How to recursively list all hidden files and directories?

Question

I want to list all hidden files and directories and then save result to file.

Is there any command for this?

Answer 1

If using GNU find, you can do

find /path -path '*/.*' -ls | tee output-file

Edit

To avoid to show non-hidden items contained in hidden directories

find /path -name '.*' >output-file

(as noted, tee could be avoided if you do not need to see the output, and -ls option should be used only if required).

Answer 2

To list the hidden files and directories in the current directory, including . and ..:

echo .*

To list the hidden files and directories in the current directory and its subdirectories recursively:

find . -name '.*'

If you want to save the results to a file, use a redirection:

find . -name '.*' >output-file.txt

Answer 3

With zsh (using the glob qualifier D):

print -rl ./**/.*(D)

To include non-hidden files in hidden directories:

setopt extendedglob
print -rl ./**/*~^*/.*(D)

Answer 4

You can actually put the same argument multiple times in the same command line:

find /storage/????-????/ -iname '.*' -iname "*" | tee -a file-list-micSD-20190801163729.fli

The tee -a command is able to display the command's output (or stdout) simultaneously whie writing it to a file. The -a options prevents clobbering and does append the information to the target output file instead.

/storage/????-????/ is an example path. It is the path to the MicroSD card of newer Android Mobile phones (there is also a terminal application for Android, with fewer commands but still many and significantly increased since Android 6.0). The MicroSD card was formerly /storage/extSdCard. Now, it is the volume serial number.