Linux CLI HowTo 5 🐧 How to Guides for Wildcards

5 – How-to Guides for Wildcards

1. How to List all text files in current directory

ls *.txt

Matches any filename ending with .txt
Lists all files with txt extension

2. How to Find files with pattern “a” in second position

ls ?a?.txt

Matches any filename with exactly 3 characters, second being ‘a’, ending with .txt
Shows 3-character filenames where middle character is ‘a’

3. How to Find files starting with a, b, or c

ls [abc]*

Matches any filename starting with a, b, or c
Lists all files beginning with either a, b, or c

4. How to Match specific numbered files

ls file{1,2,3}.txt

Matches file1.txt, file2.txt, or file3.txt exactly
Shows only three specific numbered files

5. How to Find files with numbers 1 or 2

ls file{1,2}.txt

Matches file1.txt or file2.txt exactly
Lists two specific numbered files

6. How to Find alphanumeric filenames

ls [[:alnum:]]*

Matches any filename starting with alphanumeric character
Shows all files beginning with letters or numbers

7. How to Find non-letter filenames

ls [![:alpha:]]*

Matches any filename NOT starting with letter
Lists files beginning with numbers, symbols, etc.

8. How to How to Find lowercase or ending with 2

ls *[[:lower:]2]

Matches any filename ending with lowercase letter OR digit 2
Shows files ending with lowercase letters or the number 2

9. How to Find files ending with 2 or 3

ls *[23].txt

Matches any filename ending with 2 or 3 followed by .txt
Lists files ending with either 2 or 3 and txt extension

10. How to List all files with single character name

ls ?.*

Matches any filename with exactly one character followed by dot
Shows all hidden files with single-character names

11. How to Find files with specific pattern

ls [a-z]*

Matches any filename starting with lowercase letter
Lists all files beginning with a through z

12. How to Match uppercase letter files

ls [[:upper:]]*

Matches any filename starting with uppercase letter
Shows all files beginning with capital letters

13. How to Find files with digits at start

ls [[:digit:]]*

Matches any filename starting with digit
Lists all files beginning with numbers

14. How to Create backup files pattern

ls *~.*

Matches any filename ending with tilde followed by dot and extension
Shows temporary/backup files

15. How to Find files with specific character set

ls [a-zA-Z0-9]*

Matches any filename starting with alphanumeric character
Lists all files beginning with letters or numbers

16. How to Show files with special characters

ls [![:alnum:]]*

Matches any filename NOT starting with letter or number
Shows files beginning with symbols, spaces, etc.

17. How to Find files with specific ending pattern

ls *[^0-9]*

Matches any filename NOT ending with digit
Lists files that don’t end with numbers

18. How to Match multiple extensions

ls *.{txt,doc,pdf}

Matches files with txt, doc, or pdf extension
Shows files with three specific extensions

19. How to Find all hidden files

ls .*[^.]*

Matches any filename starting with dot (hidden files)
Lists all hidden files in directory

20. How to Show files with exact pattern

ls [[:alpha:]][[:digit:]]*

Matches filename starting with letter followed by digit
Shows files beginning with letter then number

21. How to Find files with specific extensions

ls *.{jpg,png,gif}

Matches jpg, png, or gif files
Lists image files with three extensions

22. How to Match specific range of letters

ls [a-c]*

Matches any filename starting with a, b, or c
Shows all files beginning with those three letters

23. How to Find files with multiple character classes

ls [[:upper:][:digit:]]*

Matches any filename starting with uppercase letter OR digit
Lists files beginning with capital letters or numbers

24. How to Show files with special characters at end

ls *[![:alnum:]]

Matches any filename ending with non-alphanumeric character
Shows files that end with symbols or punctuation

25. How to Find files in specific pattern range

ls [A-Z][a-z]*

Matches any filename starting with capital letter followed by lowercase
Lists files beginning with uppercase letter then lowercase letters

26. How to Match files with hex digits

ls [[:xdigit:]]*

Matches any filename starting with hexadecimal digit
Shows files beginning with 0-9, a-f, or A-F characters

27. How to Find files with space or tab

ls [[:blank:]]*

Matches any filename starting with space or tab character
Lists files beginning with whitespace characters

28. How to Show files ending with specific pattern

ls *[0-9][a-z]

Matches any filename ending with digit followed by lowercase letter
Shows files that end with a number then letters

29. How to Find files with exact character sequence

ls f[[:lower:]]*[[:upper:]]

Matches any filename starting with ‘f’ followed by lowercase letters and ending with uppercase letter
Lists files beginning with ‘f’ and ending with capital letters

30. How to Match files with multiple criteria

ls [[:digit:]]*[[:alpha:]]*[[:digit:]]

Matches any filename starting with digit, containing letters, ending with digit
Shows files that begin and end with numbers with letters in between

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