Question

Using bash, how do I write an if statement that checks if a certain directory, stored in the a script variable named “$DIR”, contains child directories that are not “.” or “..”?

Thanks, – Dave

Answer 1

As the comments have pointed out, things have changed in the last 9 years! The dot dirs are no longer returned as part of find and instead the directory specified in the find command is.

So, if you want to stay with this approach:

#!/bin/bash
subdircount=$(find /tmp/test -maxdepth 1 -type d | wc -l)

if [[ "$subdircount" -eq 1 ]]
then
    echo "none of interest"
else
    echo "something is in there"
fi

(originally accepted answer from 2011)

#!/usr/bin/bash
subdircount=`find /d/temp/ -maxdepth 1 -type d | wc -l`

if [ $subdircount -eq 2 ]
then
    echo "none of interest"
else
    echo "something is in there"
fi