16.19 stree: Simple Directory Tree

Here's a simple script that prints a directory tree. It works on any terminal, can be printed or sent in a mail message, and so on. If you don't give stree a directory name, it starts at the current directory. If you give it a -a (all) option, the stree script lists all files, directories, symbolic links, etc. Otherwise, it just lists directories. For example:

% stree lib
Tree for directory lib:

lib
 "      at_cron
 "       "      RCS
 "       "      test
 "      csh
 "      ksh
 "      RCS.Z
 "      tmac
 "       "      mm
 "       "       "      RCS
 "       "      ms
 "       "       "      RCS

The top-level directory is listed along the left-hand edge. The first level of subdirectories is indented by one tabstop. A ditto mark (") below a name means "same parent directory as above." So, for example, the last directory in that listing is lib/tmac/ms/RCS.

Here's the script:

${1-.} "newline @	#! /bin/sh case "$1" in -a) shift dir=${1-.} # DEFAULT TO CURRENT DIRECTORY echo Tree for directory $dir and its files: ;; *) findtype="-type d" # IF NO -a FLAG, MAKE find USE "-type d" dir=${1-.} echo Tree for directory $dir: ;; esac echo " $dir" find $dir $findtype -print | tr / \\001 | sort -f | tr \\001 / | sed -e s@\^$dir@@ -e /\^$/d -e 's@[^/]*/@ "[TAB]@g'

The script uses tr (35.11) to change slash (/) characters into CTRL-a (octal 001 (51.3)) during the sort. That makes the slashes sort before letters and other characters so the directory names will always come out before their contents.