Question

How can I get all the files inside /var and its subdirectories but at the same time, ignoring list out subdirectory folder name?

I have tried Dir["/var/*"] but it doesn’t list all the files inside sub directory.

Answer 1

Dir["/var/**/*"]

The ** that appears in this pattern matches any path fragment of zero or more nested directories, but doesn’t match files.

Let’s break that down:

When you have /var/somefile.txt (which likely doesn’t exist on your system, because /var most likely only has directories in it), here’s what each part of your glob would match:

Part of pattern     Part of directory path
     /var                 /var
     **                   (nothing)
     *                    somefile.txt

For the file /var/run/NetworkManager.pid:

Part of pattern     Part of directory path
     /var                 /var
     **                   run
     *                    NetworkManager.pid

For the file /var/spool/mail/news:

Part of pattern     Part of directory path
     /var                 /var
     **                   spool/mail
     *                    news

I’m not sure what Dir['/var/**'] on its own does. I think that to make it work the way you expect, you always need another path component after the **.