Learn from scratch: Master wildcards in Linux commands

Learn from the beginning: Master wildcards in Linux commands

In Linux systems, wildcards are special characters used to match file names. character. Mastering these wildcards can help us locate and operate files on the command line more efficiently. This article will focus on several commonly used Linux wildcard characters, with specific code examples, hoping to help beginners better understand and use these wildcard characters.

1. Asterisk (*)

The asterisk wildcard represents zero or more arbitrary characters and can match any long string. The following is an example:

ls *.txt

The above command will list all files ending with .txt in the current directory.

2. Question mark (?)

The question mark wildcard represents an arbitrary character and can be used to match a single character. Example:

ls file?.txt

The above command will list files named file1.txt, file2.txt, etc. .

3. Square brackets ([])

The square bracket wildcard is used to match characters within the specified range. For example, to match any number, you can use:

ls file[0-9].txt

The above command will list the file names file0.txt, file1.txt and other files.

4. Curly braces ({})

The curly brace wildcard is used to generate a combination of multiple strings. For example, if you want to operate the two files file1.txt and file2.txt at the same time, you can use:

cp file{1,2}.txt new_directory/ 

The above command will copy file1.txt and file2.txt to the new_directory/ directory.

In practical applications, combining multiple wildcards can match and operate files more flexibly. For example, to list all files starting with the letters .txt, you can use the asterisk and bracket wildcard characters together:

ls [a-z]*.txt

above The command will list files whose file names begin with lowercase letters and end with .txt.

When using wildcards, you need to pay attention to the order and position of wildcard expansion to ensure that the expected files are matched. In addition, wildcards can also be used in other Linux commands, such as cp, rm, etc., to help perform batch operations.

We hope that through the introduction and examples of this article, readers can better understand and master wildcards in Linux commands and improve the efficiency of operating files on the command line. I hope readers can learn from scratch and practice continuously to deepen their understanding and application of Linux systems.

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