because ......?
                             \_ % echo .*
                                . [deleted] .. [deleted]
                                % echo .?*
                                [deleted] .. [deleted]
                                Try it yourself.  Whether you want . depends
                                on what you'd want to do with the results,
                                I'd guess.
                             \_ BTW, ls `find [...]` should choke on file
                                names with a space.  Probably other things too.
                                \_ Yes it does, but as in my -maxdepth example
                                   above I already switched to echo `find ...`.
                                   \_ echo only works because it doesn't use
                                      the result of the find to touch the
                                      file system.  your examply `find [...]`
                                      will fail any time someone tries to do
                                      that, so it's not a complete solution,
                                      as well as being one wasteful of system
                                      resources.  again, i urge you to learn
                                      either xargs or -exec.  preferably xargs,

                                      but like partha likes to say, you have
                                      to be this tall to use xargs.
                                      \_ Your example ".*" will fail even when
                                         no one tries to "touch the file
                                         system."  (By "touch the file system"
                                         I suppose you meant accessing the
                                         files afterwards using the match
                                         result, since expanding filename
                                         wildcards already requires touching
                                         the file system.
                                         \_ % mkdir ".try this"
                                            % ls -d .*
                                            ./  ../  .try this/
                                            you have access to a csh?  show me
                                            where it fails.
                                            \_ Again, . and .. are not files.
                                               \_ again,
                                                  % od .
                                                  % od ..
                                                  \_ % cd /
                                                     % which od
                                                     /usr/local/bin/od
                                                     % od .
                                                     od: .: Is a directory
                                                     0000000
                                                     % od ..
                                                     od: ..: Is a directory
                                                     0000000
                                                     %
                                                     And you point?
                                                     \_ /usr/bin/od
                                                        obtw,
                                                        % ls /usr/local/bin/od
                                                        ls: /usr/local/bin/od:
No such file or directory
                                                        in any case, i have to
                                                        leave for dinner.
                                \_ Indeed.
                                   % touch "try this"
                                   % ls
                                   try this
                                   % ls `find .`
                                   ls: ./try: No such file or directory
                                   ls: this: No such file or directory
                                   .:
                                   try this
                                   Like I said, I wish you were tall enough
                                   to use xargs or -exec.
                                   \_ You being tall enough to use xargs or
                                      -exec didn't help the fact that your
                                      example doesn't even work in any
                                      directory.  So what's the point.
                                      \_ which example?  i merely copied from
                                         solutions above.  .* does work for
                                         all files, including . and .. .
                                         .?* will exclude ., which is perhaps
                                         nice.
                                         \_ Excuse me?  . and .. are not files,
                                            are they?
                                            \_ sure they're not files.
                                               \_ obtw,
                                                  % od .
                                                  % od ..
           \_ also xargs, but you have to be this tall to use it.
        \_ this task is trivial if you use 'set noglob'.