find searching in parent directories instead of subdirectories

Question

I'm nested deep in a file tree, and I'd like to find which parent directory contains a file.

E.g. I'm in a set of nested Git repositories and want to find the .git directory controlling the files I'm currently at. I'd hope for something like find -searchup -iname ".git"

Answer 1

An even more general version that allows using find options:

#!/bin/bash
set -e
path="$1"
shift 1
while [[ "`readlink -f $path`" != "/" ]];
do
    find "$path"  -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 "$@"
    path=${path}/..
done

For example (assuming the script is saved as find_up.sh)

find_up.sh some_dir -iname "foo*bar" -execdir pwd \;

...will print the names of all of some_dir's ancestors (including itself) up to / in which a file with the pattern is found.

Answer 2

Find can't do it. I can't think of anything simpler than a shell loop. (Untested, assumes there is no /.git)

git_root=$(pwd -P 2>/dev/null || command pwd)
while [ ! -e "$git_root/.git" ]; do
  git_root=${git_root%/*}
  if [ "$git_root" = "" ]; then break; fi
done

For the specific case of a git repository, you can let git do the work for you.

git_root=$(GIT_EDITOR=echo git config -e)
git_root=${git_root%/*}

Answer 3

git rev-parse --show-toplevel

will print out the top level directory of the current repository, if you are in one.

Other related options:

# `pwd` is inside a git-controlled repository
git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree
# `pwd` is inside the .git directory
git rev-parse --is-inside-git-dir

# path to the .git directory (may be relative or absolute)
git rev-parse --git-dir

# inverses of each other:
# `pwd` relative to root of repository
git rev-parse --show-prefix
# root of repository relative to `pwd`
git rev-parse --show-cdup

Answer 4

A generalized version of Gilles' answer, first parameter used to find match:

find-up () {
  path=$(pwd)
  while [[ "$path" != "" && ! -e "$path/$1" ]]; do
    path=${path%/*}
  done
  echo "$path"
}

Keeps the use of sym-links.

Answer 5

If you're using zsh with extended globbing enabled, you can do it with a oneliner:

(../)#.git(:h)  # relative path to containing directory, eg. '../../..', '.'
(../)#.git(:a)  # absolute path to actual file, eg. '/home/you/src/prj1/.git'
(../)#.git(:ah) # absolute path to containing directory, eg. '/home/you/src/prj1'

---

Explanation (quoted from man zshexpn):

Recursive Globbing

A pathname component of the form (foo/)# matches a path consisting of zero or more directories matching the pattern foo. As a shorthand, **/ is equivalent to (*/)#.

Modifiers

After the optional word designator, you can add a sequence of one or more of the following modifiers, each preceded by a ':'. These modifiers also work on the result of filename generation and parameter expansion, except where noted.

• a
  • Turn a file name into an absolute path: prepends the current directory, if necessary, and resolves any use of '..' and '.'
• A
  • As 'a', but also resolve use of symbolic links where possible. Note that resolution of '..' occurs before resolution of symbolic links. This call is equivalent to a unless your system has the realpath system call (modern systems do).
• h
  • Remove a trailing pathname component, leaving the head. This works like 'dirname'.

Credits: Faux on #zsh for the initial suggestion of using (../)#.git(:h).