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How can I find the directory for a file?

In my Unix shell, I know how to use the ls command, but it shows just the name of the file. I need the path too. How do I get it?

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migrated from stackoverflow.com Oct 10 '11 at 22:34

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3 Answers

up vote 4 down vote

echo "$PWD/filename" will print the name of the filename, including the path.

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up vote 2 down vote

A quick search led me to this:

find / -name "filename" -type f -print

or 

locate filename
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That assumes you know the name of the file, but not where it is. Since the OP says ls can show the file, I don't think that's the problem. – Keith Thompson Oct 11 '11 at 0:52
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up vote 0 down vote

In Linux you can use readlink -f; on BSDs realpath might work.

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