Linux Shell Scripting Cookbook - Third Edition

Searching based on the directory depth

The find command walks through all the subdirectories until it reaches the bottom of each subdirectory tree. By default, the find command will not follow symbolic links. The -L option will force it to follow symbolic links. If a link references a link that points to the original, find will be stuck in a loop.

The -maxdepth and -mindepth parameters restrict how far the find command will traverse. This will break the find command from an otherwise infinite search.

The /proc filesystem contains information about your system and running tasks. The folder hierarchy for a task is quite deep and includes symbolic links that loop back on themselves. Each process running your system has an entry in proc, named ...