Ruby function list file recursively

Question

i need a recursive function to list files in a folder:

def procdir(dirname)
  data = ''
  Dir.foreach(dirname) do |dir|
    dirpath = dirname + '/' + dir
    if File.directory?(dirpath) then
      if dir != '.' && dir != '..' then
        #puts "DIRECTORY: #{dirpath}" ; 
        procdir(dirpath)
      end
    else
      data += dirpath
    end
  end
  return data
end

but the result: is null

Could you tell me the filesystem? Does `dirname` contains multiple directories itself within it? — Arup Rakshit, Mar 19 '13 at 15:06
possible duplicate of [One-liner to Recursively List Directories in Ruby?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2370702/one-liner-to-recursively-list-directories-in-ruby) — dbenhur, Mar 19 '13 at 15:14

score 21 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 19 '13 at 15:04

21

Stdlib Dir#glob recurses when you give it the ** glob.

def procdir(dir)
  Dir[ File.join(dir, '**', '*') ].reject { |p| File.directory? p }
end

answered Mar 19 '13 at 15:04

dbenhur

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Thank for your responses, i understand my problem. dbenhur, your code is great! here is my code if it can help someone def procdir(dir) Dir[ File.join(dir, '**', '*') ].reject { |p| File.directory? p } end file = procdir('mypath') #puts file file.each do |filename| #puts filename test = filename.scan(/SomeRegex/).flatten puts test (..) end Thank you all – indi Mar 19 '13 at 15:16
Nice this is exactly what I was looking for – GoldenWest Jan 24 '20 at 22:44

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 19 '13 at 14:56

8

Use the find module:

require 'find'

pathes = []
Find.find('.') do |path|
  pathes << path unless FileTest.directory?(path)
end

puts pathes.inspect

answered Mar 19 '13 at 14:56

ckruse

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Jikku Jose · Answer 3 · 2017-03-10T09:08:17.150

7

Old thread but perhaps someone might find it useful:

array_of_all_files = Dir .glob("**/*") .reject { |file_path| File.directory? file_path }

edited Mar 10 '17 at 09:08

answered Nov 05 '13 at 05:24

Jikku Jose

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Why did you repeat an answer nearly identical to the one I [posted eight months earlier](http://stackoverflow.com/a/15503079/1074296)? [`Dir::[]`](http://ruby-doc.org/core-2.0/Dir.html#method-c-5B-5D) is the same as `Dir.glob`. `File.join('**', '*')` is a more portable way to say `"**/*"`. – dbenhur Dec 27 '13 at 05:55
I am sorry, I didn't know they were identical. And I felt this was more readable (probably, since I used it a bunch of times and never knew another representation of it). – Jikku Jose Dec 27 '13 at 11:49
@dbenhur : Just curious, why would `File.join('**', '*')` be more portable than `"**/*"`. It works on Linux/Windows/MacOs as far as I know. – Eric Duminil Mar 02 '17 at 12:02
@EricDuminil Because there are more operating systems than that. [`File::join`](https://ruby-doc.org/core-2.2.0/File.html#method-c-join) will join on `File::SEPARATOR` and not assume the underlying OS understands `/`. – dbenhur Mar 10 '17 at 05:42
@dbenhur do you have any concrete example where `/` wouldn't work? – Eric Duminil Mar 10 '17 at 07:17
@EricDuminil In the context of `Dir.glob`, slash will always work because the ruby lib is doing the actual globbing. It's a bad habit to get into though if you want your ruby to be broadly portable. In DOSish systems (Windows), the OS calls usually understand either \ or / but not every program does, so you may construct file paths which will not be understood in that system. Basically, any non-POSIX OS may give you trouble if you assume `File::SEPARATOR == '/'` – dbenhur Apr 03 '17 at 22:03
1

@dbenhur: I agree that it can be a problem when using those paths with other programs. But `File.join` doesn't change anything : `File.join("a","b")` is `"a/b"`, even on Windows. – Eric Duminil Apr 04 '17 at 08:04

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 19 '13 at 15:05

It looks like there are a couple of problems with the recursion:

The else clause appears to associated with the wrong if. It needs to be associated with the first if.
The result of the recursive procdir call should be added to data.

If you indent the code a little more cleanly, it would probably be easier to spot problems like that. The following contains the two fixes:

def procdir(dirname)
  data = ''
  Dir.foreach(dirname) do |dir|
    dirpath = dirname + '/' + dir
    if File.directory?(dirpath) then
      if dir != '.' && dir != '..' then
        #puts "DIRECTORY: #{dirpath}" ; 
        data += procdir(dirpath)
      end
    else
      data += dirpath
    end
  end
  return data
end

Thank for your responses, i understand my problem. – indi Mar 19 '13 at 15:17 — indi, Mar 19 '13 at 15:17

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 09 '17 at 13:19

0

If you know the file extensions you will have just use this:

Dir[Rails.root.join('config/locales/**/*.{rb,yml}')]

answered Mar 09 '17 at 13:19

Bruno Casali

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Ruby function list file recursively

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