Eloy A. Paris wrote: > > Hi Martin, > > > How about using find and generate a list of ALL files, then "grep > > `indivual_lines_from_your_list` list_of_ALL_files" and checking grep's > > return value? > > Well, what I am doing right now is generating a list of the files that > are present (using find and redirecting its output to a file). Later, > I search this file for files not in my original list, so I know which > files are missing. I am using Perl to do this. >
You know, perl is a fine language, it's true. But I think that perl has made many people think that awk, find, and grep are now "obsolete". Think again. Heres one solution to your problem: (I'm asssuming that the list of files is in a file called "searchlist") (WARNING: I'm sending this with Netscape, and it will probably wrap the lines for me but this command is all one line--although it needn't be with a few judicious '\'s) grep -v $(find / \( $(awk '{if (s != 0) { print " -o " } ; printf "-name %s", $1 ; s = 1 }' searchlist ) \) -printf '-e %f\n' ) searchlist Never doubt the power of bash/grep/awk/find! -- Jens B. Jorgensen [EMAIL PROTECTED]