Mac OS X Unix 101 Byte-Sized Projects

Surfing the file system is something you'll do a lot, browsing directories and searching for specific files. Chapter 2 has ten projects that do just that, covering the following topics:

Globbing and wildcard expansion. Learn how to say "all files" or "all text files" in shell-speak. It's easier and quicker than listing them individually.

File system navigation. Learn how to move quickly from directory A to directory Z and then back again.

Finding files. Sometimes you need to root out a group of files and then list them or process each file. Unix puts some powerful commands at your disposal.

Unix links and Finder aliases. Don't get confused between hard and soft links, and find out why Unix doesn't understand Finder aliases.

The projects in this chapter show you how to move around the file system more efficiently and illustrate advanced file-finding techniques. If you need to process a set of files, finding them is usually the first step.