Very handy way of creating a printable list of a folders contents OS X

[BevvyB]

When I'm doing big projects, I have to create lists of files that I'm uploading/burning, so that people can check if they have all the correct files on a disk or ftp site.

It can be laborious if you go through and 'copy' each file name into a text file, especially if you are creating major documents, as I'm sure some of you are.

With OS X Unix it is very easy. So easy that I should put it here.

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For beginners, the terminal has the commands ls (list current directory), cd path_name (change current directory to path_name) and the abreviations / (for top level), ~ (for logged in users home directory) and . for current directory
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Using REDIRECTION (putting the output of a command TO somewhere else) you can create files. In UNIX it's as simple as putting a > after the command.


Here's how to make a text document appear on your desktop which has a list of the contents of the current directory (folder)

This way of doing things will OVERWRITE a file with the same name

1. Navigate to the directory (folder) you want to list (using the terminal, not in the GUI duh)
2. Type ls > ~/desktop/folderlist.txt

Ta Dah! A text file appears on your desktop. Have a look inside it.

Now for a cool and simple thing. Here's how you do it so that the listing is APPENDED to the end of the file

1. Navigate to the directory (folder) you want to list
2. Type ls >> ~/desktop/folderlist.txt

Basically, using TWO > tells it to add to the end of the file

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Groan, but that's too boring, I don't want to have to navigate using the terminal to all those eighth depth on another drive places!!

Well, you don't have to. To change directory easily type

cd

and then DRAG the folder from your desktop ONTO the terminal app

Hey presto, it puts the path in for you

** Warning: Unix doesn't understand spaces in folder names or files. If there is one in there you need to enclose the whole file path in quotes ""


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Anyway,

I wish I'd had this in OS9!