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I want to list all PDF files in the directories of the current working directory. What command can do this?

I remember a combination of ls and */*.pdf but don't remember what exact combination.

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Do you want a list of all pdf files or a list of all files which have the filenameextension ".pdf"? – Ocaso Protal Jan 31 '12 at 10:51

3 Answers

up vote 9 down vote accepted

You can use:

find -iname '*.pdf'

with ls maybe:

ls -lR | grep '/\|pdf$'

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Firs command does not work, output: ls: cannot access *.pdf: No such file or directory – capoluca Jan 31 '12 at 4:21
ups, sorry. that command is indeed wrong. I'll edit – zetah Jan 31 '12 at 4:24
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Always quote find patterns (as in -name '*.pdf'), to prevent the shell to expand the glob pattern (this would happen if you have some pdf file in the current directory). – enzotib Jan 31 '12 at 5:43
ok, thanks. edited yet again... – zetah Jan 31 '12 at 6:23
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In case you happen to have files named with inconsistent character case, use -iname \*.pdf to also find files ending in .PDF, .PdF, etc. – Tom Regner Jan 31 '12 at 7:55
up vote 3 down vote

Use find

find . -name '.pdf'

See also: http://content.hccfl.edu/pollock/unix/findcmd.htm

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up vote 2 down vote

The easiest way (if you are using Ubuntu Desktop):

Go to your home folder in Nautilus, press Ctrl+F and search for .pdf.

Screenshot showing search process

You can also change the location and you can make your search more specific.

@WarriorIng64 Note that this on its own will locate all files with .pdf occurring anywhere in the filename. If you specifically want files that the system identifies as PDFs, click the green + button next to "Reload", add the "File Type" "Pdf / Postscript" filter and click "Reload" to get only actual PDFs. enter image description here

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@WarriorIng64 UPDATED – One Zero Jan 31 '12 at 10:24

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