Sometimes we want to find the number of files in a directory in Linux. For example, finding how many images are present in JournalDev WordPress uploads directory.
There are various ways to do that, let’s look into some of the common scenarios and the best command to find the number of files in a directory.
Table of Contents
1. Find the Number of Files in a Directory
We can use the ls command along with the wc command to count the number of files in a directory. Let’s count the number of files in my theme root directory.
# ls 404.php archive.php functions.php inc layouts phpcs.xml.dist screenshot.png single.php webpack LICENSE comments.php header.php index.php package-lock.json postcss.config.js search.php src woocommerce.css Plugins dist home.php js package.json readme.txt sidebar-left.php style.css README.md footer.php images languages page.php rtl.css sidebar.php template-parts # ls -1 | wc -l 34

If you look at the image, the blue coloured items are directories. They are also included as file in the output.
What if we want to count only files and not directories?
# ls -p | grep -v / | wc -l 24 #
- The “ls -p” command prints directory names with “/” at the end of it.
- The “grep -v /” command filters the output and prints only the name that doesn’t contain “/”, hence leaving out all the directories.
- Finally, “wc -l” count the lines in the output and prints it.
Similarly, if you want to find the number of directories only inside a directory, use the below command.
# ls -p | grep / | wc -l 10 #
Note: The above commands don’t look for the hidden files, if you want the count to include hidden files too, then use “-a” option with the ls command.
# ls -a1 | wc -l 41 #
This command will count “.” and “..” too, so you will have to take account of that in your shell script if needed.
2. Find Number of Files in a Directory and Subdirectories Recursively
The above examples are good to count files and directories in a directory. But, if you want to count the number of files including subdirectories also, you will have to use the find command.
# find . -type f ./.test_file ./functions.php ./logger/class-logger-writter.php ./logger/class-logger-export.php ./logger/assets/js/base.js ./logger/assets/css/base.css ./logger/assets/css/base.less ./logger/assets/css/base.css.map ./logger/class-logger-reader.php ./class-protector.php ./class-anti-spam-plugin.php # find . -type f | wc -l 11 #
- The find command “-type f” option is used to look for regular files.
- This command will ignore all the directories, “.”, and “..” files. But, it will include hidden files in the output.
- The “wc -l” command will count the total number of lines and print it, thus giving us the count of files.
