From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jul 23 17:44:38 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8C7D11065678 for ; Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:44:38 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from vogelke@hcst.com) Received: from beta.hcst.com (beta.hcst.com [192.52.183.241]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2DEF88FC08 for ; Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:44:37 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from vogelke@hcst.com) Received: from beta.hcst.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by beta.hcst.com (8.13.8/8.13.8/Debian-3) with ESMTP id n6NHibcB031249 for ; Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:44:37 -0400 Received: (from vogelke@localhost) by beta.hcst.com (8.13.8/8.13.8/Submit) id n6NHibKP031248; Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:44:37 -0400 Received: by kev.msw.wpafb.af.mil (Postfix, from userid 32768) id 9AFF7B7DE; Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:41:26 -0400 (EDT) To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org In-reply-to: (message from John Almberg on Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:01:57 -0400) Organization: Oasis Systems Inc. X-Disclaimer: I don't speak for the USAF or Oasis. X-GPG-ID: 1024D/711752A0 2006-06-27 Karl Vogel X-GPG-Fingerprint: 56EB 6DBF 4224 C953 F417 CC99 4C7C 7D46 7117 52A0 Message-Id: <20090723174126.9AFF7B7DE@kev.msw.wpafb.af.mil> Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:41:26 -0400 (EDT) From: vogelke+unix@pobox.com (Karl Vogel) Subject: Re: limit to number of files seen by ls? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: vogelke+unix@pobox.com List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:44:39 -0000 >> On Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:01:57 -0400, >> John Almberg said: J> A client has a directory with a big-ish number of jpgs... maybe 4000. J> Problem is, I can only see 2329 of them with ls, and I'm running into J> other problems, I think. J> Question: Is there some limit to the number of files that a directory J> can contain? Or rather, is there some number where things like ls start J> working incorrectly? Every version of Unix I've ever used had an upper limit on the size of the argument list you could pass to a program, so it won't just be "ls" that's affected here. That's why I use 1,000 as a rule of thumb for the maximum number of files I put in a directory. A longer-term fix for your client would be to break up that JPEG file list into smaller sets based on (say) date or image topic or whatever. -- Karl Vogel I don't speak for the USAF or my company Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer. --item for a lull in conversation