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How to list only symbolic links in a directory on a Linux filesystem.

How to list all symlinks in a Linux directory

To list only the symbolic links on a Linux filesystem, use ls and grep as shown below. This will easily do this for you.

ubuntu ~/Documents $ ls -hula /lib | grep "\->"
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   21 Feb  4 02:48 cpp -> /etc/alternatives/cpp
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   20 Feb  4 02:48 ld-linux.so.2 -> /lib32/ld-linux.so.2
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   22 Feb  4 02:48 libcryptsetup.so.4 -> libcryptsetup.so.4.5.0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   17 Feb  4 02:48 libip4tc.so.0 -> libip4tc.so.0.1.0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   17 Feb  4 02:48 libip6tc.so.0 -> libip6tc.so.0.1.0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   16 Feb  4 02:48 libiptc.so.0 -> libiptc.so.0.0.0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   20 Feb  4 02:48 libxtables.so.10 -> libxtables.so.10.0.0

Another way is to use this trick.

ubuntu ~/Documents $ ls -hula /lib | grep ^l
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   21 Feb  4 02:48 cpp -> /etc/alternatives/cpp
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   20 Feb  4 02:48 ld-linux.so.2 -> /lib32/ld-linux.so.2
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   22 Feb  4 02:48 libcryptsetup.so.4 -> libcryptsetup.so.4.5.0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   17 Feb  4 02:48 libip4tc.so.0 -> libip4tc.so.0.1.0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   17 Feb  4 02:48 libip6tc.so.0 -> libip6tc.so.0.1.0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   16 Feb  4 02:48 libiptc.so.0 -> libiptc.so.0.0.0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   20 Feb  4 02:48 libxtables.so.10 -> libxtables.so.10.0.0

How to list only directories in a Linux filesystem.

ubuntu ~/Documents $ ls -hula /var/log | grep ^d
drwxrwxr-x 14 root      syslog   4.0K Feb  4 02:56 .
drwxr-xr-x 14 root      root     4.0K Feb  4 02:46 ..
drwxr-x---  2 root      adm      4.0K Feb  3 06:53 apache2
drwxr-xr-x  2 root      root     4.0K Dec 27 21:46 apt
drwxr-xr-x  2 root      root     4.0K Feb  4 00:00 atop
drwxr-xr-x  2 root      root     4.0K Dec 27 21:46 dist-upgrade
drwxr-xr-x  2 root      root     4.0K Dec 27 21:46 fsck
drwxr-xr-x  2 landscape root     4.0K Dec 27 21:46 landscape
drwxr-s---  2 mysql     adm      4.0K Jan 25 17:45 mysql
drwxrwxr-t  2 root      postgres 4.0K Feb  3 06:53 postgresql
drwxr-s---  2 snort     adm      4.0K Feb  3 06:25 snort
drwxr-xr-x  2 root      root     4.0K Feb  3 06:53 sysstat
drwxr-xr-x  2 root      root     4.0K Dec 27 21:46 unattended-upgrades
drwxr-xr-x  2 root      root     4.0K Feb  3 06:53 upstart

This trick will only list files.

ubuntu ~/Documents $ ls -hula /home/ubuntu/Documents | grep ^-
-rwxrwxr-x  1 ubuntu ubuntu 8.7K Oct 30 08:45 a.out
-rw-rw-r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu 101K Jan 27 22:06 documents.lst
-rw-rw-r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu 1.2K Nov 18  2015 hashes.out
-rw-rw-r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu 2.5K Jun 18  2015 hole.o
-rw-------  1 ubuntu ubuntu 1.7K Jul 23  2017 id_rsa
-rw-r--r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu  404 Jul 23  2017 id_rsa.pub
-rw-rw-r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu 1.1K Jul 25  2017 my.c
-rw-rw-r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu  995 Oct  3 23:02 nikto-pinterest-log.log
-rwxrwxr-x  1 ubuntu ubuntu 8.7K Oct 30 08:45 read
-rw-rw-r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu 1.3K Oct 30 08:45 read.c
-rwxrwxr-x  1 ubuntu ubuntu 7.6K Mar 20  2015 recipe-502268-1.py
-rw-rw-r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu 256K Oct 15  2016 SAM
-rw-rw-r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu  64K Mar 23  2015 sam.save
-rwxrwxr-x  1 ubuntu ubuntu  63K Nov 17  2015 secretsdump.py
-rw-rw-r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu 256K Nov 18  2015 SECURITY
-rw-rw-r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu  32K Mar 23  2015 security.save
-rw-rw-r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu 9.3M Oct  3 23:25 SYSTEM
-rw-rw-r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu  20M Mar 23  2015 system.save
-rw-rw-r--  1 ubuntu ubuntu 7.6K Oct  3 23:11 virii.S

Use it like this to include the “.” and “..” entries in the directory listing.

Johns-MacBook-Air:~ jason$ ls -hula | grep ^dr
drwxr-xr-x+ 18 jason  staff   612B  4 Feb 22:12 .
drwxr-xr-x   5 root   admin   170B  4 Feb 22:11 ..
drwx------   2 jason  staff    68B  4 Feb 22:03 .Trash
drwx------  43 jason  staff   1.4K 17 Jan 21:40 .bash_sessions
drwx------+  7 jason  staff   238B  4 Feb 22:11 Desktop
drwx------+ 31 jason  staff   1.0K  4 Feb 22:11 Documents
drwx------+ 12 jason  staff   408B  4 Feb 22:11 Downloads
drwx------@ 54 jason  staff   1.8K  4 Feb 22:11 Library
drwx------+  5 jason  staff   170B  4 Feb 22:11 Movies
drwx------+  6 jason  staff   204B  4 Feb 22:11 Music
drwx------+  3 jason  staff   102B  4 Feb 22:11 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x+  5 jason  staff   170B  4 Feb 22:11 Public

To find out where you are in the directory structure, use the pwd command. It is very useful. Whether you are using Darwin or Linux.

Johns-MacBook-Air:~ jason$ pwd
/Users/jason

Another way to list all directories.

Johns-MacBook-Air:~ jason$ basename *
Desktop
Documents
Downloads
Library
Movies
Music
Pictures
Public

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